2025 Grant Timelines and Links

In 2025 we are making several adjustments to our grant opportunities based on input from the field, guidance by our board and advisory committees, and learnings from the last several years of grantmaking. Our 2025 grantmaking approach is summarized below. Please feel free to reach out to Senior Program Officer, Nell Tessman, at ntessman@grayff.org with any questions.

Core Environmental Education Grant Opportunity – Invitation Only

In 2025, we will be inviting core environmental education organizations serving Oregon K-8 youth to apply for funding. Invited organizations have established partnerships with schools or other programs that directly engage K-8 youth in experiential, outdoor learning opportunities and can demonstrate ongoing demand for programming, a strong reputation, and responsiveness to the communities they serve. These grants will be renewable for up to two additional years. Invited applicants will be notified by January 31, 2025.

New and Innovative Grant Opportunity – Open and Competitive

In 2025, we have $90,000 available to support new and innovative grants to environmental education organizations serving Oregon youth and educators. Only organizations who have not received Gray FF funding since 2017 or any organization seeking funds for a one-time educator professional development opportunity are eligible to apply. We anticipate awarding 4-5 grants of between $5,000-$20,000 each or 4-5 smaller grants and two larger grants depending on the types of applications. We anticipate distributing approximately $30,000 of funds each quarter (Q2-Q4).

To apply:

  • Schedule an initial conversation with Gray Family Foundation’s Senior Program Officer beginning: January 17, 2025*
  • After Senior Program Officer approval, applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and reviewed quarterly: April 4, July 11, and September 19
  • Grant award notification: End of May, End of August, Mid November

*Please contact our Program Officer at ntessman@grayff.org to discuss your application before you apply. Please be prepared to verbally share general information about your proposed project.

Request Guidelines:

We are interested in reviewing proposals for a range of funding levels that best serve the needs of your organization, program, or region. Applications will be reviewed on a quarterly basis by our community-based, environmental education advisory committee. We will award funds to the strongest eligible requests regardless of proposal type and encourage organizations to apply for the type of funding that will best serve youth and their community.  A few notes on overall requests:

  • All requests should be between $5,000-$20,000 per organization. Organizations applying through this grant program in 2025 are not eligible to submit multi-year requests, however if awarded, organizations will be eligible to be considered for funding in 2026 and/or may be eligible for the invitation process in 2026.
  • Requests should support programming directly benefiting K-8 youth in Oregon or offer professional development to educators that will directly benefit K-8 youth in Oregon.
  • We encourage organizations to consider costs associated with staff development, wellness, and rest as elements of budgets. Similar to our support for budgets that include coinciding administrative or overhead costs, Gray Family Foundation is supportive of budgets that reflect support for staff retention, health, and wellness.
  • We also strongly encourage organizations applying for funds to request the necessary funds required to pay staff at all levels equitable and competitive wages that reflect the essential value of nonprofit staff and educators.

Learn more about this opportunity in our updated 2025 Environmental Education RFP for New and Innovative Grants.

2025 Environmental Education Grant Program Overall Approach and Strategy

The Gray Family Foundation’s Environmental Education program seeks to support programs that stimulate or promote the teaching of environmental education in K-12 environments and increases outdoor experiences that connect youth with built and natural environments.

In 2025 Gray Family Foundation continues to seek applications and fund organizations and programs that inspire and promote outdoor, environmental, land-based, and/or climate education in formal and informal K-12 educational environments and increase outdoor experiences for youth – either during the school day, during afterschool or the summer, or as a service or opportunity offered to families and youth outside of the context of the school setting.

The Gray Family Foundation total budget in 2025 for environmental education grants is $705,000. We anticipate maintaining this funding level for the foreseeable future, which will include multi-year commitments, new grant funding, and grants distributed to intermediary organizations to support individual schools. The goal of our 2025 strategy is to effectively support the ecosystem of organizations, schools, educators, and youth-serving organizations essential to ensuring that youth have the opportunity to connect with and learn in the outdoors.

  • New and Innovative Grants – $90,000, summarized above.
  • Multi-Year Commitments: $260,000 is dedicated in 2025 for grants to multi-year commitments for environmental education projects from previously awarded applications.
  • Core Environmental Education Organization Grants: $300,000 will be awarded through an invitation only process to core organizations focused on delivering environmental education programming in regions across the state. Invited organizations have established partnerships with schools or other programs that directly engage K-8 in experiential, outdoor learning opportunities and can demonstrate ongoing demand for programming and strong reputation and responsiveness to the communities they serve. These grants will be renewable for up to two additional years. Invited applicants will be notified by January 31, 2025.
  • Individual School Grants: $55,000 – Remaining funds will be distributed to organizations for re-granting out to individual schools for outdoor learning, including field trips, school gardens, etc. More details will be shared in February 2025.

**Please note that we only fund projects/programs/organizations serving youth/educators in Oregon**

To learn more about our currently available Environmental Education funding or to check eligibility of your project or program: