K-12 Education

Our K-12 Education grants support organizations working to create a more holistic K-12 education system that provides equal opportunities for all children.

The minimum allowable annual operating expense for eligibility is $25,000. This excludes any expenses covered through in-kind. The Miller Foundation generally considers a 3-year average of an organization’s annual expenses (from completed fiscal years).

Please consult our Education page for details on the types of activities we fund.

Please be sure to review the list of activities that are ineligible for funding.

We do not currently accept requests from individual classrooms, school foundations, booster clubs, parent-teacher organizations, or school districts.

• Eligible private schools are those where the majority of students attend tuition-free.
• We do not currently accept requests from special education programs or schools focused on a single diagnosis.
• For schools and districts participating in an active partnership with community-based partners to support students and families, we encourage the partner organizations (if otherwise eligible) to apply.
• Charter and alternative schools are eligible to apply if the majority of their students belong to historically underserved communities.
• We do not currently accept requests from individual classrooms, school foundations, booster clubs, parent-teacher organizations, or school districts.

Inquiry Forms are open 24/7 and have three deadlines each year. We invite and accept applications three times annually. We will notify you three weeks after the inquiry form deadline if a full application is invited.

The Miller Foundation offers one, two, or three years of support through the Standard Grant program.

• First-time applicants may request a one-year grant.
• Grantees with a history of between 2-4 years of Miller funding are eligible to apply for 2 years of support.
• Grantees with a 5-year history of Miller funding are eligible to apply for 3 years of support.

Grant history can be non-sequential. (e.g. Past funding does not need to have been in 5 consecutive years.)

Our operating support grants typically represent between 3-5% of an organization’s annual operating expenses. We consider an average of the organization's expenses over recent years.

Here are typical examples of how our operating support grants are commonly funded:

• If an organization's annual expenses are under $1 million, then the grant amount would likely be up to 5% of those expenses.
• If an organization's annual expenses are between $1-2 million, then the grant amount would likely be up to 4% of those expenses.
• If an organization's annual expenses are over $2 million, then the grant amount would likely be up to 3% of those expenses.

For organizations with annual expenses of $5 million or more, please note our typical maximum for operating support grants is $150,000.

‍A note to broader-missioned organizations:

‍For those broader organizations working beyond K-12 Education activities: Our operating support grant amounts are based on the portion of your organization budget dedicated to K-12 activities.

The Miller Foundation understands that funding general operations is the best way to help organizations thrive. Our Standard Application Process provides operating support to help organizations have maximum flexibility.

Miller Foundation operating support grants can be used for a grantee's operating expenses. Examples:

• Contractor fees
• Staff wages
• Rent/utilities
• Technology
• Programming, presentation, or exhibit expenses
• Moveable equipment
• General business expenses
• Marketing, fundraising or technical support
• Addition of new paid staff