Dekko Foundation Grant

The Dekko Foundation Grant supports the development of children and young people from birth to age 18, focusing on their economic freedom through tailored learning environments. The foundation prioritizes early childhood development, middle childhood growth, adolescent skills, and vibrant community support. Organizations eligible for funding must be nonprofit or have a fiscal sponsor that is a 501(c)(3). Proposals should connect to communities where the founder had a vested interest.

NOTE: We don’t have grant application deadlines. Instead, we ask that you send in your proposal at least 90 days before you would like to receive a response from our foundation.
Our Funding Priorities
When they have opportunities to connect their skills and talents to careers, they further their ability to create goods and services for others. In other words, they have achieved economic freedom.
Through our grantmaking, we invest in the healthy development of children and young people and in environments that nurture their self-sufficiency. Using what we’ve learned over our four decades as a grantmaker and our understanding of the principles of child development, we have established a set of funding priorities that guides our work.
Grantmaking Priority Areas  (find additional details here):
During this time children benefit when the adults in their lives understand how they are growing and learning and know how to apply that understanding.Middle Childhood Development: Growth and learning in middle childhood builds on the foundation that was laid in early childhood. While they continue to rely on their parents and their familiar surroundings, children from age six through twelve become voracious explorers of the world around them.Adolescent Developments: To be ready for a life of economic freedom, a young person must have the opportunity to learn skills, acquire knowledge and build character. Beginning at about age thirteen, young people begin to think about their purpose in life and crave ways to apply the experiences and information that they’ve gained during their childhood.Community Development: Only vibrant communities are able to adequately support the development of their children and young people. The best of those communities act as economic freedom role models for their citizens.

Eligibility

Organizations that apply to our foundation must either be a nonprofit organization or must have secured a fiscal sponsor relationship with a nonprofit organization. The fiscal sponsor must be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and must have a formalized working relationship with the applying organization. Please note that, in these cases, grants are paid to the fiscal sponsor, and the fiscal sponsor is responsible for the proper expenditure of funds and all reporting requirements.We consider grant proposals that benefit people in communities where our founder, Mr. Chet Dekko, had an interest during his lifetime.Those communities are:

Alabama - Limestone County. Indiana- DeKalb, LaGrange, Kosciusko, Noble, Steuben, and Whitley Counties.Iowa - Clarke, Decatur, Lucas, Ringgold, and Union Counties.
Minnesota - Norman County.