Grant Resources Paul Birkelo Grant Resources Paul Birkelo

Community Grants

Exelon Corporation

For programs that deliver measurable, sustainable improvements in the communities Exelon serves. Exelon Corporation invests in organizations that have proven track records in these areas: Education, Environment, Arts and Culture, and Neighborhood Development.
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National Robotics Initiative 2.0: Ubiquitous Collaborative Robots (NRI-2.0)

National Science Foundation (NSF)

The NRI-2.0 program builds upon the original National Robotics Initiative (NRI) program to support fundamental research in the United States that will accelerate the development and use of collaborative robots (co-robots) that work beside or cooperatively with people. The program supports four main research thrusts that are envisioned to advance the goal of ubiquitous co-robots: scalability, customizability, lowering barriers to entry, and societal impact. Collaboration between academic, industry, non-profit, and other organizations is encouraged to establish better linkages between fundamental science and engineering and technology development, deployment, and use.
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Art Works

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)

Art Works is the National Endowment for the Arts’ principal grants program. Through project-based funding, we support public engagement with, and access to, various forms of excellent art across the nation, the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, learning in the arts at all stages of life, and the integration of the arts into the fabric of community life. Projects may be large or small, existing or new, and may take place in any part of the nation’s 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories.
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21st Century Community Learning Centers

Department of Education

This program supports the creation of community learning centers that provide academic enrichment opportunities during non-school hours for children, particularly students who attend high-poverty and low-performing schools. The program helps students meet state and local student standards in core academic subjects, such as reading and math; offers students a broad array of enrichment activities that can complement their regular academic programs; and offers literacy and other educational services to the families of participating children.
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Investing in Innovation (i3)

Department of Education

The Investing in Innovation Fund, established under section 14007 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), provides funding to support (1) local educational agencies (LEAs) and (2) nonprofit organizations in partnership with (a) one or more LEAs or (b) a consortium of schools. The purpose of this program is to provide competitive grants to applicants with a record of improving student achievement and attainment in order to expand the implementation of, and investment in, innovative practices that are demonstrated to have an impact on improving student achievement or student growth, closing achievement gaps, decreasing dropout rates, increasing high school graduation rates, or increasing college enrollment and completion rates. These grants will (1) allow eligible entities to expand and develop innovative practices that can serve as models of best practices, (2) allow eligible entities to work in partnership with the private sector and the philanthropic community, and (3) identify and document best practices that can be shared and taken to scale based on demonstrated success.
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Conservation X Tech Prize: Hacking Extinction

Conservation X

Conservation X Labs (CXL) is seeking bold ideas for tech solutions to conservation challenges. Aimed specifically at projects teams that are preparing their first prototype, the Con X Tech prize could provide a $3,500 grant to take your idea from blueprint to reality. CXL is seeking novel and transformative tools and approaches to conserve the world’s biodiversity and end human-induced species extinctions. We want to put these tools in the hands of natural resource managers and conservation agents around the world. We will support ideas that help decision-makers, consumers, and policy makers understand and act on conservation problems. We welcome hardware and software submissions, as well as any impactful solution idea that is enabled by technology and helps achieve a conservation outcome. We believe in radical collaboration, and the strongest solutions and project teams will draw from a handful of disciplines (e.g. behavioral sciences, engineering, computer science, molecular science, economics) and think about the impact, sustainability (financial and environmental) and scalability of their solution from the very beginning. We want to move from merely monitoring changing landscapes and species populations to developing tangible solutions. Funding a working prototype is just the beginning. First round grantees will have the opportunity to enter the prototype of their solution in the second stage of the grant competition, that features $20,000 in awards.
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Collegiate Inventors Competition

National Inventors Hall of Fame

The Collegiate Inventors Competition was founded in 1990 to encourage and drive innovation and entrepreneurship at the collegiate level. The Competition brings together the nation’s brightest college minds to showcase, recognize, and award their cutting-edge research and discovery. A panel of experts not only judge the Finalists’ entries, but also provide feedback, brainstorming, and encouragement needed to take inventions to the next level of innovation. And contestants compete for cash and prizes, too. In fact, over the last 27 years, with the help of our sponsors, we have awarded over $1 million to 183 of the country’s most innovative collegiate students.
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