What We Fund

We fund grassroots Montessori initiatives that support optimal human development

 

Our work focuses on the three Montessori pillars: 

  • Building Montessori school capacity

  • Educating Montessori teachers

  • Aiding Montessori materials acquisition

We seek to partner with organizations that:

 

  • Share our mission of freeing the child’s infinite potential and our vision of realizing Dr. Maria Montessori’s vision of world peace, one community at a time

  • Are committed to serving under-resourced communities

  • Demonstrate commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in their work

  • Collaborate with others in their community to build community-wide support for their proposed project

  • Demonstrate administrative capability, financial planning and budgeting ability, and organizational skills to implement their proposed project

  • Have an understanding of and can evaluate the impact and effectiveness of their work

We prioritize funding for Montessori initiatives that:

 

  • Offer stronger opportunities for us to fulfill our mission and advance our vision

  • Seek to improve their community by furthering the use of Montessori principles.

  • Address disparities and advance equity for historically under-resourced communities

  • Leverage community financial and/or in kind resources

  • Will have a long term positive effect on the community

  • Are based on thoughtful planning and research, including constituent involvement in defining the initiative and solution

  • Have analyzed relevant data

Applicants must:

 

  • Fall into one of these categories:

    • a non profit agency recognized as tax-exempt by the Internal Revenue Service or comparable status if from outside the United States, or

    • an organization that is requesting funding for an initiative that has a charitable and/or educational purpose

  • Propose an initiative that is Montessori-based. (MGGF relies on Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) to provide guidance on use of Montessori principles while striving to meet each applicant where they are).

  • Does not require attendance in or participation in religious/faith activities as a condition of service delivery nor require adherence to religious/faith beliefs as a condition of service or employment

  • Offer equal opportunities in leadership, staffing or service regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, national origin, political affiliation or religious belief.

We will not fund:

 

  • Initiatives that are not Montessori-based on one of our three pillars

  • Direct grants, scholarships or loans to individuals

  • Endowments

  • General fund drives, annual appeals, special events or conferences

  • Elimination of operating deficits

  • Any expenditures that would violate Montessori Global Growth Fund’s tax-exempt status

Review Schedule

  • Our Grant Committee meets three times per year, mid-March, mid-July, and mid-November

  • To be considered at any of these meetings, an application must be complete with all supporting documentation or detailed explanation for lack of document(s) approximately six weeks prior to our meeting or February 1, June 1, or October 1.

  • Someone from the Grant Committee may reach out to an applicant for more information or with questions about the application

  • The explanations will be added to the applications

  • After the Grant Committee has met to review all complete applications, the applicants will be notified of the final decision by the Grant Committee within a few days of the Grant Committee meeting.

Guidelines for applying for grant

Should your organization’s initiative meet these criteria set out above, provide us with a brief description of your effort, how it meets our criteria, and include demographics of the community it serves.

Upon review by our grant committee, we will notify you of our decision.  Should our grant committee accept your description, we will provide you with a link to the full grant application where you will be asked for more detail and information about your initiative.

Should your organization qualify for a grant and you decide to complete an application, be aware that we will ask for supporting documentation including a detailed budget for your initiative, current budget for the entire organization, legal document(s) identifying your organization as a non-profit, your most recent audited financial statements or accountants’ testimony, and photo(s) of the community/school/children you serve.

If you don’t have all these documents, please include an explanation. Yes, we make exceptions when we understand the circumstances for their absence. Please note your situation in the grant application.

Should your application be approved, you will receive an award email from us shortly after the meeting. Should your application be rejected or deferred, we will also send you an email to that effect.