Grant Funding Guidelines

Background

The Ceramic and Glass Industry Foundation (CGIF) was created to attract, inspire, and support the next generation of ceramic and glass professionals. The CGIF is an Ohio Nonprofit Single Member Limited Liability Company and contributions to the CGIF are fully tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. The CGIF is wholly owned by The American Ceramic Society (ACerS), a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, and is treated as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes.

The Ceramic and Glass Industry Foundation’s mailing address is: 550 Polaris Parkway, Suite 510, Westerville, Ohio, 43082.

Requesting Financial Support

The CGIF seeks to provide financial support for projects and activities that help fulfill the CGIF mission.

All projects must be directly related to introducing students to ceramic and glass science or expanding materials science education. Funding for such external grants will be allocated based on availability of funds and determined by the Foundation’s Board of Trustees. Organizations or individuals can apply once per year, and a funding cycle is suggested to be, at maximum, one year in duration.

It is expected that grants will allow proposers to seed or extend existing efforts to grow the base of ceramic and glass education, training, or outreach. Applications are encouraged which leverage other funding sources (i.e., local or internal funding, industry match, tangible in-kind support, etc.) and/or link to national efforts in ceramics, glass, or materials societies.

Note for Kit Grant requests:  Applicants may request a combination of Materials Science Classroom Kits, Mini Kits, or Glass Kits, but this combination must not include the maximum number of Materials Science Classroom Kits (10) or maximum number of Mini Kits (50).

Note for Project Grant requests: If your proposal includes the use of the CGIF’s Materials Science Classroom Kits, please indicate the number of kits being requested and DO NOT include the cost of the kits in your monetary request.

All requests for support must be made using the Kit Grant or Project Grant forms, as other informal requests will not be considered.

Criteria for Evaluation and Selection for Funding Support

The Ceramic and Glass Industry Foundation prefers to fund project costs that can be easily identified with a specific outreach project or instructional activity.

The Foundation does not provide funding for:

  • overhead/indirect costs
  • endowments, building campaigns, fundraising, special events, or annual funds.
  • buildings, laboratories, equipment, or instruments unless it can be demonstrated that such capital expenditures are essential to the success of a Foundation-supported project.
  • professor or staff salaries; administrative expenses; general office supplies.
  • organizations that discriminate on the basis of religion, gender, race, ethnicity, political beliefs, or disabilities.
  • lobbying or political activities.
  • research projects (unless a major component directly involves student outreach).
  • direct grants to individuals.
  • any commercial or business purpose.
  • for-profit institutions, except in rare circumstances.
  • travel not directly related to outreach activities.

Completed applications will be reviewed by the CGIF’s Grant Review Committee. Those applications that support activities aligned with the CGIF’s mission and vision will be considered for funding:

  • on a rolling basis (Kit Grant applications)
  • at the next Board of Trustees meeting in October (Project Grant applications)

Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.

Grant proposals received from members of The American Ceramic Society, Keramos, and affiliated materials societies worldwide are considered first. Applicants do not need to be members of those organizations to be fully considered.

Reporting and Evaluation

The CGIF relies on grant reporting to evaluate progress toward the mission and goals we share with each of our grantees. The submission of a grant reports let us know that funding was used appropriately and ultimately helped you reach your project goals.

As such, grant recipients are required to keep a record of all expenditures and receipts related to the grant. Recipients will be asked to submit grant reports by March 15 and September 15 each year until conclusion of the project. The concluding grant report should describe results in achieving the purposes of the grant, along with a detailed accounting of the uses and expenditures of all grant funds.

Any future grant submissions will not be accepted if we do not receive your final report on the current project.

Questions or Requesting Information

For questions regarding The Ceramic and Glass Industry Foundation and our grant opportunities, please contact foundation@ceramics.org.