Grants & Scholarships

Grants & Scholarships

The Targeted Grants and Volunteer Resources Committee makes a difference in the community through financial and volunteer support of literacy focused programs, contests, and scholarship opportunities.

Targeted Grants

The Targeted Grants Subcommittee evaluates grant applications and makes recommendations for where Junior League of Washington grants will be made to community organizations. Committee members promote the availability of Junior League of Washington grants and how the grant cycle works through outreach efforts to the community. They also review grant applications, conduct site visits with community organizations, and ultimately recommend to the Junior League of Washington membership which literacy-focused organizations to fund.  Targeted Grant Applications are typically posted online by mid-September and have a submission due date of late October.  The annual grant application will include the necessary details such as the grant dollars available for the year and the current deadline date for submissions.  Completed applications must be submitted by email.  Click here for our currently posted application.  If this application link is not for the current year or the deadline has passed, we ask you to please check back according to the application cycle as noted above (September to October). Additional details may be given by e-mailing grantsandvolunteers@jlw.org.

Past recipients of the Junior League of Washington targeted grants include The Literacy Lab (2012), Washington Middle School for Girls (2010 and 2012), Excel Academy (2011), Washington Jesuit Academy (2011), New Futures (2010), Inner City Inner Child (2009), and the SEED School (2009).

Opportunity Grants

The Opportunity Grants Subcommittee evaluates applications and makes recommendations for where Junior League of Washington grants of $1000 or less will be made to community organizations. Opportunity Grants are awarded to non-profit organizations demonstrating an unexpected short-term financial need. An organization may apply more than once but will only be awarded funding once during the League's fiscal year (June 1 – May 31). Organizations who have received more than $20,000 from the JLW in either the current fiscal year or the previous fiscal year are not eligible for Opportunity Grants. Please note all funds must be spent within 90 days of the contract award date, and the organization must submit a final report explaining how the funds were used along with proof of purchase.

The deadline for applications is September 30, 2012, at 5:00 p.m. EDT  (with the awarding of dollars around December 1) and February 1, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. EST (with the awarding of dollars around April 1). Application narratives must be submitted online.  All required appendices, including the signed cover page, must be submitted via email to grantsandvolunteers@jlw.org. Additional details may be given by e-mailing grantsandvolunteers@jlw.org.

Trained Volunteers

The Volunteer Resources Subcommittee identifies new Junior League of Washington volunteer placement opportunities from a pool of community organizations requesting trained Junior League of Washington volunteers. The committee reviews volunteer resource applications, conducts site visits, and recommends new community volunteer placements that are consistent with the literacy focus of the Junior League of Washington.  Completed applications must be submitted by email.  Click here for our currently posted application.  If the application link is not for the current year or the deadline has passed, we ask you to please check back according to the application cycle as noted above (September to October). Additional details may be given by e-mailing grantsandvolunteers@jlw.org.

Current Junior League of Washington community partners who received trained volunteers through the application process include The Literacy Lab, Horton’s Kids and Community Family Life Services.

Through the Junior League of Washington's Done-in-a-Day Committee, we also provide trained volunteers in response to requests from community organizations for short-term volunteer service for special events. Please visit this page for more information to request short-term volunteers.

JLW Resolution Read

To mark its Centennial for 2012-2013, the JLW is launching an initiative to donate and distribute 100,000 new books to children in the greater Washington, D.C. community, in collaboration with several local non-profit partners who will help select age-appropriate books. This project is an effort to focus on the importance of reading out loud to children, placing age-appropriate books in homes, and providing more books to schools and libraries.

Book proposals must meet at least one of the three children’s reading focus areas to be considered: (1) Lack of reading materials in the home; or (2) Lack of reading materials and resources in school classrooms and libraries; or (3) Lack of exposure to reading out loud (ages 0-5). Additionally, preference will be given to projects or programs located in D.C. Wards 5, 7, and/or 8, as well as serving children between ages 0 through 5th grade.

As we continue to seek locations, distribution sites, and organizations in need of children’s books, we are putting a call out to the community. If your organization has a need for children’s books, we want to hear from you. Books will be delivered directly to the organization. As a component of the application, the organization must detail how JLW volunteers will be involved in the distribution of the books.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis through February 28, 2013. However, grants will also be distributed on a rolling basis, based upon organizational need and available funding. The sooner the JLW receives your application, the sooner we can work with you to develop and refine your proposal. There will be a limited number of proposals selected; however, the exact number depends on availability of books and funding.

Application narratives must be submitted online. A signed cover letter and all required appendices must be submitted via email to grantsandvolunteers@jlw.org in PDF format with the name of the organization in the subject line.

Additional details may be given by e-mailing grantsandvolunteers@jlw.org.

Meg Graham Scholarship...Celebrating Service and Leadership

The Junior League of Washington volunteer service award, entitled the Meg Graham Scholarship...Celebrating Service and Leadership, is in honor of the late Reverend Margaret M. Graham, a former president of the Association of Junior Leagues International and former member of the Junior League of Washington. The annual scholarship program is available to graduating seniors of D.C. public and charter schools, matriculating to an accredited post-secondary institution. The scholarship rewards a student who has demonstrated outstanding volunteerism with funds for college education expenses. The application is typically made available in early January, and the recipient is notified in April. Click here to download the application.  If this application link is not for the current year or the deadline has passed, we ask you to please check back according to the application cycle noted above (January to April). Additional details may be given by e-mailing grantsandvolunteers@jlw.org.

Poetry Contest for Students

Begun in 2000, the Junior League of Washington embarked on a program to encourage and support literacy, instituting a poetry contest in the elementary grades of Washington, D.C. public and charter schools. Open to kids in grades 4 through 8, D.C. public and charter school students are encouraged to author an original poem for the competition and cash prizes. The competition details are typically made available in January and the finalists are notified in the spring, with the opportunity to read their poems out loud at a Junior League of Washington event. Additional details may be given by e-mailing jlwpoetry@jlw.org.

Click here for the winning poems for the 2012 Poetry Contest.