VELA Education Fund awards micro grants to early-stage everyday entrepreneurs, students, families, educators, community members who are innovating outside of the traditional education system.
Donor Name: VELA Education Fund
State: All States
County: All Counties
U.S. Territories: American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 10/31/2022
Grant Size: $2,500 or $10,000
Details:
They award micro grants to programs that are delivering learning in place of the traditional system and to programs that offer essential supports (programs, platforms, content) explicitly for learners and families who are participating in out-of-system learning.
In order to receive VELA micro grant funding, programs must use funds for a qualifying charitable purpose, serve K-12 learners and families outside of the traditional system, and meet some or all of the following criteria:
- Enable more learners and families to access out-of-system learning models that work best for them;
- Support passionate entrepreneurs using their creativity and resourcefulness to launch new, out-of-system learning models;
- Empower learners and families to assemble custom learning experiences in place of one primary learning environment;
- Challenge the status quo to creatively reimagine how learning happens through out-of-system delivery models;
- Are already operational or will be in the immediate term with some proof of concept (e.g. website or social media presence).
Programs that are good candidates for micro grant consideration include:
- Small, non-traditional learning environments (micro schools, pods, co-ops) started by families, educators or community groups
- Programs that offer essential supports for communities of families participating in non-traditional learning, like co-ops that offer a range of learning activities
- Content or learning platforms (tech, kits) that enable out-of-system learning in new and creative ways
Programs that are typically not aligned to the investment criteria include:
- Daycare and early childhood programs
- Learning programs that happen outside of traditional school hours in addition to traditional school (supplementary or enrichment activities)
- Career prep, tutoring, and mentoring programs for students in traditional school
- Innovative charter schools
- Well-established and/or traditional private schools
- Teacher-led initiatives taking place within traditional schools or classrooms
Funding Information
- Amount: $2,500 or $10,000
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants must be building custom approaches for their communities.
- Applicants must be over 18 years old, reside in the United States or its territories, and use grant funding to support an education idea or program with a charitable purpose.
- Organizations or individuals that have previously received funding from VELA are not eligible to apply.
- Organizations or individuals that have previously received “Meet the Moment” funding in 2020-2021 from one of our granting partners are not eligible to apply. These partners are: 4.0, A for Arizona, Camelback Ventures, Empowered (formerly Youth Entrepreneurs), HSLDA, National Parent Union, and Wildflower.
For more information, visit VELA Education Fund.
