The Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence awards $2 million to 25 outstanding skilled trades teachers and their programs in U.S. public high schools.
Donor Name: The Smidt Foundation (TSF)
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/01/2026
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
Harbor Freight Tools for Schools is a program of The Smidt Foundation (“TSF”), established by Harbor Freight Tools owner and founder Eric Smidt, to advance excellent skilled trades education in U.S. public high schools.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligibility: Subject Matter
- The Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence is open to skilled trades teachers who are current faculty members at U.S. public high schools.
- Eligible applicants are educators who teach skilled trades classes that emphasize the expert use of tools and materials to build, repair and maintain products and structures. Most applicants will come from the following broad fields of trades education in public high schools:
- Agricultural Mechanics
- Carpentry
- Construction
- Electrical
- HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning)
- Manufacturing
- Plumbing
- Transportation mechanics and repair
- Welding
- Eligibility: School Type
- Each applicant and each prize recipient must be an active faculty member at a U.S. public high school, in good standing who is not subject to any threatened, pending or active disciplinary proceedings or involuntary leave of absence with their school, district or state education agencies or other authorities during the entire 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 school years. Applicants must be a faculty member at the same school during both such school years. Harbor Freight Tools for Schools reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any applicant whose participation may subject the prize, its judges, Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, TSF or HFT and any of its customers to controversy, negative publicity and/or reputational harm.
- Teachers at district career and technical education centers serving both high school and post-secondary students may apply if they are members of their school district’s high school faculty.
- No teacher may apply more than once for the 2026 prize. In addition, teacher teams are not eligible to apply in one application like they have been in previous years.
- Past winners of the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence are ineligible to apply for the 2026 prize. Previous finalists and other applicants who were not named winners in any previous year are permitted to apply.
For more information, visit TSF.
