Springtime is the perfect time for planting a new garden. If you’ve been dreaming of bringing a garden to your school, check out these funding opportunities to get started.

National Opportunities

Community Grants
Sponsored by DuPont Pioneer
DuPont Pioneer supports prekindergarten through grade 12 teaching gardens and greenhouses, local Future Farmers of America and 4H programs, literacy programs, science fairs, and supplies for science classrooms.

Deadline: Contact your local representative for more information.

Donald Samull Classroom Herb Garden Grant
Sponsored by The Herb Society of America, Inc.
This grant supports development of indoor and outdoor herb gardens in grades 3 through 6 classrooms. The society selects schools or classrooms to receive seed money to establish an indoor or outdoor herb garden. Funds may be used for supplies such as soil, plant trays, containers, and child or youth sized tools.

Deadline: October 1, 2017

GreenWorks! Grants
Sponsored by Project Learning Tree, a program of the American Forest Foundation
GreenWorks! Grants are awarded for service-learning projects in environmental education. Activities such as establishing school gardens and outdoor classrooms, school recycling programs, conserving water and energy, improving a forest, and restoring a natural habitat are eligible for funding.

Deadline: September 30, annually

Lorrie Otto Seeds for Education Grant Program
Sponsored by Wild Ones
This grant supports projects that focus on appreciation for nature through the use of and teaching about native plants. Project examples include wildflower gardens with a habitat for butterflies or other pollinators, rainwater gardens that capture run-off and feature native plant communities, and groves of trees or native shrubs that support birds and other wildlife.

Deadline: October 15, annually

State Opportunities

Lunaria Grants
Sponsored by Idaho Botanical Garden
The Idaho Botanical Garden Lunaria Grants encourage and support educational horticulture programs. Grants strive to cultivate a lifelong interest in gardening and horticulture. Previous grants were used to fund native plant gardens at elementary schools, educational projects in botanical gardens, and high school hydroponics projects.

Deadline: First Friday in February, annually

Outdoor Classroom Minigrants
Sponsored by Tennessee Farm Bureau and the Tennessee Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom
The Tennessee Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom assists teachers in presenting agriculture curriculum to Tennessee students by helping to provide a crop garden that demonstrates the connection between agriculture, food, fiber, conservation, wildlife, and the urban environment. Gardens located on or adjacent to school sites that contain production agriculture crops are the focus of the Outdoor Classroom Minigrants. Eligible projects include corn, wheat, oats, garden vegetables, fruits, tree nuts, nursery crops, and honeybees for honey production.

Deadline: Applications are accepted year-round.

School Garden and Greenhouse Grants
Sponsored by Maine Agriculture in the Classroom
Maine Agriculture in the Classroom makes grants to support agriculture education for Maine students in prekindergarten through grade 12. School Garden and Greenhouse Grants support hands-on agricultural projects on school grounds. Grants are intended to promote understanding of the food and fiber system within Maine and the nation through the infusion of agricultural concepts into grade-level curricula.

Deadline: June 8, 2017

School Garden Grant Program
Sponsored by California Fertilizer Foundation
This grant is awarded to California public and private elementary, middle, and high schools to support the continuation or implementation of a school garden, either as an in-school or after-school program. The foundation’s goal is to increase the understanding and awareness of agriculture and enhance classroom curriculum for youth through firsthand school garden experiences.

Deadlines: January 15 and June 15, annually

These are just a small sample of the school garden opportunities available to educators. Use GetEdFunding’s Custom Search to discover funding opportunities in your state.