West Michigan Youth Programs

As the birthplace of the Gerber Foundation, the foundation supports a variety of youth programming within a 4-county area that includes Lake, Muskegon, Newaygo, and Oceana Counties in West Michigan.

Grants are geared towards projects serving youth from 0-18 years of age. A special emphasis is placed on projects focused on:

• Health, Nutrition and Dental issues
• Early childhood services and Literacy
• Parenting Education
• Education (including Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts/Agriculture, and Math)
• Life Experiences (camp scholarships, Ag Science Education, 4-H and FFA)

Agencies must be located in or directly serving youth from one of the 4 counties indicated above.

Grantees must be a public non-profit (with a 501c3 determination letter from the IRS) or governmental entity in order to apply.

Grants are to fund programming, generally limited to one-year commitments, and are normally under $10,000, with the average grant size being less than $5,000.  Programs that are collaborative and that have support from the broader community are encouraged.

Although the Foundation prefers to fund programming only, capital campaign requests are considered, from time-to-time, on a very limited basis.  Please contact the Foundation before applying for capital campaign funding.

Applicants may contact the Foundation office to discuss their project with Foundation staff at any time throughout the year by emailing tgf@gerberfoundation.org or phone (231) 924-3175.