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Fund your classroom

A grant can pay for lab equipment, supplies or a student research project. Start with national classroom grants, explore independent student research funding, or use the state finder to narrow down regional programs. Each listing links to the funder’s own requirements.

Before you apply

These are potential funders, not a promise of an award. Backyard Brains does not run any of these programs, and no funder has approved our equipment in advance: ask the funder whether what you plan to buy is allowed. Amounts, rules and deadlines change, and the funder's own page is the final word. This is a starter list, not every grant in the country or in your region.

Where to start

  • Classroom grants

    Toshiba America Foundation, Walmart Spark Good and ACS-Hach: national grants for a project in your classroom.

    See classroom grants

  • Student research

    Society for Science funds students' independent research, not whole-class sets.

    See research grants

  • Regional grants

    Find possible grants for your school’s state, with local eligibility, application dates and official sources.

    See regional grants

  • Plan your application

    Need, students, lessons, outcomes, timeline and an itemized quote, with careful AI prompts.

    Plan your application

National classroom grants

For a project your class does during the school day.

Toshiba America Foundation, grades 6–12

Grants for teachers who bring innovative STEM and project-based learning into their own classroom. The foundation funds in-class projects, so plan the work for the school day.

  • Amount: Up to $5,000, and larger grants above that. Check the application for where the line between the two sits.
  • Who can apply: Teachers of grades 6–12. Funds ordinarily go to the school.
  • Not covered: Computer hardware, salaries, textbooks, clubs and after-school projects, and summer projects. Ask the foundation whether your equipment list fits these rules before you count on it.
  • Dates: As published on October 13, 2026: grants up to $5,000 on March 1, June 1, September 1 and December 1; larger grants on May 1 and November 1. The foundation's pages have not always agreed, so confirm the deadline and the amount in the application.
  • Official page: Toshiba America Foundation grades 6–12 grants

Walmart Spark Good Local Grants

Local grants for organizations that serve the community around a Walmart facility. Your school applies as an organization; it is not a cash award to a teacher.

  • Amount: $250 to $5,000.
  • Who can apply: K–12 public, charter and nonprofit private schools with an NCES number or qualifying tax status, verified through Deed, with an authorized account for the school. The project must serve the local area of the facility you apply to.
  • What it asks for: The community need, how you will use the funds and the outcomes you expect. Check with Walmart that an equipment request fits before you apply.
  • Dates: Walmart published its FY27 cycle as August 1 to November 30. That is a snapshot from October 13, 2026: check the official page for the next cycle.
  • Official page: Walmart Spark Good Local Grants guidelines

ACS-Hach High School Chemistry Classroom Grant

From the American Chemical Society, for high school chemistry teachers. It is a chemistry grant, not a general neuroscience grant: a request has to serve real chemistry learning objectives.

  • Amount: Up to $1,800.
  • Who can apply: High school chemistry educators in the United States and its territories.
  • Pays for: Laboratory supplies and equipment for chemistry teaching.
  • Dates: Applications open February 1 and close June 1 each year. On October 13, 2026 the official page listed a deadline of June 1, 2027.
  • Official page: ACS-Hach High School Chemistry Classroom Grant

Independent student research

This program is separate from the classroom grants above. It funds students doing their own research projects, not equipment for a whole class.

Society for Science Research Grants

For teachers who support students in independent research. It does not fund traditional whole-class sets of equipment or large-team competitions.

  • Amount: Up to $5,000 in funds, or $1,000 in selected kits, not both. A school can receive at most $5,000 in three years.
  • Who can apply: Full-time teachers at schools in the United States and its territories, including grades 6–12. The school, its PTA or a nonprofit accepts the funds and signs a memorandum of understanding.
  • Dates: On October 13, 2026 the published deadline was December 4, 2026, at noon Eastern.
  • Official page: Society for Science Research Grants

AI may not write your answers

Society for Science prohibits AI-written application answers. AI may only make mild grammar and punctuation changes to a response you wrote yourself, and you must disclose that use. The drafting prompt further down this page does not apply to this program; use only the editing prompt marked for Society for Science.

Regional grants

Start with your school’s state. Each result lists the local eligibility rules to check before applying.

Current = accepting applications at our last check. Upcoming = a future cycle is announced. Closed = the published deadline has passed. Check dates = the next cycle or our latest review needs confirmation.

Choose your state to see possible matches.

This directory is growing. National classroom grants are another place to start. Your district’s education foundation and local electric utility may offer programs we haven’t listed yet.

Plan your application

Reviewers fund a clear plan. The NEA Foundation's application guidance is one useful example of that structure: a documented need, the activities, how the project lasts, a line-item budget, and goals, assessments, activities and budget that agree with each other. We cite it as advice on writing an application, not as an open grant. Always follow each funder's own questions first.

  1. The need. Describe what your students cannot do or see today and why it matters for your course, with evidence from your own school.
  2. Your students. Real numbers: how many students, which grades, which course and how many sections.
  3. The lessons. Name the lessons you will teach. The Lesson Finder lists each lab with its time and the standards it is mapped to; check that mapping against your own course before you cite it.
    Open the Lesson Finder
  4. Outcomes and assessments. Propose goals you can measure and say how you will measure each one. The examples after this list are a starting point. Never report results you do not have yet.
  5. Timeline. When you order, when you teach each lesson and when you assess, within the funder's project dates.
  6. An itemized quote. Build the class lab for your real class size, then get a formal quote with every line to attach.
    Build your class lab
  7. Reuse and ownership. Confirm with your school who will own, store and maintain the equipment, following your school's and the funder's rules, then explain how later classes will use it again.

Example outcomes and assessments to adapt to your own course. They are examples, not guaranteed results or promised standards alignment.

  • Design a controlled investigation. Students state a question, choose one variable to change and keep the others fixed. Assess with an experimental-design checklist.
  • Graph and interpret biological signals. Students record a signal such as muscle or nerve activity, graph it and explain what it shows. Assess with an annotated graph and a written explanation.
  • Draw conclusions from evidence. Students support a claim with their own data and name its limits. Assess with a lab report rubric.
  • Improve a design through testing. Students build or adjust a setup, test it and change it based on results. Assess with a prototype testing log.

Drafting with AI

Funders differ: some allow AI help, some limit it and some forbid it. Find the funder's AI policy before you use either prompt below, and if you cannot find one, ask the funder first. You are responsible for every fact and number in your application. Select a prompt to copy it.

Drafting prompt for classroom grants (not for Society for Science)

You are helping me, a teacher, plan a grant application. I will paste (1) the funder's official requirements and eligibility rules, (2) every application question with its word limit, (3) the funder's policy on AI use, and (4) my own facts: school, grades, course, real student counts, the lessons I will teach, my timeline and my itemized quote. First read the AI policy. If it forbids or limits AI help, tell me and stop. If I have not pasted a policy, tell me to confirm the rules with the funder before we go on. Then list the gaps: every question I cannot answer from what I pasted, and every rule my plan may not meet. Do not invent data, student numbers, outcomes, prices or standards alignment; where a fact is missing, write [TEACHER TO SUPPLY]. Only when I have filled the gaps, draft each answer in plain language, within its word limit, from my facts alone.

Society for Science: editing only

Check the response below, which I wrote myself, for grammar and punctuation only. Make only mild grammar and punctuation corrections. Do not add, remove or reword ideas, do not write new content, and do not change my meaning or structure. Return my response with the corrections, then list each change you made so I can disclose it. My response: [paste your own response here]

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