School Garden Grants

Thank you for your interest in applying for one of Florida Agriculture in the Classroom’s School Garden Grants!

The School Garden Grants are meant to supplement FAITC’s Gardening for Grades, Gardening for Nutrition and STEMming Up Gardening, three books that take Florida teachers through the process of developing a school garden and includes lessons to help teachers use the garden to teach health, science, language arts, math, technology, engineering and other subjects.

Grant Information, Guidelines, and Requirements

Florida Agriculture in the Classroom’s School Garden Grant Program is designed to fund school garden projects that will educate Florida’s students about the importance of agriculture, healthier meal options and allow teachers to use a school garden to teach Florida standards.

Those who receive funding for a school garden project will need to request a free copy of Gardening for Grades, Gardening for Nutrition and/or STEMming Up Gardening, books for teachers to help them get the most out of their school gardens, including tips on securing funding, planting Florida fruits and vegetables, and using the garden to teach more than a two dozen lesson plans and activities. A requirement of the grant is that teachers teach at least one lesson from one of FAITC’s three school garden curricula.

Grant Timeline

• 2023-2024 Final Report Due by May 17, 2024
  • Online Google Form
  • Word Document Format (if needed)

Eligible Applicants

Certified teachers in Florida engaged in classroom instruction at the pre‐kindergarten through 12th grade level who wish to create fruit and vegetable school gardens to enhance students’ understanding of agriculture.

Funding Guidelines

• The following School Garden Grants will be available:
  • $500 School Garden Grants
  • Budgets must be equal to or less than awarded amount.
• Because of food safety concerns, animal waste is not to be used on edible plants. Composted manure is allowed.
• Grant money cannot be used for:
  • Transportation
  • Salary or compensation
  • Clothing, promotional items or giveaways
• Grant money can only be used for the following list of acceptable items:
  • Seeds (fruits and vegetables)
  • Soil
  • Plants (fruits and vegetables)
  • Fertilizer
  • Raised bed materials
  • Greenhouse materials
  • Hydroponics materials
  • Irrigation/watering system materials
  • Gardening tools
• Grant check will be made payable to the school.
• Grant checks not cashed within 60 days after receipt will become null and void.
• Grant application window closes October 31, 2023. 

Grant Requirements

• Students must be directly involved in project.
• The use of at least one lesson from Gardening for Grades, Gardening for Nutrition and/or STEMming Up Gardening must be demonstrated in the application and final report. (available for free from Florida Agriculture in the Classroom) A pre- and post-test for each lesson used must be administered to the students participating in the project. Pre- and post-test results must be included in the final report. Pre‐ and post‐tests can be found at the end of each lesson, but teachers can create their own tests as long as they coordinate with the lesson.
• Students must be surveyed at the beginning and end of garden project to determine the percent that try the fruits and vegetables planted in the garden.
• You must plant at least one fruit or vegetable that you have not grown before.
• A DETAILED budget and timeline must be included with your application.
• Some amount of in‐kind or monetary contributions is recommended, this can be in the form of volunteer time.
• Only one grant will be awarded per school.
• If your school has received a grant in the past and not turned in a final report, your school is not eligible.
• If any changes in project or budget are made throughout the project recipients must send an email with changes to sponholtz@agtag.org.
• A final report is due (online) to FAITC office no later than May 17, 2024.

General application issues to avoid: 

• Word count minimums, not maximums
  • Purpose, description, and project outcomes all have word minimums. Ensure that you have met these minimums, the form will not do this for you.
  • Please check your grammar and use capitalized letters and punctuation as needed.
• Projected outcomes and measurable impacts
  • These can be related to healthy living, growth in knowledge, social emotional learning, students based, family based, or school based.
  • List at least three things, preferably more, that would like to accomplish this school year using the garden.
• Budget
  • List each item you wish to purchase for the project, put a price per item and how many of each item you would like to purchase.
  • Do not be general with your items.
    • General: Plants = $20
    • Itemized & detailed: Tomato plants at $3.25 x 4 plants = $13
    • General: Tools = $50
    • Itemized & detailed: Trowels at $5.75 x 25 = $143.75
  • If you are applying for the $650 grant your budget needs to equal $650 or above. Same for the $500 and $250 Garden Grants.
  • You school should be tax exempt, if so, do not include tax in your budget.
• Timeline
  • Must be detailed and include the garden work and the educational component.
  • A detailed timeline shows FAITC that you have thoroughly thought through the entire garden project.
  • Include what you will do each month to ensure the project’s success. We understand some months will have more tasks than others.
• Recommendation: Type all your information into a Word document, once it is complete, copy and paste the information into the online form.