National Geographic Education Foundation
Founded:
1988
Contact:
Barbara A. Chow,
Executive Director
Address:
National Geographic Education Foundation
1145 17th Street N.W.
Washington,
DC
20036-4688
Phone:
(202) 857-7310
Fax:
(202) 429-5701
E-mail:
foundation@ngs.org
URL:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/foundation/
PND NPO Spotlight (3/08/05) -- National Geographic Education Foundation
Mission:
To motivate and enable each new generation to become geographically literate.
About the Organization:
The National Geographic Education Foundation promotes geography not just as basic knowledge about places and locations but as an understanding of the interconnection of people, places, environments, and their impact on our lives. The organization's target audiences are educators, legislators, and children — tomorrow's business, political, and environmental leaders — and it awards more than $5 million annually to schools, school districts, colleges and universities, conservation groups, and other educational organizations.
Current Programs:
Through its grant programs, the organization seeks to improve the stature of geography in the curriculum; ensure federal funding for geography education; support teachers with professional development through training, leadership programs, and educational materials; provide outreach to children, educators, families, and communities through national programs such as its annual public-awareness campaign Geography Action!; and engage kids in hands-on learning.
It also awards grants to K-12 educators; to nonprofit organizations that want to work in the classroom to enhance the geographic skills and perspectives of K-12 students and their teachers; and to nontraditional education projects and programs that help children incorporate a geographic outlook in their education, recreation, and citizenship. To carry out its work, the organization often partners with corporations, governments, foundations, and other public charities.
Web Site:
The National Geographic Education Foundation Web site offers news, reports, and resources from the National Geographic Society; information on grants, including how to set up a state endowment fund for geography education; and information on the organization's actions to urge Congress to make geography literacy a national priority. The Web site is linked with other National Geographic Society Web sites, notably Xpeditions, which contains eighteen U.S. National Geography Standards for teachers, each with accompanying lesson plans for different age groups, as well as articles, maps, photos, activities, and interactive features; EdNet, an online service from National Geographic's Education & Children's Programs department that supplies education news, resources, discussion ideas, and a link to the Geography Alliance Network, a national group of K-12 teachers, college geographers and educators, school administrators, and others dedicated to improving geography education; and more than a dozen free newsletters.
Funding:
The foundation is funded through an endowment established by the National Geographic Society.
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