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The IBMA Foundation is pleased to announce the permanent endowment of the Rick Lang Music Songwriter Scholarship, funded by a $50,000 gift from Rick and Wendy Lang of New Hampshire. Rick Lang is a GRAMMY-nominated writer who serves as the chair of the IBMA Songwriter Committee and volunteers with the IBMA Songwriter Mentor Program.
The Rick Lang Music Songwriter Scholarship is awarded annually to a student planning to study songwriting at the college level. Applicants are not required to have a declared major in songwriting, but they must already have demonstrated skills as a songwriter and plan to further their study of the art on a higher education level. Applicants must be current IBMA members.
The first two recipients of this scholarship were Heather Alley (2020), a student at Morehead State University in Morehead, KY, and Jessica Lang (2021, no relation to the donors), a student at Belmont University in Nashville, TN.
“Our goal with the scholarship is to help our youth be able to afford to further their educations in the music field and realize their dreams,” the Langs said. “Young people are the future of bluegrass music, and we are glad to be able to help them along their journey! We are beyond excited about finally endowing the scholarship. This means it will perpetuate and be available to students each and every year.”
The new endowed fund is held at the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee in Nashville, TN, which invests and administers more than $500 million in charitable funds. The Rick Lang Music Songwriter Endowment Fund will distribute annual income to the IBMA Foundation to use in funding one or more Rick Lang Music Songwriter college scholarships each year and for expenses of administering that scholarship program.
Gifts to support this endowed scholarship are welcome from additional individuals, organizations and corporations interested in supporting the future of bluegrass songwriting.
Our Story
The IBMA Foundation was created by the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2007 with a bequest from the Richard Barnhart estate. Mr. Barnhart was a musician from northern Virginia who loved bluegrass and wanted to support educational programs for children. Since the beginning, our goal has been to support bluegrass-music-related educational, literary, artistic and historic preservation activities.
In our early years we produced Discover Bluegrass, an educational video that has been used in thousands of classrooms and libraries around the world. We have hosted dozens of teacher workshops and artist trainings. We created a bluegrass lesson plan competition and provided a network for leaders of after-school bluegrass programs.
Our project grants, which now total $25,000 a year, support bluegrass-related initiatives throughout the world. We also fund Bluegrass in the Schools Mini-grants ($7,000/year) which help schools to hire bluegrass bands for school programs. The Rosenberg Bluegrass Scholar Award recognizes excellence in academic research. Six college scholarships are granted for students working in various areas of the bluegrass music industry. The Arnold Shultz Fund supports increased participation of people of color in bluegrass music with grants that total $30,000/ year. Fletcher Bright Memorial Grants for Young Musicians (age 18 and younger) help young people go to bluegrass music camps and workshops, take lessons, and purchase educational materials.
IBMA Foundation Project Grants
The IBMA Foundation awards project grants each year, usually in amounts between $1,000 and $2,500. The deadline to apply is December 2, 2024. Projects must align with the Foundation’s mission in one of the following areas
Our Story
The IBMA Foundation was created by the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2007 with a bequest from the Richard Barnhart estate. Mr. Barnhart was a musician from northern Virginia who loved bluegrass and wanted to support educational programs for children. Since the beginning, our goal has been to support bluegrass-music-related educational, literary, artistic and historic preservation activities.
In our early years we produced Discover Bluegrass, an educational video that has been used in thousands of classrooms and libraries around the world. We have hosted dozens of teacher workshops and artist trainings. We created a bluegrass lesson plan competition and provided a network for leaders of after-school bluegrass programs.
Our project grants, which now total $25,000 a year, support bluegrass-related initiatives throughout the world. We also fund Bluegrass in the Schools Mini-grants ($7,000/year) which help schools to hire bluegrass bands for school programs. The Rosenberg Bluegrass Scholar Award recognizes excellence in academic research. Six college scholarships are granted for students working in various areas of the bluegrass music industry. The Arnold Shultz Fund supports increased participation of people of color in bluegrass music with grants that total $30,000/ year. Fletcher Bright Memorial Grants for Young Musicians (age 18 and younger) help young people go to bluegrass music camps and workshops, take lessons, and purchase educational materials.
Fletcher Bright Memorial Grant for Young Musicians
The IBMA Foundation is proud to host the Fletcher Bright Memorial Grant for Young Musicians. The Bright family of Chattanooga, Tennessee; Thomas J. Brown of Dalton, Georgia; and Barbara Martin Stephens of Madison, Tennessee made combined gifts of $29,000 in 2020 to create the fund that will benefit young people interested in learning to play bluegrass music and endow it for decades to come.
The Bright family is committed to supporting the endowment, and they welcome donations from others interested in helping young musicians achieve their bluegass education goals.
Fletcher Bright Memorial Grants up to $500 per applicant are awarded to help cover expenses of lessons, educational materials, instrument rental or purchase, workshops, and camps. Young bluegrass musicians at all levels may apply for assistance. Financial need will be considered, but is not required to receive a Bright grant. Applications for Bright grants may be made throughout the year.
Our Story
The IBMA Foundation was created by the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2007 with a bequest from the Richard Barnhart estate. Mr. Barnhart was a musician from northern Virginia who loved bluegrass and wanted to support educational programs for children. Since the beginning, our goal has been to support bluegrass-music-related educational, literary, artistic and historic preservation activities.
In our early years we produced Discover Bluegrass, an educational video that has been used in thousands of classrooms and libraries around the world. We have hosted dozens of teacher workshops and artist trainings. We created a bluegrass lesson plan competition and provided a network for leaders of after-school bluegrass programs.
Our project grants, which now total $25,000 a year, support bluegrass-related initiatives throughout the world. We also fund Bluegrass in the Schools Mini-grants ($7,000/year) which help schools to hire bluegrass bands for school programs. The Rosenberg Bluegrass Scholar Award recognizes excellence in academic research. Six college scholarships are granted for students working in various areas of the bluegrass music industry. The Arnold Shultz Fund supports increased participation of people of color in bluegrass music with grants that total $30,000/ year. Fletcher Bright Memorial Grants for Young Musicians (age 18 and younger) help young people go to bluegrass music camps and workshops, take lessons, and purchase educational materials.
Bill Breen Bluegrass Youth Education Fund
The Bill Breen Bluegrass Youth Education Fund was initially financed by friend and colleague, Susie Stephenson. The fund is an option for donors who want to help young people experience and learn to play bluegrass music. Instead of funding a specific scholarship or grant, the Breen Fund will be used by the IBMA Foundation where needed most, in a variety of ways that benefit individuals age 21 and younger. Based in Chicago, Illinois, Bill was an Associate Professor and Professor of Finance at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University from 1971-2002, going on to serve as Chairman of the Finance Department and Head of Doctoral Studies for the Kellogg School. In addition to playing the banjo, Bill was an avid sailor and fly fisherman, and he never met a dog he didn’t like. His friends and family say it’s fitting that a man so passionate about the banjo, bluegrass music, and education is memorialize with a bluegrass youth education fund.
Virginia grants for nonprofits provide funding to support education, public health, economic development, and environmental projects. The following grants empower organizations to tackle local challenges, promote equity, and enhance quality of life across Virginia communities.
Find 200+ funding opportunities for nonprofits in Virginia, with $18.5M available. Instrumentl helps organizations secure funding through deadline tracking, customized search filters, and research-driven insights to foster impactful work throughout the state.
How common are grants in this category?
Common — grants in this category appear regularly across funding sources.
Over the past year, when are grant deadlines typically due for Virginia grants for Nonprofits?
Most grants are due in the first quarter.
If you are located in the Virginia area, there is a wide variety of funding sources for nonprofits currently being offered. Right now there are more than 200+ individual open grants available, totaling $18,494,105 in funding. For organizations interested in pursuing grant funding in Virginia, the median grant size is $12,500. However, those who may need more funding do have vast opportunities, as there are currently 53 grant opportunities that are over $25,000. In addition, we have 29 grants that support general operating expenses, while more than 200+ grants fund programs and projects. More specifically, over 3,000+ grants focus on education and more than 600+ grant opportunities are focused on food access & hunger.
Nearly half of the more than 200+ grants available in Virginia come from private foundations and have a wide variety of fields in which they support. There are also plenty of opportunities on the federal, state, and local government levels, as well as a few grants being offered by corporate sponsors. Here’s a breakdown of where you'll find the most grants available:
You should do your research on not only the amount of funding being offered by these grantors but also their focus. Keep in mind that government grants often have larger awards than those on the corporate level, but they also have equally large compliance requirements.
Based on the data we have now, the best time to apply for grants in Virginia is in Q1, which is when about 32.8% of deadlines for grants land. This period offers nonprofits the most opportunities to secure funding. Q3 has come in second with a smaller amount of grant deadlines, with 25.5%. Comparatively, Q4 is the grant period with the least activity, coming in at only 20.4%. To maximize your odds of winning grant funding, be aware of the peak fundraising periods.
The nonprofit funding landscape throughout Virginia has shown significant activity across the past several years. Based on the funding reports sent to the IRS, overall grant funding reached more than $6.05 billion in 2021 and then rose to more than $6.39 billion in 2022. The largest area for funding was single-organization support. Likewise, the top areas that received the most funding were Fairfax County, Arlington County, and Alexandria City.
If you want to start searching through the more than 100 grants available in Virginia, Instrumentl simplifies the entire grant process so that you're only applying to the grants you are qualified to actually win. Through Instrumentl, you can easily research funders, manage deadlines, and keep on top of everything in our all-in-one platform.
With Instrumentl, you'll get access to over 20,000 live grants and 400,000 funders beyond what you see here in Virginia. Learn more about how Instrumentl helps nonprofits streamline their grant process.