Tag Archives: mini grants

CMLE

Before the semester ends, grab some CMLE money!!

Grants wmcon

I have been so very happy this year, because we are handing out a TON of money to members for scholarships and mini-grants!! My own goal is to spend every single dime in this account, and maybe a few more that I have to shuffle into this budget line. And you guys are doing a GREAT job of helping me achieve that goal!!!

This is just a quick reminder that we can only give out one scholarship and one mini-grant each fiscal year. We run from July 1 through June 30; so we are closing in on the end of the year.

What does this mean for you?

Especially if you are in a school library, you can apply for a mini-grant NOW to start building up your maker-space, or buying some books for your collection; then you can apply for another one right away at the beginning of the school year (or over the summer – we’ll be here!). You will be all set up then with up to $600 in good stuff for your library!!

And of course, these are not just for school library people! (We just have a lot of school library members, so we see a lot of applications from this group.) We are a multitype system, and would be happy to give money to ALL of you!! (Note: at some point we may run out of money, but I’ll be sure to give out a head’s up before that happens!)

You can apply for up to $300 in scholarships, and up to $300 in mini-grants each year. As a spoiler alert: your chances are pretty great of getting accepted! If you want to chat with us about your application, email us at admin@cmle.org, or come by our Office Hours!

Here is the material on CMLE scholarships.

Here is the material for CMLE mini-grants.

You have a little more time this year, and we have some more money to give out – so let’s make this happen!!!

CMLE

CMLE Resources: Mini Grant Application

1963 MkI Mini
At CMLE we are always working to support our member libraries. And now we have a new program for you:
Mini Grants!

Do you have a cool project you want to try out?
We want to help you with a Mini Grant!

CMLE will offer you up to $300 to try out a cool thing!

What does “cool” mean here?

  • It means an interesting program you want to bring to your library.
  • It means some new material you want to add to your collection.
  • It means supplies for a makerspace, or for a program, or for something else you want to try in the library.
  • Or, it may mean something else that will benefit your community, if you just had access to up to $300 more to get it done!

We want to help encourage our CMLE members to try some new things for your community members. The requirements of the Mini Grant are pretty flexible – we just want to see you try something you might not otherwise have a chance to do.

For the first half of the CMLE fiscal year (July – December), we encourage Mini Grant applications that focus on technology topics (programs, materials, supplies). We take a broad view of the definition of “technology” so feel free to be broad in your understanding of it as it relates to your library.

In the second half of the CMLE year (January – June), we encourage grants that focus on non-technology projects, materials, and programs. This is a guideline, not a hard-and-fast rule; so again, be broad in your conception of what is possible in your library!

Preference will go to new CMLE grant applicants, and to applicants submitting only one application in a fiscal year. If you submit more than one, we may try to fund a second one at the end of the fiscal year, if any money is still available. (Please do not count on that happening though!)

To reimburse you, we need you send us your original receipts, and a discussion of the program/material/supplies that we can put up on our blog. For our purposes, we do not care whether the grant worked or was a flaming disaster – either will provide valuable for our other members as they work on their own grants!

Ready to try this out? Fill out the application below. We will fund on a rolling, competitive basis, in the above described six month chunks, until our money runs out.

FY18 CMLE Mini Grant Application