Grants and Foundations

Foundation Center
The Foundation Center's mission is to strengthen the nonprofit sector by advancing knowledge about US philanthropy. Founded in 1956, the Center is the nation's leading authority on philanthropy and is dedicated to serving grant seekers, grant makers, researchers, policymakers, the media, and the general public.

Go PLM
The GO PLM Program was developed to address the essential business issues our customers face, including the shrinking supply of skilled employees as well as the gap between current workers skills and the level of performance required in today’s global manufacturing market. Siemens PLM Software offers grants through its Global Opportunities in Product Lifecycle Management (GO PLM™) initiative, which leads the PLM industry in the commercial value of in-kind grants it provides at more than US$4 billion annually. The company’s GO PLM initiative brings together fi ve complementary programs focused on: Academic Partnership Programs, Global Community Relations Programs, Regional Productivity Programs, Youth and Displaced Worker Development Programs, & Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education (PACE).

Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams
InvenTeams High School Invention Grants aim to excite high school students about science, math, engineering, entrepreneurship and invention; empower students through problem solving; and encourage a sustainable culture of invention in schools and communities.

Los Alamos Educational Equipment Gift Program (LEEG)
The Los Alamos Educational Equipment Gift program (LEEG) was established to dispose of excess Department of Energy and Los Alamos National Laboratory research equipment by gifting it to an educational institution and/or a non-profit organization for conducting technical and scientific education or research.

Manufacturing Technology Competetiveness Act of 2005 (H.R. 250)
To establish an interagency committee to coordinate Federal manufacturing research and development efforts in manufacturing, strengthen existing programs to assist manufacturing innovation and education, and expand outreach programs for small and medium-sized manufacturers, and for other purposes.

Mini-Grants
Mini-grants are awarded to girl-serving science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) focused programs to support collaboration, address gaps and overlaps in service, and share promising practices. Mini-grant projects must relate to either informal learning or evaluation and assessment. Mini-grants are a small amount of seed funding and are not intended to fully fund entire projects. The maximum mini-grant award is $1000.

Siemens Foundation
The Siemens Foundation provides nearly $2 million in college scholarships and awards each year for talented high school students in the United States.

SME Education Foundation
Recipients of the SME Education Foundation's MEP grants, Research Initial Grants, and Special Awards share a common goal: to expand and improve manufacturing, engineering, science, and technology education. The Foundation is committed to equipping tomorrow's manufacturing workforce with knowledge and skills to be an effective, efficient, and innovative force in global manufacturing.

Tooling and Manufacturing Association (TMA) Education Foundation
The Foundation’s primary mission is to maximize the impact funds will have on improving and expanding the Chicago area metalworking workforce.