K-12 Education Grants

Bright futures begin in the classroom, and every child deserves a fair chance at academic success.

Application period open Nov. 15 – Jan. 31; grant decisions by March 30

Note: During these extraordinary times, we want to ensure the grants we fund align to the needs of the communities we serve. We will look at funding this year through the lens of how we can best help our customers and communities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, and how we can further the work on social justice and racial equity in our communities. 

These grants support:

• Programs to address the summer reading loss (“summer slide”) experienced by rising kindergartners through rising third-graders with an emphasis on addressing new gaps/barriers created by COVID.
• Programs for fourth through twelfth grade students that advance energy, engineering and environmental education through student programming or teacher professional development and that also create equal learning environments in these areas for people of color.
• Programs serving under-represented, low-income or diverse audiences, including people of color, women and minorities, will be given preference in this grant cycle. Programs that extend into out-of-school time will be given preference in this grant cycle.

• Have current tax-exempt status as a public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code, be a governmental entity, including school systems. Governmental entities, including school systems will need to:
  
  1.  Submit an IRS letter of determination. To request an IRS letter of determination, contact the IRS at 877.829.5500 or view this sample letter
       OR
  2.  Supply a letter to the Duke Energy Foundation on their governmental / school system letterhead affirming they are a governmental entity and include their Federal EIN number.
• Serve communities that are also served by Duke Energy
• Serve communities without discrimination against any individual on the basis of race, creed, gender, gender identity, age, sexual orientation or national origin 
• Have a method by which to measure, track and report one or more program outcomes and specific results that demonstrate measurable community impact 

Restrictions 

• Churches or evangelical organizations
• Organizations with a substantial purpose of influencing any political, legislative or regulatory cause
• Fraternal, veteran or labor membership organizations serving only the members of that organization
• Organizations offering or providing either Duke Energy Corporation, the Duke Energy Foundation, or their respective officers or employees any benefit from the grant
• Nonprofit organizations that are opposing or intervening parties (or that fund any such parties) in any proceeding in which Duke Energy is a party, or that fund or produce negative advertisements against Duke Energy.

• Individual K-12 schools or organizations that operate within an individual school. We will consider school grants at the district level.
• Sports teams or events, with the exception of Power for Students. 
• Religious programs, projects or activities
• Direct cost reduction for electric or natural gas service provided by Duke Energy
• External fundraising campaigns or events
• General operating expenses
• Capital investments and improvements
• Endowments or other foundations