Kids Kindness Grant 2025(Upto $800)

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.

1. All applications must be submitted no later than 11:59p.m. on Friday, November 1, 2024.
2. 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. 
3. 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.
4. 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. 
5. 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:

1. 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)
2. 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.
3. 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.)
4. Creativity: Is kindness being spread in a creative and unique way?
5. 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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. If awarded funds, all applicants must complete their kindness project by June 1, 2025.
6. 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.