A Microgrant for High Schoolers Pursuing Neat Things

The Neat Grant is a microgrant for high school juniors and seniors to help them pursue something they find neat, but that may fall outside the traditional high school curriculum. We offer two no-strings-attached $500 grants: one to high school juniors and one to high school seniors.

We are primarly focused on supporting well-defined, short-term projects with a element of computer science/STEM and/or community improvement.

The grant is intended to provide a small amount of cash to support a project of the student’s choosing, while also conferring a sense of legitimacy to the project in that the grant application was reviewed and accepted by a panel of subject-matter experts.

Please see:

• Ethos - the motivation behind this grant
• Application
• FAQ

Timeline

• December 1, 2023: Applications open
• March 1, 2024: Applications close
• March 31, 2024: Winners announced
• Spring, 2024: Grant money is awarded

Project Characteristics

An ideal project has the following characteristics:

• Neat (very broadly defined)
• Legal (very strictly defined)
• Feasible for a high schooler to do alone or with a small group within 6 weeks
  • Having a mentor/advisor for the project is not disqualifying
• A concrete, tangible outcome
• [Optional, but highly encouraged] Has an element of STEM/computer science and/or community improvement

Anonymized project applications will be evaluated holistically by a small panel of reviewers.

Grant Structure

We offer two grants, both $500 USD, one is restricted to rising high school juniors (i.e., junior students who will enter their senior year after the grant period) and one to graduating seniors (i.e., students in their final year of high school).

The grant will be paid in two parts: half ($250 USD) at the start of the grant period and half three weeks later. A Venmo or PayPal account is required to receive the money.

Follow-up Nanogrant

An optional $100 USD follow-up grant will be available to grant recipients who, at the end of the grant period, produce a write-up (publicly available, including a copy hosted on The Neat Grant website) detailing the project idea, major progress milestones, outcomes, etc.