Scholarships/Awards/Grants

Students

The NFIB Young Entrepreneur Foundation awards a $10,000 scholarship to the top applicant, four $5,000 scholarships to finalists and at least 300 $1,000 NFIB Free Enterprise Scholars Awards nationwide. http://www.nfib.com/page/educationFoundation

DECA's Competitive Events Program offers cash awards to students who win at the international level of competition. Since you can do events in several areas of entrepreneurship, this is a great way to experience entrepreneurship as you earn cash for future entrepreneurship study. Various awards are given at all levels of the competition: local, state and international.

The National FFA Organization's Agri-Entrepreneurship Awards honor FFA members who have recognized a market opportunity that was overlooked by others and conceived a plan to pursue that opportunity. Agri-Entrepreneurshi - Focuses on entrepreneurship - the values, requirements and challenges of owning your business.

www.ffa.org/programs/index.html

$10,000 in scholarships is availale to high school and community college students interested in operating/starting their business and attending Fresno State. Interested students should contact Genelle Taylor at 559-294-2045 or email Ms. Taylor at genellet@csufresno.edu

In Hawaii , the State of Hawaii Department of Education (DOE) and the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship and E-business (PACE) operate a Business Plan Competition. Team members must be enrolled in a CTE (Career and Technical Education) course. Divisional winners and finalists receive a nominal prize. The top three teams are eligible for scholarships.

www.cba.hawaii.edu/pace/website/highschoolplans/biz.htm

Through separate grants from the Pepsi foundation and Marriott International, minority students are eligible for several scholarships, renewable with a qualifying GPA. For more information see

www.franchise.org/Scholarships.aspx

You should check with the colleges you are considering to see what they offer for scholarships. Many colleges/universities award entrepreneurship scholarships to their own students.

The following are examples of college/university-specific entrepreneurship scholarships:

Babson College – http://www3.babson.edu/ESHIP/academic/scholarships.cfm

Ball State University – http://www.bsu.edu/news/article/0,,4906--,00.html

Baylor University – www.baylor.edu/business/management/index.php?id=26504

Brigham Young University – http://marriottschool.byu.edu/cfe/internships/index.cfm

Iowa State University – www.isupjcenter.org/programs/pjscholarship/

MIT – http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/awards_scholarships.php

Texas Christian University – www.neeley.tcu.edu/default.asp?ISDev=false&NodeID=724

University of Arizona – http://entrepreneurship.eller.arizona.edu/academic/scholarships.aspx

University of Chicago – www.chicagogsb.edu/entrepreneurship/scholarships.ASPX

University of Florida – www.uff.ufl.edu/Scholarships/ScholarshipInfo4.asp?ScholarshipFund=011685

University of Michigan – www.zli.bus.umich.edu/

Washington State University – http://academics.wsu.edu/fields/study.asp?ID=ENTRP

Teachers

Through DECA the Kauffman Foundation awards 10 professional development scholarships to entrepreneurship teachers who want to teach entrepreneurship in the classroom or to enhance their entrepreneurial skills. www.deca.org/schol.html

The Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education offers funds to teachers of entrepreneurship to attend the annual Entrepreneurship Forum .

These are 100 scholarships to cover conference registration and three nights at the conference hotel. Visit www.entre-ed.org for details. (CEE's sponsors, including DECA and Mark-ED, contribute these funds.

Teachers can apply for Perkins funds to supplement entrepreneurship education enrichment activities.

The Appalachian Regional Commission ( www.arc.gov/) awards Springboard Awards in youth entrepreneurship education. These are targeted toward rural areas.

Scholarships for teachers of entrepreneurship from the Kauffman Foundation through !!<<[put orgs here]>>!!

Elevator Grants for Entrepreneurship Teachers from the Coleman Foundation

The Coleman Foundation is sponsoring small grants (up to $3,000 each) for entrepreneurship educators. The grants are for the purpose of creating and supporting creative activities that deliver experiences for students to learn about becoming an entrepreneur. The elevator grant proposals should address one or more of the following goals:

• Help teachers in secondary or postsecondary programs create new activities/programs beyond their current financial resources
• Provide an additional option for educators to create activities/programs that bridge the connections between secondary and postsecondary education
• Contribute to developing an entrepreneurial culture for youth, leading to startup of student businesses or school-based enterprises, or developing expertise that leads to an entrepreneur's success.
• Use the new National Content Standards for Entrepreneurship Education to find ideas for new curriculum/activities to enhance an education program

The Freedoms Foundation sponsors Leavey Awards for educators (up to 20 awards of $7,500 each and a special award of $15,000) with programs that promote free enterprise, which includes entrepreneurship education. These awards honor outstanding educators who excite in their students a commitment to the free enterprise system. Applicants must conceive and implement an innovative course, program or project to develop understanding and appreciation of the American private enterprise system.

Abstracts of previous winners are also at the site.

Up to 20 awards of $7,500 each and a special award of $15,000 are given to those who are chosen based on their applications and portfolios. Must submit project and portfolio. Applications are due by Oct. 1 each year.

Information is at http://www.freedomsfoundation.com/leavey_info.asp.

Click here for interviews with two Leavey award winners.

• Donna Martin
• Dianne Lauramoore