Learning Innovation Mini-Grant

The Hinton Area Foundation Learning Innovation Mini-Grant is an education-focused grant program offered by the Hinton Area Foundation. The Foundation traces its origins to efforts by Hinton residents beginning in 1991 to establish a local organization capable of mobilizing charitable resources for the community. Hinton Area Foundation received its charter from the State of West Virginia on March 6, 1992, and later received federal tax-exempt status. Its early development included a challenge grant connected to the Dr. Thomas Walker Foundation and community fundraising that helped establish the Foundation's charitable funds. The Learning Innovation Mini-Grant is one of the grant opportunities currently presented by the Hinton Area Foundation. The Learning Innovation Mini-Grant is specifically intended for Summers County classroom teachers serving students in grades Pre-K through 12. The Foundation states that awards are given for projects that encourage innovation, creativity, educational merit, and measurable student achievement. An additional requirement is that all funded projects directly involve and benefit students. These requirements establish a clear classroom and student-centered focus: proposed activities should not merely support education generally but should involve students directly and demonstrate a connection to educational value and student achievement. The supplied grant information does not state an award floor, award ceiling, total amount of funding available through the program, expected number of awards, or a defined grant period. It also does not identify a required cost share or matching contribution. Consequently, no specific minimum or maximum request amount can be established from the supplied information. No additional spending restrictions, indirect cost limitations, prohibited expenses, reimbursement rules, or other detailed budget requirements are stated in the source. Applicants should therefore rely on the Foundation's application portal and any instructions made available during the application period for requirements beyond those stated on the public grants page. Eligibility is limited to Summers County classroom teachers in grades Pre-K through 12. The geographic restriction is therefore Summers County, West Virginia, rather than the entire state or a nationwide applicant pool. The source describes the eligible applicants as classroom teachers and does not separately identify schools, school districts, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, businesses, institutions of higher education, or other organizational entities as eligible applicants for this particular mini-grant. Projects must directly involve and benefit students and should address the program's stated emphasis on innovation, creativity, educational merit, and measurable student achievement. The Hinton Area Foundation provides an Online Grant Application Portal from its grants page for grant applications. The supplied material does not identify a separate letter of intent, concept paper, pre-proposal, notice of intent, or other pre-application screening requirement for the Learning Innovation Mini-Grant. It also does not provide a list of required narratives, attachments, budget forms, supporting documents, application questions, or evaluation scoring weights. The program's stated priorities nevertheless indicate that proposed projects should be responsive to innovation, creativity, educational merit, measurable student achievement, and direct student involvement and benefit. The Learning Innovation Mini-Grant operates on an annual cycle. The Foundation states that the application opens annually in September and applications are due October 1. With an analysis date of August 31, 2026, the next expected application period is September 2026, with the annual deadline falling on October 1, 2026. The opportunity is therefore approaching its next application period rather than currently within the stated September application window. The source does not provide a specific opening day within September, a deadline time, an award notification date for this mini-grant, or a project performance period. The Foundation lists its contact address as 104 James Street, PO Box 217, Hinton, WV 25951, and provides the telephone number 304.309.5502. No individual program contact or grant-specific email address is identified in the supplied material.

Develop a project that clearly demonstrates innovation, creativity, educational merit, measurable student achievement, and direct student involvement and benefit.