No. You are welcome to apply for funding even if you haven't started any projects before this year.

Yes, we require that all schools receiving project funding start a Green Team made up of students along with administrators, teachers, staff, and/or parents. However, if your school already has a sustainability/environmentally-focused team, that would count too. The idea behind the Green Team is that we believe students should be leading the process of planning and implementing new projects. A Green Team may be a classroom or a multi-age student/teacher/parent group, and they can meet either during or after school.

You can sign up as many champions as you’d like. The stipend can be up to $1,000 depending on the complexity and duration of selected projects. This stipend can be divided and shared among the champions.

Our Director of Equitable Initiatives, Tatjana Rebelle, can help walk you through the application process and come up with a plan that will work. They can be reached at tatjana@earthcharterindiana.org

We added an extra date to allow schools the opportunity to apply at a time that is convenient for them. Allowing for flexibility for schools that may have projects that are season dependent (ie school gardens). This also is to give schools with larger projects the chance to work in stages.

Please reach out if you prefer to submit your application by mail or email. We will work with you.

We are currently revising our certification criteria, so this designation is not available at this time. Our goal is to become Indiana’s leading Green School Certification Program.

We are not sure. The goal is to have the new certification program up and running by the end of 2025. Please make sure to come back for updates.

Deadlines are based on the scope and scale of each project. If you are awarded funding, our ITSC program director will work with you to create a feasible plan and realistic deadlines for each project. Make sure to read the ITSC Program Outline for more information

Pre- and post-assessments of impact are not set in stone. We’ll work with each school to set these metrics of impact, which will be highly dependent on the project and what each school can feasibly measure. For waste management, it may simply be to measure the amount of waste before and after. For buildings and energy, they could report their energy usage for 12 months before and 12 months after

Schools are allowed to apply for up to $5000 in funding for up to 3 projects total.

You can apply for funding to expand or improve upon an existing project. You can also apply for funding to sustain an existing project that is currently at risk. If you are unsure if your existing project qualifies, please contact us.

We want you to do some research on costs but understand that prices fluctuate. We are also familiar with pricing of projects and may have a recommendation for something more budget friendly. You may not receive all the funding you are applying for, but we’ll do everything we can to help you complete your project.

The selection criteria includes:

1) High level of involvement of students

2) Educational component

3) Environmental impact

4) Impact to community and families of students

5) Greatest chance for success

6) Ability to sustain projects into the future

We are particularly interested in projects that emphasize energy and/or water savings and projects that illustrate the benefits of circular economy (e.g. cafeteria waste reduction projects).

The number of finalists is based on the level of interest in the program and the number of applications we receive.

We understand that things change all the time. If it appears that you are not able to complete the project due to reasons outside of your control, our Resilient Schools Coordinator will work with you. You must maintain consistent communication with the RSC and show that you truly can not proceed as planned.

Not this year. We are currently working on a separate grant opportunity for schools looking to get water refill stations. While we fully understand the importance of the stations, it does not align with this year's ITSC vision. Stay tuned to this website for updates when that grant will be available.