Mebane Foundation Grant

The Mebane Foundation Grant focuses on enhancing educational opportunities for children by ensuring access to top-tier education for all, regardless of background. Emphasizing early reading skills as foundational, the grant promotes collaborations among educators, business leaders, and the community to foster innovative solutions. Organizations eligible for funding must be 501(c)(3) exempt and not private foundations. The Foundation encourages proposals that include challenge matches and offers multi-year funding for new initiatives.

NOTE:
Letter of Inquiry - This deadline represents when the funder you need to first complete a phone interview with our president. At that time we will be able to let you know whether your proposal generally meets the Foundation’s objectives and interests.Full Proposal - After an initial phone interview, prospective grantee proposals are accepted throughout the year. For consideration by our Board of Directors at its fall meeting in September, completed applications must be submitted by July 1; for consideration at its spring meeting in March, completed applications must be submitted by January 1.
All of our Foundation’s efforts are based on founder Allen Mebane’s conviction:

• That to achieve our nation’s greatest potential, we must ensure that its young people receive top-tier educations

That educational opportunity and excellence must take root in the early grades, that reading skills are the foundation of all education, and that the opportunity for success in school, the workplace and life is dramatically enhanced for children who can read at or above grade level by the end of the 3rd grade.
That every child, regardless of race or socioeconomic background, should have the opportunity to receive a top-tier education that will throw doors wide open to extraordinary career opportunities and more fulfilling, successful lives.
From Mr. Mebane’s convictions, we have established the following guiding principles to become a catalyst for innovation and excellence in education:
The Foundation will use its assets to promote collaborations and partnerships among educational professionals (public and private), business leaders, elected officials, and the community at large, focused on ensuring that all children have the opportunity to reach their highest potential in school, in career, and in life.
The Foundation will encourage bold innovation, always seeking collaborations and partnerships with enormous potential and a commitment to finding creative solutions by creating new, outside-the-box models that enhance educational opportunities for all students.
The Foundation – as a catalyst for educational innovation and improvement, not a permanent source of funding – will require its education, business, government, and community partners to develop models with long-term, independent sustainability.
Funding
Organizations are encouraged to ask for amounts consistent with program/project needs.
We will also review multi-year funding requests to provide seed money for new programs and initiatives as well as expansion of existing programs and projects.

Eligibility

Organizations that have qualified for exemption under Section 501© (3) of the IRS Code and are not privation foundations as defined by Section 509 (a) of the Code.

Ineligibility

Individuals are not eligible.