Apply for Funds from the
LAURA BUSH FOUNDATION FOR AMERICA'S LIBRARIES
The Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries provides funds to our Nation’s neediest schools so that they can extend, update, and diversify the book and print collections in their libraries with the goal of encouraging students to develop a love of reading and learning.
Applications for the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries 2023 grant are currently closed.
- Enter your email address and password.
If you don’t have or know your password, click Forgot Your Password OR Create a new account if you don’t have one. - Click the Green Apply button at the top of the page.
- Enter the access code: LBF2023
- Click the Blue Apply button.
We are happy to answer any questions you may have about this application. Please contact us at [email protected].
KEY DATES
- Application due by 11:59 p.m. CT on Friday, December 1, 2023.
- You will be notified as to whether your school library will be awarded a grant in mid-late Spring 2024.
- If your school library is awarded a grant, the Grant Agreement must be completed within 30 days of communication, or your school will no longer be qualified to receive the grant funds. This 30-day timeframe helps ensure that your grant funds can be spent in the grant period.
- If your school library is awarded a grant, all funds must be spent by December 31, 2024.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
- A certified librarian or other paid professional must be assigned as responsible for the collection, care, and use of the materials housed in the school library.
- Public school applicants must be Title 1 eligible. Neighborhood schools, charter schools, magnet schools, etc. are all welcome to apply if Title 1 eligible.
- Private and parochial schools are also welcome to apply if at least 50% of their student population qualify for financial aid.
- Your school must have a library or designated space on campus where books are accessible to all students to check out.
- Principal must digitally sign principal agreement in the application.
- All financial documentation must be completed for your application to be complete – this includes the school/district W-9 and a voided blank check OR a bank letter.
- Per the grant guidelines of the Laura Bush Foundation, the grant is to be used to purchase school library books, e-books, and magazine requests as outlined in your grant application. Use of the funds for shelving or furniture of any kind, equipment (i.e.: computers, electronic readers, Kindles, etc.), staffing, software, videos, guides, tests or exams, classroom book sets, or similar items, is prohibited.
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Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries
More info on the Foundation
Frequently Asked Questions
Communities Foundation of Texas is providing administrative support to the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries.
Please click “Begin or Continue An Application” on our website. You will be directed to the Communities Foundation of Texas website – then, click “Create New Account.”
In creating a new account, the Communities Foundation of Texas website will ask for:
- Organization Information:
- Organization Name: Please use this section to submit the name of the school that is applying.
- EIN/Tax ID: Please submit the EIN/Tax ID number of the school that is applying.
- Telephone Number: Please submit the telephone number of the school that is applying.
- Address 1 / City / State/Postal Code/County: Please submit the address/city/state/postal code/county of the school that is applying.
- User Information:
- First/Last Name: Please submit the first and last name of the individual filling out the application on behalf of the school.
- Business Title: Please submit the title of the individual filling out the application on behalf of the school.
- Email/Username and Email/Username Confirmation: Please submit the email address of the individual filling out the application on behalf of the school; this will be your username.
- Telephone Number: Please submit the telephone number of the school that is applying.
- Address 1/City/State/Postal Code: Please submit the address/city/state/postal code of the school that is applying.
- Executive Officer or Executive Director Question: This next section will ask if you are the organization’s Executive Officer or Executive Director
- Please consider the Executive Officer or Executive Director as the principal of your campus. If you are not the principal, please select “no.” If you are the principal, please select “yes.”
- Executive Officer/Executive Director Information: This section will pop up if you previously selected that you are not the principal of the school that is applying.
- First/Last Name: Please submit the first and last name of the principal of the school you are applying on behalf of.
- Business Title: Please submit “Principal.”
- Email: Please submit the email address of the principal of the school that is applying.
- Password
- Password: Please create and confirm a password that you will easily remember.
Yes, library grants are awarded to individual schools and not to districts. We require one application for each school applying.
Yes. The person responsible for the library does not necessarily have to be a certified librarian, but the person must be an employee of the school and/or district.
No, anyone may write an application (i.e. a certified librarian, administrator, teacher, grant writer, paraprofessional, parent, or volunteer).
Yes. Schools with a designated library space available to all students may apply.
A “book” is a printed volume, a Braille volume, an audio-book, or an e-book that will be added to either the circulating or reference section of the school library collection. Magazine/serial copies or subscriptions and e-magazine subscriptions may be purchased with grant funds. Not eligible to be purchased with library grant funds: videos or DVDs, any student/teacher guide to the book (in print or other media), a test/quiz/workbook, any software related to the book, or electronic book readers.
No. Funds from the Laura Bush Foundation may be used only to purchase print or Braille volumes, audio-books, e-books, or magazine/serial/e-magazine subscriptions. If necessary, you may purchase a small amount for classroom libraries to fully utilize your grant.
This information should be readily available from the principal or school district. If not, consult the following website: http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/
No. The Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries is a restricted fund of the George W. Bush Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. It is supported by charitable contributions.
Yes. However, it must be clearly documented that the county library is the sole library for the school and how access to the materials by the students is facilitated.
No. Each school library, regardless of the variety of constituents it serves, is limited to one application per year.
No. All grant dollars are to be spent for books, e-books or magazines/serials/e-magazines in print, Braille or audio form. Grant funds are not to be used for the purchase of quizzes, tests, study guides, teacher guides, commentaries on a book, e-book readers, or any kind of hardware/software.
No, funds from the Laura Bush Foundation may be used only to purchase print or Braille volumes, audio-books, e-books, magazines/serials/e-magazines.
No, approval from the principal must be included in the grant application at the time of submission.
Yes, you have the option to save your pending application once an account is created. Only complete applications submitted prior to deadline will be considered.
Please reach out to your district business office for more information.
We require that the bank letter must include 1) entity name – for example, school/district 2) ABA information 3) account number. All three items must be included on the bank letter for your application to be considered complete/eligible.
Communities Foundation of Texas is providing administrative support to the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries. Your grant award payment will be process through their organization.