Kid Kindness Grants

Applications are open!

PLEASE NOTE: Applicants DO NOT need any experience in grant writing to apply!

Kindness Grows Here believes every child is inherently kind and can make positive changes in their community. We know that kids and teens have amazing ideas for spreading kindness in their schools, neighborhoods, and larger communities. We value the unique perspective children bring to identifying problems in their schools, neighborhoods, and communities, and finding creative ways to solve these problems through kindness. For this reason, we dedicate the largest portion of our budget to our "Kid Kindness Grants" program.

Every year from September 1 to November 1 we accept applications directly from kids between the ages of 5-18 who have ideas for spreading kindness. To apply, kids need to complete a simple application that tells us what they want to do, why, whom their project will impact, how much money they need, and exactly how they will spend it.

The link below (at the bottom of this page) will take you to our on-line application. Be sure to fill out all sections of the application. Before submitting your application, be sure to read ALL the details below. By submitting an application, you are agreeing to all of these rules, guidelines, and regulations.

This program has awarded more than $60,000 in grants over the past 6 years to children in 32 states and 7 countries! We can't wait to see what great ideas are submitted this year!

Rules and Guidelines:

All applicants must be students between the ages of 5-18. Applications may be submitted by individuals or groups. Groups can include a group of friends, a school club, a classroom, a scout troop, a sports team, etc. Any group is acceptable as long as all members of the group are between the ages of 5-18.

All applications must be submitted no later than 11:59p.m. on Friday, November 1, 2024.
Individuals may apply for up to $250, small groups (2-4 kids) may apply for up to $500, and large groups (5+ kids) may apply for up to $800.
All funds granted must be used for projects carried out by the students named on the application. The intent of these grants is for young people to be involved in developing and carrying out their own ideas dedicated to solving problems in their community through kindness.
The application should be completed in the child's words. If parents/adults would like to add to the child's explanation they can do so, but it must be clearly indicated which parts were completed by whom.
All applications MUST include a detailed budget. If an application does not include a detailed budget, it will be disqualified.
Awards will be granted based on the following:
Quality of the application: Is it detailed? Was the application completed in full? Does it demonstrate that a lot of thought was put into the application? Is it completed by the child who is applying and not just by an adult? (See #5 above)
Impact: Will those receiving the kindness have the feeling that another person really made an effort to connect and show that they care? NOTE: We do not fund projects in which kids simply seek to donate money or goods to another organization. We support projects in which children are involved in directly spreading kindness to other people in their community. Additionally, we do not fund projects that spread kindness to animals. While a worthy cause, that is not the focus of our organization.
Fiscal Responsibility: Are the funds being used responsibly? Have efforts been made to minimize cost? Have donations from other organizations been sought, if a large sum is required to complete the project? (NOTE: We do not fund projects that request t-shirts for the kids carrying out the project. And we do not fund food/snacks for applicants. All funds requested must be necessary for the completion of the kindness project.)
Creativity: Is kindness being spread in a creative and unique way?
Safety: Does the project do everything possible to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and other illnesses--especially if at risk populations are being served--while spreading kindness in a meaningful way?
NOTE: The winning applications will not necessarily be large scale, "grand" projects. We are always thrilled to fund simple projects that highlight a child's desire to spread kindness on a small scale.
All applicants must have an adult supervising their project. The adult will be responsible for ensuring that the project is completed and that the funds are used solely for the intended purpose. Adults will be responsible for keeping receipts to show proper use of funds.
Applications cannot be submitted as part of a required assignment. The project is supposed to be something that the applicant is motivated to do. Of course we know most (if not all) kids have encouragement to apply from an adult in their life. But, we expect the children applying to be the driving force behind completing the application and carrying out the project. We recognize the educational value of thinking about real world problems and how to solve them through kindness. As such we have provided materials below for educators to use in classrooms to discuss these valuable concepts. If educators use these resources in the classroom, we ask that only students who are extremely motivated and excited to apply for a grant do so. We ask that no more than 3 students per classroom submit an application.
Please only apply for the amount of funding actually required to complete the project. DO NOT apply for the full amount just because you can. We will not fund projects that don't provide a detailed "budget" of what the funds will be used for. We ask that students apply for funds in a fiscally responsible manner so that we can fund as many projects as possible.
If awarded funds, all applicants must complete their kindness project by June 1, 2025.
All recipients of Kid Kindness Grants will have to provide a "Project Completion Report" (written, video, slide show, etc.) to Kindness Grows Here, Inc. by July 1, 2025 that details:

a) what it was like to complete the project,
b) who was impacted and how,
c) how people responded,
d) how the funds were spent
e) any additional information we require.

Kindness Grows Here, Inc. will in no way be responsible for the carrying out of or gaining permission for any of the projects funded through this program. Kindness Grows Here, Inc. is simply providing funds and bears no responsibility or liability for activities or events carried out with the funds provided. Submitting an application is agreement to this waiver of liability. All winners will have to sign an official "Waiver of Liability" before funds are disbursed.

Remember, you can't give us "too much information" on your application. If you think you wrote too much or gave too many details about your project, then give us one more detail! :)

You can find a list of last year's winners here. Additionally, if you scroll to the bottom of that page you will find a detailed list of "pitfalls" to avoid when submitting an application. We encourage all applicants to explore the list of grants that were funded, as well as the reasons why some grants are not. This will give you the information you need to submit an application that has a great chance of being awarded funds.

Good luck! We can't wait to see the amazing ideas you have!

Apply Now: English

Aplicar Ahora: Español

Resources For Educators
& Other Supervising Adults

Dear Educators,

Kindness Grows Here is dedicated to making your job easier! We know that as influential adults in the lives of so many children that you are instrumental in making our Kid Kindness Grants Program a success.

As such, we have created materials that you can use in the classroom (and at home) to get kids thinking about making change in their community through kindness. We hope these materials will be a meaningful resource that will make lesson-planning easier, provide some meaningful and important class discussion, and also result in well thought out applications for our grants.

The Kid Kindness Grants program seeks to empower youth by funding any child's intentional and creative idea for community kindness. You are our partners in achieving this goal.

However, please keep in mind that this application CANNOT be completed as part of a required assignment. The goal of this grant program is to support kids who have a strong desire to make a difference in their community through kindness. If children are required to complete the application for school, we have no way of knowing if their motivation is genuine. So, please utilize these resources to get kids thinking about these important concepts. But please only have the students who are truly excited about their ideas submit an application directly to Kindness Grows Here. No more than 3 students per classroom can submit an application.

If you have any feedback for us about how we can make these resources more meaningful or effective, please reach out at: info@KindnessGrowsHere.com

Thank you for all you do!

~The Board of Directors of Kindness Grows Here

NOTE: While these resources were created with educators in mind, they would be a great way for any supervising adult to help a child think in depth about how they would like to spread kindness in their community. Anyone is welcome to utilize these resources.

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Work Collaboratively with Your Team:

For Students who would like to work on their application together as a group, and/or get feedback from their supervising adult, we have created this "Google Doc" to enable students to work collaboratively on the text of their application. Please note: This document IS NOT THE APPLICATION! Students will have to copy and paste text from their Google Doc into the actual application.