Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries Accepting School Library Grant Applications

The Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries, a component fund of the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region in Washington, D.C., seeks to provide books and reading materials to the school libraries and students that most need them.

The foundation provides grants of up to $5,000 to help school libraries expand, update, and diversify their book collections. In the last funding cycle, the foundation made grants totaling more than $1.1 million to two hundred and thirty-eight schools.

All LBF grants are made to individual schools rather than to school districts, county systems, private organizations, foundations, or other entities. Only schools where a minimum of 80 percent of the student body qualify for the free or reduced lunch program are eligible to apply. The foundation gives selection preference to schools in which 90 percent or more of the students receive free or reduced lunches and are likely to have the fewest books and reading materials at home.

Schools meeting the free or reduced lunch requirement in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, all American territories, and Department of Defense schools in other countries are eligible to apply. This includes all public, private, parochial, charter, city, state, county, and reservation schools — including special schools, social services schools, and juvenile detention center schools in any of those jurisdictions — that serve any combination of pre-kindergarten through high school students.

Funds are only available for library books and magazine/serial copies and subscriptions. The foundation is unable to honor requests for staffing, shelving, furniture, equipment, software, videos, classroom book sets, or any kind of book guides, tests, or exams.

Visit the LBF Web site for complete program information, an FAQ, and the online application form.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

Primary Subject: Education
Secondary Subject(s): Children and Youth