Foundation 65 supports targeted investments and programming for students and empowers educator innovation and leadership.
Our grants range from Strategic Impact Grants at the District level, to Engagement Grants within schools and community, to Change Agent Grants supporting teacher innovation.
What We Fund
Apply now to our
Change Agent or Critical Response Grant cycles
Strategic Impact Grants
Strategic Grants invest in District-wide change and sustainable improvement in literacy for our K-2 striving readers. Strategic Grants are multi-year grants focusing on achieving a specific outcome. These grants must be targeted to reach a broader audience and be focused on systemic change.
Partnership: Young, Black and Lit
When District 65 shut down on March 13, 2020, many students were left without basic educational resources to move forward. Through our partnership with Young, Black and Lit, a nonprofit organization committed to increasing access to children's books that center, reflect, and affirm Black children, we were able to get over 1500 books into the hands of District 65 students who chose books with characters that reflected their identities.
Teacher Literacy Initiative
In collaboration with District 65, Foundation 65 is launching a program to financially support D65 educators in obtaining their reading endorsement or master’s degree in reading in order to build classroom capacity to accelerate reading outcomes. In its pilot year, 12 educators will receive significant tuition support to build their capacity to teach literacy in their classrooms.
Engagement Grants
Engagement Grants support projects and interventions that expand beyond a single classroom or year to create longer-term impacts and sustainability. Engagement Grants allow educators’ initiatives to grow and for great ideas to spread across District 65. They are single year OR multi-year grants that are targeted to reach a broader audience.
Black Girl Magic Book Club
When this Club was created to affirm, empower, and humanize Black girls, the leaders empowered the participants to critically analyze books using the principles of the Black Lives Matter movement while building a stronger sense of identity and understanding of self. From reading and analysis to community building and the creation of the year-end “Magic Mirror Mural,” this program emphasizes participants’ journey through this process, and serves them with tools to develop their own racial, ethnic and gender identity.
Evanston Speaks
The Evanston Speaks Youth Poetry Program was created and incubated with the support of Foundation 65 funds before becoming part of the opportunities District 65 students have in middle school. In this program, students created and performed their own spoken word poems over the course of the year. The year ended with participation in the Louder than a Bomb Youth Poetry Festival and gave students a chance to have their voices and experiences heard and valued. Evanston Speaks students have performed at the Foundation 65 My65 event and have gone head to head with high school students in competition.
Change Agent Grants
Change Agent grants allow educators to have voice and agency in creating change in classrooms and beyond. Change Agent Grant proposals are focused on supporting teachers’ work within our schools to create grassroots change that can grow in impact.
Artist in Residence with an Eye on Equity
Fifth grade students at Dewey learned about activism, strategies activists use to impact the world, and how activism relates to art. Through working with local artist and activist, Ben Blount, students were able to identify causes they cared about and move from creating messages to creating art showcasing those messages in Mr. Blount’s studio.
Sensory Based Creative Drama
Students at the Park School have profound disabilities that make it challenging to access drama education. The purchase and implementation of sensory drama equipment, from a light up vibrating cube to assisted communication devices, allowed students to access their education in ways that educators had only dreamed were possible.
Our Grantmaking Process
Our Principles
Foundation 65 gives priority consideration to funding programs that target the following:
Support educational equity
Created and led by educators
Focused on children’s foundational years
Exploring possibilities of replicable programming
Support community and family engagement
Our Review Process
The Foundation 65 Program Committee will review all proposals and provide funding recommendations to the Board of Directors. After initial review of a proposal, additional information may be requested. Final funding decisions are made by the Foundation 65 Board.
Grants are funded for an academic year starting in September of each year. Most grants range from $500 - $3000. Engagement and strategic grant proposals are accepted by invitation only. Grant applications are due in the winter. Successful applicants will be notified in May and approved programs will receive funding in August.
Responsibilities of Grantees
All grantees are responsible for submitting a final evaluation at the end of the program/project. Multi-year programs will be required to submit annual updates.
Additionally, grantees are asked to submit photos, student work, anecdotal information and testimonials at the end of the project. It is the responsibility of the grantee to ensure that a media consent form for all submitted photos of students and student work is on file at District 65.
We support District 65 educators
We understand that educator skill lies in educating, and that we can not expect you to be grant writers. We simply ask that you share your idea and impact. Grants will be evaluated on the following:
Does the proposed project focus on literacy or the arts?
Does it help strive toward educational equity?
Is there a measurable impact to the program?
Is the program positioned to create long-term change?
Applicants are welcome to contact our offices to discuss project ideas before submitting a proposal. Grant proposals may be submitted electronically or via mail to the Executive Director at the Foundation 65 offices. Applications should be emailed to alecia.wartowski@foundation65.org and/or mailed to our office (address in footer).
We have a story to tell
As a community commited to public education and working toward the vision of equity within our schools, this is where we reside.
