External Grant Opportunities

External Grant Opportunities

We know finding the financial resources to plant and maintain a youth garden is one of the biggest obstacles educators and volunteers face.

Kids Garden Community

We encourage you to join the Kids Garden Community to explore a current library of funding opportunities that might work for your garden program and to discuss fundraising strategies with a community of program leaders.

External Grants

Here is a list of some additional grant opportunities that support youth garden programs. (Please note, we are not directly affiliated with any of these grant programs, and this list is not updated regularly. Please visit their websites for full details and application instructions.)

American Heart Association Teaching Gardens - The American Heart Association works with schools to find local sponsors to help fund the installation of raised bed gardens in schools.

Annie’s Garden Funder™ on CrowdRise - Annie’s Garden Funder is a tool to help schools set up a fundraiser through CrowdRise to fund school garden programs.

The Bee Cause Grant - This grant provides honey bee observation hives to schools and receives requests on a rolling basis.

Big Green - Big Green offers funding for low-income schools to install Learning Gardens in targeted locations. A list of school districts eligible to apply can be found on their website.

Bonnie Plants 3rd Grade Cabbage Program - Bonnie’s provides free mega-cabbage plants to 3rd grade teachers who want to participate. Students grow the cabbages and submit pictures and measurements of their harvest to be considered for a $1,000 scholarship.

Captain Planet Foundation, Project Learning Garden - Offering many different types of environmental education grants, Captain Planet supports garden programs through Project Learning Garden grants that provide garden supplies and a mobile cooking cart.

The Donald Samull Classroom Herb Garden Grant - The Herb Society of America offers grants to elementary schools to support the planting of an outdoor herb garden.

Fiskars Project Orange Thumb Grants - Project Orange Thumb provides grants to school and community gardens.

Green Our Planet School Garden Grants - Green Our Planet is providing grants to 200 public or charter schools in the United States to help fund Green Our Planet’s Hydroponics STEM Program and/or Green Our Planet’s GardenConnect STEM program this fall. FAQ's on the program.

Greenworks Grants - Project Learning Tree offers annual GreenWorks! grants up to $1,000 to schools and youth organizations for environmental service-learning projects that link classroom learning to the real world. To be eligible, applicants must have attended a PLT workshop, either in-person or online, that provides training, lesson plans, and other resources to help integrate these projects and environmental education into your curriculum or youth programs.

National Head Start Association Gro More Garden Grants - The National Head Start Association with support from The Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation provides grants to Head Start organizations aiming to increase both students' and their families' appreciation and understanding for healthy foods and nutrition through garden programs.

KaBOOM! Playground Grants - KaBOOM! offers grants and consulting assistance to improve play areas at schools. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and filled as opportunities arise.

Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools - Through this program, schools can apply to receive a salad bar in their cafeteria. Applications are received year round and filled as funds become available.

National Wildlife Federation Trees for Wildlife - NWF offers free native trees for restoration projects and community events planned in coordination with local NWF partners.

Nature Works Everywhere - The Nature Conservancy offers grants to schools for projects that involve students in developing a nature-based, green infrastructure solution to an environmental challenge in their community including school gardens.

Seed Money - A Maine-based 501c3 nonprofit that is helping public food gardens to start and thrive by offering them grants, access to crowdfunding and technical assistance with garden planning.

Shade Structure Grant Program - From the American Academy of Dermatology, the Shade Structure Grant provides funding to install permanent shade structures for youth programs. Applicants must collaborate with a local dermatologist and implement a sun safety program.

Sponsor-a-Hive Award - The Sponsor-A-Hive program offered by The Honeybee Conservancy provides bees and equipment to help people safely set up, maintain, and observe on-site bee sanctuaries at schools, community gardens, and green spaces across the United States. Award winners will also receive a Teacher's Kit to help with program implementation.

Tractor Supply Company Grants for Growing - Available for FFA Chapters, this grant offers funding to schools for starting and expanding agricultural projects.

Wild Ones Lorrie Otto Seeds for Education Grant - Wild Ones offers funding and plants to schools for development of learning spaces featuring native plants and focused on environmental education.

Whole Kids Foundation Garden Grants - In partnership with FoodCorp, Whole Kids Foundation offers a number of garden grant to support new or existing edible garden programs including a School Garden Grant, Extended Learning Garden Grant (for gardens not on school grounds), Honey Bee Grant, School Salad Bar Grant, Healthy Kids Innovation Grant, and Canadian Farm to School Grant.