Parents Council Grant Program

The UNH Parents Council awards grants to student organizations and individual students for projects that benefit scholarship, student learning, enhancement of UNH and the university community. The maximum award is $4,000 for student organizations and $1,000 for individual students. The awards are given only to proposals that are intended to have an impact on the university community and not typically undertaken by the university itself. Funds are often used as seed money or as matching money for projects. Because money for these awards is funded by endowments with gifts from UNH Durham undergraduate parents, the awards are only available to currently-enrolled UNH Durham undergraduate groups. Late submissions will not be accepted. Call 862-2053 for more information.

Facts and Requirements

The application for 2022-23 academic year is closed! Check back in Fall 2023 to apply for the 2023-2024 2 academic year.

Proposal Must Include

• Completed Application
• A budget for your organization
• Specific dollar amount requested from the UNH Parents Council, supported by a budget outlining the proposed expenditures
• If applicable, any additional information supporting your project
• List of all sources of support, financial and non-financial, including any fundraising.
• Approval by appropriate dean or department chair to provide an administrative recommendation as a sponsor. Sponsors must sign and comment on the proposal being submitted.

Grant Writing Workshops

All Grant Writers are strongly encouraged to make an appointment to consult with staff of the Connors Writing Center when developing proposals: Room 329 of the Dimond Library.

Connors Writing Center

Grant Criteria

The UNH Parents Council will be considering the following in evaluating submitted proposals: 

• Overall quality and merit of proposal, how it affects student(s), UNH and the university community.
• The number of students and other campus community members that will be directly and indirectly impacted by your proposal.
• Specific efforts to bring the program or program results back to UNH and the university community.
• Benefits to scholarship and/or student learning and/or enhancement of the quality of UNH, and the university community.
• Long term impact of the proposal for the student(s), UNH and the university community.
• Feasibility of accomplishing stated goals within the proposed time frame.
• Serious efforts to obtain alternative/additional means of support.

Grant awards may not be used to fund salaries or stipends. Travel expenses, including food and gas, will not be funded. Travel Expenses will only be considered for student organizations if the proposal project will bring a SPECIFIC benefit back to the UNH community. Grants will not be awarded for personal travel in individual student applications.  The UNH Parents Council Grant Committee may decide to only award partial funding for a particular proposal.

Must have a UNH Gift Fund number through UNH Finance to receive the award money. Please make sure you know this number. If you do not have one, speak to your sponsor about obtaining a Gift Fund account.