Conference Support Funding

YENC13-060, Holmes, KS
JohnElla Holmes (right) shares a poster about her SARE grant at the "Our Farms Our Future" conference. Holmes' Youth Educator grant included a sustainable agriculture camp for 28 youth.

Are you hosting a sustainable agriculture conference or educational event that needs some support?

The North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NCR-SARE) program has limited funds available to support conferences relevant to sustainable agriculture featuring SARE grantee speakers.

To qualify, events should occur within six months of the application deadline and specifically serve the 12-state North Central Region (either in entirety, or a substantial portion of the region) or be national events offered within the North Central Region states.

To be considered for funding, applicants should complete this Google form. Completion of this form does not guarantee funding. We receive many requests and only have enough funding for the most highly relevant requests. No more than one conference support grant will be made per organization per calendar year.

The funds should be used for allowable costs and NOT for "sponsorship" in general. Applicants must supply a budget from the organization showing what costs the SARE funds will cover. Allowable costs are speaker/facilitator fees or travel costs, including meals, costs for field demonstrations, workshop sessions, and farm tours. 

Support CANNOT be used to cover facility rentals, equipment rentals or purchases, the rental or purchase of supplies (tables, chairs, tents, paper products are examples), or giveaway items, specifically monetary donations, such as gift certificates and gift cards.

Most funding support will be in the $1000-$2000 range per event.  

Primary criteria for events to be considered for NCR-SARE funding:

  • Events must feature speakers from SARE-funded projects
  • Events should specifically serve the 12-state North Central Region (either in entirety, or a substantial portion of the region) or be national events that are being offered within the North Central Region states.  
  • We especially welcome requests for events that target audiences USDA defines as socially disadvantaged.

Conference Support request Timeline
Applications will be reviewed four times a year.

Applications received by:

  • July 31 will be informed by August 7
  • October 31 will be informed by November 7
  • January 31 will be informed by February 7
  • April 30 will be informed by May 7