Youth Garden Grant
In early 2023, 50 organizations will be awarded $500 in funding and a collection of gardening supplies for their youth garden program.
The 2024 Youth Garden Grant is open! Visit the application page for more information.
Youth Garden Grant
The 2023 grant is closed. Award announcements will be made January 13, 2023.
Since 1982, the Youth Garden Grant has supported school and youth educational garden projects that enhance the quality of life for youth and their communities.
In early 2023, fifty organizations will be awarded $500 in funding and a collection of gardening supplies for their youth garden program.
Para ver esta oportunidad de subvención en español, visite nuestra página web en español.
Eligibility
Any organization in the United States or US Territories planning a new or improving an existing garden program that serves at least 15 youth between the ages of 0 and 18 is eligible to apply.
Previous Youth Garden Grant winners are not eligible.
Funding Priorities
The selection of winners is prioritized based on demonstrated need and program impact. KidsGardening considers a variety of factors when determining needs, including:
Socioeconomic & Sociodemographic Factors: Does the program exist within or engage a community that has systematically been denied resources, whether physical assets and money or representative leadership and community services?
Program Funding and Support: Does a program have access to consistent, substantial monetary support or prior grant funding? Are pre-existing resources (financial or otherwise) limited? Programs experiencing the latter are considered higher need.
Impact: Will grant funding dramatically expand learning opportunities for program participants? Does the intended impact reflect the actual needs of the community?
Award Packages
The 2023 Youth Garden Grant is made possible by KidsGardening’s generous donor base and critical sponsorships from garden industry partners.
A total of fifty programs will be awarded $500 and a shipment of gardening supplies.
Among the fifty winners, ten programs will also receive a specialty award package. Five from our friends at Crescent Garden and five from our friends at Garden Tower.
Forty winners will receive award packages valued at $1,000 that include:
- A $500 check from KidsGardening
- A variety of gardening tools and supplies including:
- Ten wildflower seed packets from American Meadows
- Fifteen vegetable seed packets from Botanical Interests
- Ten pairs of gloves from Work Gloves Depot
- One Super Duty pruner and one Duralight looper from Woodland Tools
- One Big Bag Bed from Smart Pot
- Two packages of peat seedling trays from U+Me
- One plant support kit (C-bites and safety caps) from Thriving Design
- One Hose nozzle from Dramm
- One mushroom growing kit from Back to the Roots
- Two Tubtrugs from Gardener’s Supply Company
- Two curriculum books from KidsGardening
Five winners will receive the above award package and a Crescent Garden Container Garden Specialty Award package, valued at $1,900, that includes:
- Two Mod Large Trough Self-watering Planters
- Ten Eos Watering Cans
- Twelve Weed Forks
- Twelve Wide Trowels
- Twelve Cultivators
- Two Gabrielle Bags
- One Pack of Plant Tags
This award package represents a $9,500 in-kind donation from Crescent Garden.
Five winners will receive the above award package and a Garden Tower Vertical Garden Specialty Award package, valued at $1,100, that includes:
- Two Garden Tower 2s
- Two Premium Caster Kits
- Four Large Moisture Monitoring Probes
- Earth Premium Organic Plant Food
- A $50 gift card
This award package represents a $5,500 in-kind donation from Garden Tower.
How to apply
The deadline for application submission is Friday, December 2, 2022, at 11:59 pm PT.
All applications must be submitted online. You can download a copy of the questions as a Word document or PDF file. We strongly advise saving the questions and then pasting the answers into the online application rather than composing your answers directly into the online form. Many browsers timeout after 30 minutes of inactivity (or sometimes sooner) so you may lose your work if it takes longer than your browser's setting to complete or save your entry.
Award Notification and Fulfilment
Winners will be announced and contacted by email by Friday, January 13, 2023. A list of winners will also be posted on KidsGardening.org on that date. Awards will be distributed in February 2023.
Grant Recipient Requirements
Grant awardees are required to complete a year-end report by June 15, 2023. These reports help KidsGardening determine the overall impact of the grant program. Winners will be provided with a link in May 2023 to the 10-question online form to complete.
Year-end reporting requirements include:
- 5-10 digital images of the garden
- Parental release forms to accompany images of children
- A narrative about the impact of the garden program
If you do not feel that you will be able to comply with these reporting requirements, please do not apply.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are my chances of winning a Youth Garden Grant?
The Youth Garden Grant is our most competitive funding opportunity. We typically receive between 750-850 applications each grant cycle.
My program has previously been awarded a grant from KidsGardening. Am I eligible to apply for and receive a Youth Garden Grant?
Previous Youth Garden Grant winners are not eligible to receive another Youth Garden Grant. However, programs that have previously been awarded other grants from KidsGardening are welcome to apply and are eligible to be selected. That being said, given the high number of applications we receive for our various grant funding opportunities, it is unlikely you will be awarded multiple KidsGardening grants in a single calendar year or back-to-back years.
What makes a good Youth Garden Grant application?
The Youth Garden Grant differs from our other grant programs in that winning programs receive a product package in addition to a monetary award. As such, a competitive application will demonstrate a clear need for the product package items. Please be as precise and descriptive as possible when outlining how the assorted gardening supplies and tools would benefit your program.
We also encourage you to explore our Grant Application Support page for advice on how to craft a standout grant application.
How do I know if I’ve successfully submitted my application?
You will receive a confirmation email following the submission of your application on JotForm. Occasionally these emails end up flagged as Spam, so we recommend checking your Spam box.
What if I have started my application but have not finished it? Will it be reviewed?
Applications that are started but not submitted will not be considered for the award.
What if I need to update my submitted application?
You can email [email protected] to make minor changes to your application. If you need larger changes, please complete a new application. We only review the last application submitted by an organization.
What if I submit more than one application for the same organization?
The last application submitted will be reviewed.
How do you select grant winners?
We have a team of grant readers that evaluates applications and supporting materials for about a month. A single application typically goes through three rounds of evaluation before being selected as a winner.
In the initial round, a single reader will review an application, using a standardized scoring rubric, judging it on assorted criteria including but not limited to demonstrated need, program sustainability and impact, and clear fit with grant objectives. High-quality applicants are then selected to undergo a second round of evaluations. In this phase of the review process, each member of the grant selection committee reads all second-round applications before meeting to engage in group deliberation and finalist selection.
I didn’t receive an email on Friday, January 13, 2023, the day of the winner announcement. Does this mean my program hasn’t been awarded a grant?
We send a notification email about winner selection to the main contact as listed on your application. Emails are sent to both winning programs and those that were not selected for this year’s grant. Because these emails are sent out en masse, this communication is frequently flagged in the main contact’s Spam box. We encourage you to check your Spam box if you do not receive a notification email on the day of the announcement or to visit our website to view a list of Grant Winners.
Grant Application Technical Support
If you have any questions that were not addressed in the above Frequently Asked Questions section, please contact KidsGardening Program Director Sarah Lane at [email protected].
Grant Sponsors
The 2023 Youth Garden Grant is sponsored by the following garden industry partners:
Grant Application Support
Grant writing tips and how to navigate our online grant application platform
More Grant Opportunities
Additional grant opportunities from other organizations
Grant Winners
Meet our amazing grant winners, listed by award
