Youth Garden Grant

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 2025, 50 organizations will be awarded $500 in funding for their youth garden program.

Youth Garden Grant

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 2025, 50 organizations will be awarded $500 in funding for their youth garden program.

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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.

KidsGardening grantees from any 2023 - 2024 grant program (Budding Botanist, Youth Garden, GroMoreGood Grassroots, and Lots of Compassion) are not eligible to apply.

Organizations must:

Support, work with, or serve communities with a majority of individuals that are under-resourced (systematically denied resources and opportunities based on race, gender, ethnicity, income level, abilities, geographic location, etc., or currently experiencing hardship such as a natural disaster, etc.)
Have fifteen or more youth participate in the garden program.
Have received less than $10,000 in grants for the garden program during 2023 and 2024 combined.

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: How does the program exist within or engage a community that has been systematically denied resources, whether physical assets and money or representative leadership and community services? Organizations affected by multiple socioeconomic and sociodemographic factors are given priority.

Program Funding and Support: Does an organization have access to consistent, substantial monetary support or prior grant funding? Or are pre-existing resources (financial or otherwise) limited? Organizations experiencing the latter are given priority.

Impact: Will grant funding dramatically expand learning opportunities for program participants? Does the intended impact reflect the needs of the community? Organizations working with greater than 50 youth will be given priority.

Award Packages

The 2025 Youth Garden Grant is made possible by KidsGardening’s generous donor base and sponsorships from our partners.

A total of fifty programs will be awarded $500.

Fifteen winners will receive the Bluestone Perennials School Garden Award

The Bluestone Perennials School Garden Award will support fifteen school garden programs with a $500 grant to kick-start or maintain their garden. This award is sponsored by our friends at Bluestone Perennials.

Five winners will receive the Crescent Garden Container Gardening Award

The Crescent Garden Container Gardening Award will support five youth garden programs with a $500 grant and a container gardening package, valued at $1,775. This award is sponsored by our friends at Crescent Garden.

An image with 8 small images of garden tools and planters.

Thirty winners will receive the Garden Champions Award

The Garden Champions Award will support thirty youth garden programs with a $500 grant to kick-start or maintain their garden. This award is sponsored by American Meadows, Garden Tower Project, Little Seeds, Mahoney's Garden Centers, Stark Bros, and individual donations.

How to apply

The deadline for application submission is Friday, December 13, 2024, at 11:59 PM PT. All applications must be submitted online.

KidsGardening has streamlined its grant application process and created a Common Application form. To apply for the Youth Garden Grant, use our Common Application form and apply by the deadline. Also, depending on your organization’s eligibility, you can simultaneously apply for our next open grant opportunity, the GroMoreGood Grassroots Grant, which opens in January.

You can download a copy of the questions below.
English: Word document or PDF file.
Español: Documento de Word o archivo PDF.

We strongly advise answering and saving the questions in a Word document 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.

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Award Notification and Fulfilment

Winners will be announced and contacted by email by Tuesday, January 21, 2025. A list of winners will also be posted on KidsGardening.org on that date. Awards will be distributed in February 2025.

Grant Recipient Requirements

Grant awardees are required to complete a brief grant-end report by June 15, 2025. These reports help KidsGardening and the sponsors determine the overall impact of the grant program. You can download a copy of the grant-end report as a Word document or PDF file.

Winners will be provided with a link in May 2025 to the 10-question online form.

Grant-end reporting requirements include:

Digital images of the garden
A quick video of the garden
Parental release forms to accompany images of children
A short 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 makes a good Youth Garden Grant application?

The Youth Garden Grant supports school and youth educational garden projects that enhance the quality of life for youth and their communities. As such, a competitive application will demonstrate a clear picture of how the new or existing youth garden will benefit your community.

We also encourage you to explore our Grant Application Support page for advice on how to craft a standout grant application.

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?

Programs that previously were awarded a grant from KidsGardening in 2023 or 2024 are ineligible. Programs that were funded in 2022 or earlier are welcome to apply.

How does KidsGardening’s Common Application work?

KidsGardening has streamlined its grant application process, and applicants can now apply for multiple grants at the same time using the 2025 Common Application form. We recognize it takes time and energy to complete a grant application, and as such, this change will reduce the burden of submitting multiple grant applications within the same grant cycle year.

Complete the application by the grant deadline to be considered for that grant. If you plan to apply for multiple grants, complete the application by the first deadline. If you are only applying for one grant, apply by its deadline.

How do I know if I’ve successfully submitted my application?

You will receive a confirmation email from [email protected] when you submit your application on our application platform, 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?

Started but not submitted applications will not be considered for the award.

What if I need to update my submitted application?

To edit your submission, click the “Edit Submission” link at the top of the confirmation email sent from [email protected]. If you can not find the confirmation email, please complete a new application. We will 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 who evaluate applications and supporting materials. A single application typically goes through three rounds of evaluation before being selected as a winner. This takes approximately one month.

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.

What can we use the $500 in funding on?

You may spend the grant funds on gardening materials such as raised bed materials, soil, plants, seeds, compost materials, tools, fencing, greenhouse or hydro/aquaponic materials, curriculum, watering supplies, observation tools, garden decor, cooking supplies, garden field trip expenses, and programming. This is not an exhaustive list but merely an example of how the funds can be used.

A maximum of $250 can be budgeted to cover salaries or stipends.

I didn’t receive an email on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, 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 listed on your application. Emails are sent to both winning programs and those that were not selected for this year’s grant. If you've unsubscribed from our email list, there will be a delay in grant notification. 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 2025 Youth Garden Grant is sponsored by the following partners: