Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries
/OVERVIEW: The Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries is a restricted fund of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, and is solely focused on grants to ECE and K-12 school-based libraries.
IP TAKE: Recent Bush funding prioritizes libraries that have sustained damages in natural disasters. This transparent and accessible funder runs an open, ongoing application process through its online portal.
Note that this foundation leans right, so literacy projects with a progressive or civil rights/social justice take are less likely to receive funding. As a niche funder, if your work does not fall strictly within this foundation’s focus area, consider funding from elsewhere.
This funder is approachable should you have questions about it’s funding perimeters.
PROFILE: Established in 2002, the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries is a restricted fund of the George W. Bush Presidential Center. Per the former first lady’s former profession as a school librarian, this foundation invests in the “Nation’s neediest schools so that they can extend, update, and diversify the book and print collections in their libraries with the goal of encouraging students to develop a love of reading and learning.”
Grants for Literacy, K-12 Education and Early Childhood Education
The foundation's recent funding has been directed toward schools that sustained damage in the 2019 Dallas Tornados. To this end, the foundation has partnered with the Dallas Education Foundation to refurbish libraries at affected schools. Thomas Jefferson High School, Francisco “Pancho” Medrano Junior High School, and Walnut Hill PK-8 used funding to replace entire collections of printed materials. Other past grantees include libraries at K-12 schools and early childhood education centers, including the Anita Uphaus Early Childhood Center in Austin, Texas and the Thomas Emanuel Early Children's Center at P.S. 28 in Corona, New York.
Important Grant Details:
Laura Bush Foundation grants generally range from $10,000 to $75,000, with larger grants awarded to libraries that have sustained severe damage in natural disasters. While recent funding has focused on disaster relief, all schools in the U.S. and its territories, including private, parochial, charter, special education, Native American reservation and detention center schools, are eligible for support.
This foundation accepts applications through its online portal on a rolling basis, with decisions announced in May of each year.
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