Gray Family Fund of The Oregon Community Foundation Environmental Education Program

Request for Proposals 2008

The Environmental Education Program seeks to encourage a strong local land ethic, sustainable communities, and stewardship of the natural environment by citizens throughout Oregon.

The Fund is committed long term to institutionalizing a series of age appropriate experiences that build a sense of place and responsibility towards Oregon and the region.

The program will support four general goals:

• Strengthening and developing programs that provide outdoor experiences for youth from early childhood through grade 12.
• Creating, expanding and improving programs that connect schools with their communities and provide students with practical hands-on experience in addressing environmental issues both locally and globally.
• Programs committed to creating comprehensive, significant, lasting change in educational systems to foster improved understanding of and interaction with our natural systems.
• Encouraging programs that explore and integrate boundaries between art and science, and connect creativity with the natural environment.

The Gray Family Fund Environmental Education Program invites proposals focused on:

• Early Childhood Environmental Education
• Outdoor School Programs
• Outdoor Exploration and Community Field Trips
• Service Learning Experiences and High School Expeditions
• Greening Educational Facilities
• Environmental Professional Development for Teachers and Volunteer Mentors

For more information and detailed examples of the six categories, please refer to the Gray Family Fund Environmental Education Program Description on the OCF Web site.

Your project may use several of the strategies listed below.  For evaluation purposes, please select the one most appropriate for your project.

• Processes: Encourage interdisciplinary experiential work in educational fields, such as integration of science, the arts, geography, economics, and history; especially involving community partnerships.
• Programs: Expand, replicate, and boost long term capacity of model programs.  Support programs that leverage other funding and promote partnerships with local agencies and community organizations.
• Curriculum adaptation: Support the alignment and integration of effective experiential, inquiry-based, best practices programs in schools.
• Operations: Support green capacity-building in order to sustain the core program work of organizations, including both operational support and the greening of facilities/infrastructure.

How To Apply

Please apply electronically under one document, if possible.  Materials including the Application and Evaluation Report Form are available under Programs at: www.ocf1.org.  Submit one electronic document that includes your Cover Letter, full Application, and Evaluation Plan, bundled as a single PDF or Word Document.

Grants will be made to schools, government agencies, and nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations.  Most grants range from $10,000 to $40,000, unless the project is a multi-year effort.  Multi-year projects will be reviewed one year at a time.  Please apply for no less than $5,000.

A project Evaluation is required eight months into the grant.  Information on creating an Evaluation Plan and completing the Evaluation Report Form can be found on the website.

Deadline is August 1st.  Applicants will be notified in December.

Direct applications and questions to:

Lara Utman
The Oregon Community Foundation
Attention: Environmental Education Program
1221 SW Yamhill St., Suite 100
Portland, OR 97205
503-227-6846
enviroed@ocf1.org