Grants Available From the Great American Bake Sale

In January I posted about fundraising with the Great American Bake Sale. This is a national campaign that encourages everyone to help end childhood hunger in America by hosting a bake sale in their community. The bake sale is sponsored by Share Our Strength, a national nonprofit organization, and Parade magazine to raise money to provide after-school, weekend, holiday and summer feeding programs for America’s more than 13 million hungry children. More than $2.7 million has been raised since 2003.

The bake sale season for 2005 ended in January 2006. Eligible organizations may now apply for grants between now and 2006 to April 15, 2006. There are three types of grants available that range from $1,000 to $15,0000.

Share Our Strength provides grants to registered nonprofit organizations with IRS 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status, to government entities (such as Department of Parks and Recreation that sponsor USDA meal programs, and to schools. There are additional eligiblity requirements that can be found on the grant application.

The three types of grant are:

Program Sponsor Grants — Up to $15,000

Eligible states: AL, CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, LA, MD, MA, MI, MS, NE, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, TX, VA, or WA

Program sponsors are organizations that prepare claims for USDA reimbursement, oversee food service management, provide training and technical assistance to site staff, and monitor sites’ compliance with program rules.

Advocacy Grants — Up to $15,000

Eligible states: AL, CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, LA, MD, MA, MI, MS, NE, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, TX, VA, or WA

Advocacy organizations work with schools, community organizations, local businesses, and with government officials to increase participation in summer and afterschool meal programs that use USDA reimbursement. .

Mini Grants — Amounts of $1,000 to $5,000

Eligible states: AK, AZ, AR, CT, DC, DE, HI, ID, IN, IA, KS, KY, ME, MN, MO, MT, NV, NH, NM, ND, OK, RI, SC, SD, TN, UT, VT, WV, WI, or WY

Grants for support organizations that work to fight childhood hunger in their communities. Preference will be given to organizations working to increase participation among low-income children in summer and afterschool meal programs that utilize USDA reimbursement through the Summer Food Service Program, National School Lunch Program, or Child and Adult Care Food Program.

Areas of the United States that were affected by hurricane Katrina will also be receiving money from the bake sales.

There are only a few more weeks to apply for grants from the Great American Bake Sale. You must apply online by April 15th and follow by submitting the required supporting documents within two days of your online application.

Visit http://www.greatamericanbakesale.org for the instructions.

In my next post I plan to write more about the participants in the Great American Bake Sale, how they earned money and what they learned about bake sales.

Article by Amy Passmore of DIY Fundraising. Visit www.diyfundraising.com for do-it-yourself fundraising ideas for nonprofit organizations, clubs, schools and groups.