Bargaining & Advocacy Grants

Bargaining & Advocacy Grants

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: National Education Association Staff Organization
Amount: Up to US $50,000
Last Updated: October 16, 2025

Summary

The National Education Association's Collective Bargaining and Member Advocacy Department offers grants to support affiliates in creating student-centered initiatives through collective bargaining and advocacy. These grants aim to unite educators with communities, enhance transparency in negotiations, and advocate for students' rights, focusing on improving education funding, working conditions, and student outcomes. Affiliates can apply for funding to develop strategies that foster collaboration and promote positive learning environments.

Overview

NEA’s Collective Bargaining and Member Advocacy Department (CBMA) will be awarding grants to affiliates to design and implement student-centered initiatives through collective bargaining or other forms of advocacy. Affiliates have used these grants to: Unite educators with parents, communities, and students to advocate and bargain for the schools that students deserve.Open up negotiations and make collective bargaining a more transparent process.Advocate for students away from the bargaining table.Join the Red for Ed movement to improve educator pay, preserve health care and pensions, increase education funding, and achieve student-centered victories through collective bargaining and other forms advocacy.Bargain for the Common Good. What is student-centered bargaining and advocacy? Student-centered bargaining and advocacy is a model of unionism that fuses organizing, collective bargaining, and other collective action with community engagement and social justice activism to enhance student learning and improve educator working conditions. Student-centered bargaining and advocacy does not supplant our traditional advocacy roles. Rather, it augments these roles, building a culture and implementing practices that place the needs of students at the forefront of our cause. Is grant eligibility restricted to affiliates that collectively bargain or to projects directly related to a collective bargaining campaign? No. While we are especially interested in funding proposals that seek to advance student-centered policies and practices through the bargaining process, affiliates that are willing and able to engage in student-centered practices to influence board policies that promote healthy and positive learning environments for students are also encouraged to apply. Can a student-centered bargaining and advocacy grant be combined with other grants, such as a community organizing grant? Yes. We encourage affiliates to consider, for example, submitting a proposal to engage parents and minority communities as part of an overall advocacy and organizing plan to meet students’ needs. This grant cannot, however, be combined with a state media grant or with a ballot measure or legislative crisis grant. Can a student-centered bargaining and advocacy grant involve stakeholders in the use of American Rescue Plan and other Federal Funds? Yes, we welcome proposals focused on lifting up the educator voice provisions in using ARP Funds. Proposals centered on developing strategies and campaigns that include fighting for safe and healthy schools, increased mental health support, and education equity are especially encouraged to apply.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Local affiliates are eligible for the grant as are state affiliates, which can coordinate a student-centered bargaining and advocacy project, providing targeted local associations with training, assistance, and resources necessary for the completion of the grant and successful implementation of the proposed program or activity. Affiliates that represent teachers, education support professionals, and higher education staff are encouraged to apply. You must be a member of this organization to apply for this award - become a member.