ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
Learning in and about the outdoors
The Gray Family Foundation’s Environmental Education program seeks to support programs that directly engage K-8 youth in experiential, outdoor learning opportunities.
Connecting students with the natural world
Through our New and Innovative Grants and Core Environmental Education Organization Grants, Gray Family Foundation supports programs and educators that inspire and promote outdoor, environmental, land-based, and/or climate education through:
- Hands-on experiential learning opportunities outside of the classroom
- Active youth stewardship of our natural and built environments.
- Integration of outdoor, environmental, climate, and land-based curricula, activities, and programs in formal and informal K-8 education systems.
- High-quality and structured programming in schools, districts, and non-profits with and for their communities, and
- Environmental education opportunities that include and reflect the experiences, perspectives, and knowledge of diverse populations across Oregon
Current Grants & Opportunities
Objective:
Promote the inclusion of quality environmental education in formal and informal K-12 environments to increase opportunities for youth to connect with and learn in the outdoors.
Funding available:
$90,000 to be distributed to 4-5 organizations $5,000-$20,000 each or 4-5 smaller grants and two larger grants
Timeline:
-Schedule an initial conversation with Gray Family Foundation’s Senior Program Officer beginning: January 16, 2026
-After Senior Program Officer approval, applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and reviewed two times per year: April 3 and September 10
-Grant award notification: End of May and Mid November
Who should apply?
We seek to support mission-aligned organizations working to provide K-8 environmental education programming where the outdoors is used as an educational tool for students. These could include schools, districts, colleges, tribal entities, government agencies or 501(c)3 non-profit organizations serving Oregon.
Successful requests will demonstrate how the program will increase:
- The diversity of youth, educators, and communities engaged in outdoor, environmental, land-based, and climate education learning experiences.
- K-8 youth’s ability to collaborate, problem solve and apply critical thinking to local and global environmental issues.
- K-8 youth’s preparedness for success in careers inside and outside the environmental field through increased participation in environmental education.
- Educators’ (K-8 teachers, administrators, and informal educators) preparedness to integrate environmental, outdoor, and climate education across subjects.
- Educators’ preparedness to support K-8 student needs utilizing promising practices and rigor.
- K-8 professionals’ preparedness to use the natural and built environments and systems as context for learning.
Our Grant Criteria
- Dedicated staff time (of both program staff and administrative/support staff).
- Training and professional development for educators (in person or virtual).
- Costs associated with developing and implementing curricula and programming
- Costs associated with facilitating learning experiences outside the classroom.
- Scholarships and/or stipends for participants, interns, and partners.
- Costs associated with staff development, wellness support, sabbaticals, rest, healing, and recovery.
- Administrative costs or overhead support required to successfully support the program/project.
- Activities outside of our grant program’s priorities.
- Capital campaigns, site improvements, or acquisitions of land.
- Purchases or activities that occur prior to the grant decision.
- Deficit funding or the elimination of operating deficits.
- Annual fund appeals or endowment funds.
- Religious activities.
- Grants or loans to individuals.
Feature Grantees
All of the organizations we support have strong reputations for engaging K-8 youth in experiential, outdoor learning opportunities that are responsive to their communities.
Middle Fork Willamette Watershed Council – A Regional Education Approach to Outdoor Education
Middle Fork Willamette Watershed Council – A Regional Education Approach to Outdoor Education
Funding Area:
Environmental Education
Location:
Lane County
Columbia Slough Watershed Council
Fifth graders monitor, plant and paddle the slough to create a positive relationship with their home watershed.
Funding Area:
Community Field Trips
Location:
Multnomah County
Coos Watershed Association
When the Coos Watershed Association formed in the 1990s, there was plenty of opportunity for dissent. Oregonians were polarized on how to manage the state’s forests, at odds about how to strike a balance between watershed health with timber harvests and tribal needs.
Funding Area:
Environmental Education
Location:
Coos County
