Helios Education Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Helios Education Foundation supports early grade success, college and career readiness and postsecondary success in the states of Arizona and Florida, with an emphasis on underserved black, Latino and minority students.
IP TAKE: This funder works exclusively in Arizona and Florida and does not accept unsolicited proposals. It is a regional funder, rather than a national one, and not particularly accessible. Network with this funder to learn more about how it chooses grantees to see if there’s a way to get on their radar, especially if your organization has an established presence in Arizona or Florida.
PROFILE: The Helios Education Foundation was founded in 2004 with the proceeds from the sale of the Southwest Student Services Corporation, a student loan company, to the SLM Corporation, which is also known as Sallie Mae. Based in Phoenix, Arizona and Tampa, Florida, the foundation aims to help students in these states succeed in postsecondary education, thereby enriching the lives of all residents. Investing approximately $15 million in education each year, its three main funding areas concern students’ ability to read at grade level by third grade, increasing enrollment in college and increasing “attainment of two- and four-year college degrees.”
Grants for K-12 Education
Helios supports programs that help students achieve grade-level reading ability by third grade with a strong focus on Black and Latino students, whose reading scores tend to lag behind those of white students of the same grade in both Florida and Arizona. Beyond this goal, the foundation does not articulate specific strategies for its reading education grants, which totaled about $5 million in a recent year. Grantee partners include Arizona Quest for Kids, the Early Learning Coalition of Osceola County, Literacy Connects and Read Better Be Better.
Grants for College Readiness and Higher Education
Helios supports Florida- and Arizona-based initiatives that aim to increase enrollment in and completion of two- and four-year college degree programs. College enrollment grantmaking recently totaled about $1.4 million, while degree attainment grantmaking approached $14 million in a recent year. The foundation does not name specific goals or practices for its grantmaking in these areas. Grantees that support college enrollment include the Arizona Commission for Post Secondary Education, College for Every Student and the Hispanic Heritage Scholarship Fund of Central Orlando. Higher education completion grants have supported two- and four-year colleges including Arizona State University, Florida International University, Mohave Community College and the St. Petersburg College Foundation.
Important Grant Details:
Helios grants range from $10,000 all the way to $3.5 million. The Helios Foundation operates two similar but separate grantmaking programs in Arizona and Florida. A grants database is available on the foundation’s website.
The Helios Education Foundation does not accept unsolicited funding requests. General inquiries may be made via the foundation’s contact page.
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