Family Grants
For families who are strapped for cash, it's important to seek other resources to get your child what he/she needs. The following list are grants that fund services not covered by insurance, iPads, camps, and enrichment experiences.
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Air Care Alliance-More than sixty groups have volunteer pilots who will fly patients for care or provide other flights or aviation services to help those in need or serve our communities. If you are seeking free air transportation or aviation services you can send an inquiry to each appropriate organization in one easy step by providing us the necessary information about your transportation needs.​
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​Air Charity Network-Air Charity Network is a charitable organization that provides access for people in need who are seeking free air transportation to specialized health care facilities or distant destinations due to family, community, or national crisis. Air Charity Network serves all 50 states and its volunteer pilots utilize their own aircraft, fuel and time to provide free air transportation to medical facilities for citizens who are financially distressed or otherwise unable to travel on public transportation.
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​Angel Flight Soars-arranges free air transportation for people who need to travel to receive lifesaving medical treatment.
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​Autism Care & Treatment (ACT TODAY)-Awards quarterly grants between $100 and $5,000 to families with children with autism.​
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California Autism Research and Evaluation Foundation (CARE)-Helps families with medication, autism diagnosis/evaluation, therapy session, autism summer camps, autism service dogs, and anything related to improving the lives of children affected by autism.
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Carbon Lehigh Special Needs Foundation-Summer Camp Gifting Program to help families and students with special needs to pay for day and residential summer camp programs. This program is made possible from participation of many educators and business partners. Students can apply if they are: completing Kindergarten through 12th grade or to age 21, receive services through an IEP in school, attend a public school in Carbon and Lehigh Counties, and who have a summer camp they want to attend.
Contact: June Kmetz at 610-769-4111 x1673 or email orkmetzj@cliu.org.
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​​Danny's Wish-Grant requests are accepted between September 1st through December 31st. Criteria: Individual must have diagnosis on the autism spectrum, reside in the USA, be minimally verbal or non-verbal, be in financial need (proof is required), and have access to a computer and iTunes account. Age limit is 3 yrs and older.
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Different Needz Foundation-This organization raises money throughout the year to fund their grant program. Their grants go to families with children with special needs. You can tell them specifically what you need and how much it will cost.
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First Hand Foundation- First Hand accepts applications from all over the world. If you or someone you know would like to apply for assistance on behalf of a child, please review the financial guidelines and the criteria listed below. If your child’s case meets all criteria, we are happy to consider your application.
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Footprints in the Sky-is a non-profit corporation dedicated to providing flights to medical facilities throughout the United States, for all people in need of Medical Care, whether it be routine in nature, critical or life-saving. Our goal is to provide humanitarian assistance to patients without the financial capability and resources to facilitate this travel for themselves.
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Fund it Forward-A volunteer run non-profit organization which believes that parents of special needs children are strong, willing and able to endure daily struggles. Mission is the ease the burdens of families with special needs children by raising money for adaptive equipment not covered by health insurance.
Flyin Ryan Foundation-Do you have a dream, a goal or an adventure that you are passionate about? Do you need some help to accomplish it? Consider the Flyin Ryan Adventure Scholarship Program. They are committed to awarding Adventure Scholarships based on financial need, character which reflects Ryan's principals of living and demonstrated passion and ability to pursue your adventure of choice.
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Giving Angels Foundation-At the Giving Angels Foundation, our mission is to enhance the daily functioning of a child with a physical disability from a low income family by awarding grants for life-changing equipment, medical supplies, essential family bills, specialized camps, and therapeutic toys.
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iHelp for Special Needs-We have been working on new ways to raise funds to purchase iPads and Apps to help children with special needs with communication and education. We are happy to announce our Pilot Program to raise these funds for your child or classroom.
​iTaalk: Download a list of Interactive Technology Assisting Autistic Little Kids is a database of autism related grants
Johnnys Rainbow Foundation-It is the Foundation's mission to help families with special needs children by providing them with financial support called a Rainbow Grant. The Rainbow Grant is intended to make a significant difference in the life of the special needs child by funding equipment, experiences, family counseling, therapy, or any other of the child’s needs.
Miracle Flights-provides children and their families free flights to distant, specialized care and valuable second opinions.
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Modest Needs.org-At Modest Needs, we all know from experience how hard it is to ask for help, even when you really need it. We're happy that you've found us, and we'll do everything we can to find a way to help you.
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My Gym Foundation- Requests, limited to gifts of $500 or less, may include but are not limited to rehabilitative therapy, assistive devices, medical equipment, and sensory items. Please specify exact items needed and where they can be purchased. Because of the overwhelming number of requests we receive, we are unable to research and select items for the applicant.
Applicants must be under the age of 18.
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My Goal Autism Enrichment Grant-The MyGOAL Grant Award Program is a need-based grant for treatments (including vitamins and other nutritional needs); enrichment and educational needs that may not otherwise be covered privately or by other third-party funding sources such as school districts, county programs, insurance, and/or other grant making entities. What's covered is Medical, Nutrition, Personal Needs, and Enrichment, Educational and Socialization Needs.
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Outreach Autism Services Network-Grants available through non profit organizations listed below OaSN does not offer grants directly to families. Families residing in our service area are eligible for services we provide at our facility, not grants.
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Patches of Light-helps families remain with their sick child during treatments, hospitalizations and recovery. This is accomplished primarily by paying past due bills, buying groceries, gas cards, etc.
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Pervis Jackson, Jr Autism Foundation-To provide a spoonful of comfort to the parents of children with Autism and other disabilities. Mission to provide mini-grans to pay for services directly to parents. Grants can be used for camp sessions, respite of parent's choice, cleaning help, cooking help, spa day, urgent bills and other parents needs.
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The Ray Tye Medical Aid Foundation-is dedicated to funding in-hospital life saving medical treatment and surgeries for those who do not have medical insurance and for which no other financial resources are available.
Santa's Little Hackers-sends children with special needs an adaptive toy at Christmas time.
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​​​Small Steps in Speech-To better serve children with speech and language disorders, Small Steps in Speech will accept applications on behalf of children between 3 and 22 years of age at the time of the application deadline and families with a combined household income under $100,000.
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Special Kids Photography- Grants to provide a family with a portrait of a special child are available to SKPA-Accredited Photographers when the Smiles for Katie Family Photo Grant program is funded.
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Team TMR-Providing real help to families struggling with medical, emotional, educational and financial hardship due to complex medical needs faced by their children diagnosed with autism and other developmental disabilities.
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United HealthCare Children's Foundation-UHCCF’s mission is to help fill the gap between what medical services/items a child needs and what their commercial health benefit plan will pay for. UHCCF grants provide financial help/assistance for families with children that have medical needs not covered or not fully covered by their commercial health insurance plan.
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Equipment Grants
Many children diagnosed with Autism require additional equipment to help them improve the quality of their lives. Whether it's adapted vehicles, ramps, stair glides, hearing aids, computers with specific software, scotters, assistive technology, etc. The rule of thumb should be "where there's a will there's a way" to access what is needed. Below is a road map of many sources of financing that include loans and grants.
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​​Providers:
​Good Shepherd Wheel Chair Clinics
Service: 3rd Friday of each month from 8am to 12pm, ATG Rehab hosts a free Wheelchair Service Clinic. It's open to all individuals who need their wheelchairs tightened, adjusted or evaluated for needed repairs. No appt necessary, most repairs are done the same day, friendly and nice staff, and answers to questions you may have.
Where: Harry C Trexler Center for AT, Good Shepherd Health & Technology, 85 S Fifth Street, Allentown
Call: Wheelchair Service Clinic at 1-877-630-0111 x153
First Hand Foundation-The child must be 18 years of age or younger (a person 19–21 may be considered if they are in a child-like mental state), under the care of a pediatrician, the case must involve a child with a specific health care need, the request must be clinically relevant to the health of the child, there must be no existing insurance coverage for the requested expenses, and one request per year, per child for a maximum of three times in a child’s lifetime. Expenses for equipment, treatment, displacement and vehicle modifications.
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Service: A national chair of wheelchair accessible van providers. Everything from wheelchair-accessible minivans, full-sized vans with lifts, and commercial fleet vehicles.
Where: 6475 Ruch Road, Bethlehem, PA 18017
Call: 610-837-0707
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Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation (PATF)
Mission: To provide education and financing opportunities for people with disabilities and older Pennsylvanians, helping them acquire assistive technology devices and services that improve the quality of their lives. Loans cover hearing aids, portable ramps, flashing fire alarms, manual wheelchairs, computers and tablets with specialized software, scooters, batteries and chargers, and environmental controls. It's available to all ages, all incomes and all disabilities.
Where: 1004 West 9th Ave, King of Prussia, PA 19406
Call: 888-744-1938
Email: PATF@patf.us
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PennsylvaniaATF/
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REEP (Reused and Exchanged Equipment Partnership)
Temple University
Where: Institute on Disabilities, 1755 N 13th Street, Room 411S, Philadelphia, PA 19122
Voice: 800-204-7428
TTY: 1-215-204-1805
Email:atreause@temple.edu
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Equipment Grants:
​​Bens Blankets-works with volunteers to provide weighted blankets to children who have disabilities and special needs. In order to serve the most children possible we separate applicants into three categories based on income and family situation.
DANNY DID GRANT PROGRAM: The Danny Did Foundation provides financial assistance for qualified individuals who require financial support for the cost of devices for seizure detection or prevention.
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Disability Grants-Grant money from charities and trusts is mainly provided to pay for things that cannot be paid for by Government or Local Authorities.
First Hand Foundation-First Hand accepts applications from all over the world. If you or someone you know would like to apply for assistance on behalf of a child, please review the financial guidelines and the criteria listed below. If your child’s case meets all criteria, we are happy to consider your application.
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Fund it Forward-Families in need of medical or adaptive equipment for their child need to engage in fundraising efforts as part of the application process. Each applicant is reviewed based on a number of criteria which includes fundraising efforts. Successful volunteering efforts determine how many families, like yours, FUND IT FORWARD can assist.
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Rifton- Sometimes it can seem impossible to find funding for a piece of adaptive equipment you know will vastly enrich and enhance your child or client’s life. Start by reading the online guides listed below to check that you have tried all the options that may be available to you. In particular, if you are a parent or pediatric therapist, be sure to read Funding Adaptive Mobility Equipment for Young Children with Disabilities which includes a visual algorithm of funding sources.
​Variety’s Freedom Program -delivers vital life-changing equipment and services for mobility, independence and social inclusion to individual children and children’s organizations. Together through the Freedom program, we change children’s lives by granting items and services that provide independence, mobility and freedom. Grants under the Freedom program are made to individual children and children’s organizations.
​School Grant and Funding for Special Ed Department
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Why start a Special Education PTA?
Families with children who have special needs often seek out opportunities to meet other parents in similar circumstances. Special Education PTAs (SEPTAs) provide this opportunity and often bring together families of students who attend different schools in a district under one PTA umbrella. Becoming a SEPTA provides families with an organizational structure, resources and the opportunity to be a collective voice for their child and for all children. You can also organize one just in your school district and raise money for sensory rooms and access to educational materials to meet our kids' unique learning needs. It's also a step towards sending a positive message to your school district that this group of parents are willing to be a supportive part of the team to help students with special needs get access to additional opportunities. Special education is a huge part of a school district's budget so whatever can be done to alleviate the costs is a positive step to creating a good relationship with the school district.
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My child’s school has a PTA (or another parent organization). Do I need to form a SEPTA?
When a parent organization already exists in a school, parents of children with special needs may want to see if they can form a committee within that organization for families with special needs children. This encourages inclusion and helps keep the lines of communication open to all parent groups. Families can then be a part of all school activities, ensure the inclusion of their children and still have their own format for the special supports and opportunities that they may seek. For more info, click https://www.pta.org/home/About-National-Parent-Teacher-Association/Governance/Types-of-PTAs/Start-a-Special-Education-PTA
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Other Funding Resources:
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As mentioned earlier, the American Honda Foundation supports youth education with a specific focus on the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects in addition to the environment, job training and literacy. Our aim is to seek out those programs and organizations with a well-defined sense of purpose, demonstrated commitment to making the best use of available resources and a reputation for accomplishing their objectives.
The CVS Caremark Community Grants program awards funds to nonprofit organizations for programs targeting children with disabilties, programs focusing on health and rehabilitation services, public schools promoting a greater level of inclusion to student activities and extracurricular programs and initiatives that give greater access to physical movement and play.
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This "citizen philanthropy" supports donations to school teachers who post classroom project requests on its site. Donors browse the requests and donate to projects of their choice. When a project reaches its funding goal, the site delivers the materials to the school. Donors receive photos of the project taking place, a thank you letter from the teacher, and a cost report showing how each dollar was spent. Dontors who give over $100 also receive hand-written thank you letters from the students. Dontors who give over $100 also receive hand written thank you letters from students.
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Forsyth Educational Partnership
To Fund: Enhance learning opportunities for their students, build upon their innovative approaches in meeting specific learning needs of their students, build upon the dedication to their students and teaching, acknowledge the level of caring teachers have for their students and the care they provide, and expand their professionalism.
Criteria:The short application includes a description of the innovative project, the benefits(s) for the students, and how success will be measured. Please submit your application using the form below during the application period from August to September 30th. A one page final report is required at the end of the project along with your receipts.Awardees can expect a required project observation by one of the committee members.
Awards: Project awards will range from $50.00 to $500.00.
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Innovative Teacher and Principal Residency Programs
To Fund: Funding may be used to provide financial support to teacher or principal/school leader residents who undergo a full year of clinical experience before earning their instructional or administrative certification.
Pennsylvania Grant Watch
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Philanthropic Centures Foundation (PVF)
To Fund: Teachers come up with good ideas all the time, but don’t have the resources to fund them or the time to pursue arduous funding requirements. That’s why we launched Teacher Resource Grants. These small but critically needed grants for teachers help to address inequalities in public education and build future generations of strong leaders.
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Toshiba America Foundation
To Fund: Mission is to provide teachers with additional funds to support classroom projects. After school and summer projects, and independent study projects are not eligible. The Foundation strongly encourages projects planned and led by individual teachers or teams of teachers for their own classrooms.Many successful grantees have designed projects that tap into the natural curiosity of their students, enable students to frame their own scientific questions, and incorporate the expertise of community partners.
Amount: K-5 $1,000; 6-12 $5K; and 6-12 greater than $5K
Deadline: October 1st (or first business day of October)
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Wolf Administration Announces Education Department Receives $7.2 Million Grant to Assist Students with Behavioral Needs September 18, 2017-Governor Tom Wolf today announced the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) will receive $7.2 million for school districts to help with student behavioral health under the Middle School Success: The Path to Graduation (P2G) grant program. The P2G grant will begin in October and extend over the course of the next five years.
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US Department of Education Grants
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