Adult Learn-to-Swim Grant

The USA Swimming Foundation's mission is to save lives and build champions in the pool and in life, and it supports opportunities for people to learn to swim as part of that mission. In partnership with U.S. Masters Swimming, the Adult Learn to Swim Grant supports swim instructors, facilities, and programs working to make adults safer around water. The program is intended to reduce adult drowning risk through education, financial support, and community outreach while helping adults gain the skills and confidence to continue swimming. The grant also specifically seeks to expand existing programming to underserved and under-represented populations and communities that otherwise might not have an opportunity to learn to swim. Grant funds are intended to expand the current scope of adult learn-to-swim programming, including outreach activities. Funding may supplement direct program costs for free or reduced-cost swim lessons for adults age 18 and older and for pool, lane, or space rental. The maximum Adult Learn to Swim Grant award is $5,000 per organization. Funds are not intended for budget relief, general facility overhead, construction or renovation, material goods such as equipment or apparel, advertising, promotional or marketing activities, re-granting, or gifting. Requests for categories other than eligible adult swim lesson scholarships and pool or lane rental are ineligible. The guidelines do not state a minimum award, total funding pool, number of awards, or a required cost share or matching contribution. Applicants must have a valid Federal Tax ID Number or Employer Identification Number under which they do business and must serve adults age 18 and older. Programs must use instructors and lifeguards with current CPR and First Aid certifications, maintain a maximum three-to-one student-to-instructor ratio, and provide at least four hours of in-water instruction supporting specified water-safety and swimming skills. Programs must maintain qualifying liability insurance or be self-insured, maintain formal and practiced Emergency Action Plans for each location or site, and operate in pool facilities regulated by the Department of Health or a similar governing agency. Programs must register as a U.S. Masters Swimming Club or Workout group, and participants completing the program should be provided an opportunity to continue swimming with a U.S. Masters Swimming program. Applications are submitted online through SurveyMonkey Apply. Applicants must establish a SurveyMonkey Apply user account using the organization's Federal Tax ID Number or EIN and a valid email address. Only one application per Federal Tax ID number, organization, or program will be accepted. The application contains multiple tasks, all of which must be completed before the full application is submitted. Applicants are asked to identify the amount of grant funding requested for swim lessons and pool or lane rental and the number of adults to be served with grant dollars. Grant proposals should demonstrate how the requested funding will expand the current scope of service, including applicable outreach programming. Late or incomplete applications and applications submitted outside SurveyMonkey Apply are not accepted. The Grant Review Committee looks most favorably on programs that demonstrate cost-effective spending, serve the greatest number of adults, and provide opportunities or connections for participants to continue into U.S. Masters Swimming programs after appropriate swimming skills have been mastered. Award recipients must register as a USMS club or workout group, and adult learn-to-swim instructors must register as USMS members, before accepting or receiving award funds. Recipients must also sign a Letter of Agreement containing an indemnification clause, recognize the joint parties on program materials and at program locations, post the joint USA Swimming Foundation, USA Swimming, and USMS logo on their website with the required link, and submit an End of Year Grant Report. Recipients also receive one fee waiver for the USMS Adult Learn to Swim Instructor Certification Course and promotion of their program on the USMS website. For the 2027 Adult Learn to Swim Grant cycle, the application is scheduled to open September 1, 2027, and applications are due November 15, 2027, at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time. The timeline states that recipients will be announced in January, and the 2027 award recipient End of Year Report is due January 15, 2028, at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time. The guidelines identify November 15 as the recurring proposal deadline and present a named annual grant cycle, supporting treatment of the opportunity as recurring. Questions about Adult Learn to Swim Grants or the application process may be directed to Hilary Perez at grants@usaswimming.org; the guidelines also provide the program telephone number 719-866-3567.

Show cost-effective spending; serve the greatest number of adults possible; provide opportunities or connections for participants to continue into U.S. Masters Swimming programs after appropriate skills are mastered; submit one complete application per EIN/organization/program through SurveyMonkey Apply by the deadline