Innovative Learning Solutions

Sponsor: Sparkplug Foundation

Deadline: 9/25/2009

Amount: varies

Type: Arts & Culture, Social & Economic, Education

Description: The Sparkplug Foundation supports projects in three areas of focus, music, education and grassroots organizing. Sparkplug is a small foundation, which is why it tries to make grants where a small, one-time grant can have a big impact. Generally, the foundation tries to make grants that help projects become sustainable. Sparkplug gives preference to projects run on small budgets, projects of smallish organizations, and projects that are less likely to receive corporate, institutional or government funding.

Sparkplug aims to support the development of music by helping to launch new voices and ideas. Generally, this means that it funds emerging professional musicians or music-development programs. The funding is intended to help them gain a foothold that makes their work sustainable. When the foundation gets applications for other kinds of music projects, like musical training for youth, it is more likely to consider them under the Education & Teaching or Grassroots Organizing focus. Applicants should note that the foundation can’t provide “replacement funding” for music programs suffering from budget cuts.

Under Education and Teaching, Sparkplug aims to support projects that deal with “the whole student” and with learning as a community activity. In the past, this has included literacy projects that bring parents and kids together to learn, projects that use a neighborhood as a classroom, projects that help teachers share ideas about creative, relevant curricula, etc. It is especially interested in supporting critical and investigative thinking, and projects that address class disparities in education. It also tries to fund projects that reach a lot of people, or a whole community, and that can make a big difference in people’s lives.

Under Grassroots Organizing, Sparkplug aims to support communities to address institutional injustices, and to build a just society. Because it is a small foundation trying to “spark” change, it does not fund community service.

Website: Link to RFP