Grants & Resources

Apply for this grant if you or your student organization is working on a small-scale project, event, or initiative that addresses campus sustainability or social sustainability. Projects awarded funding through the SES grant are not required to have an equal focus on environmental and social criteria. Projects about either social or environmental sustainability are eligible; however, the co-consideration of both topics in any project is encouraged by the SSC team.

• Increases environmental sustainability on the University of Michigan’s campus

  • Projects eligible for funding address environmental aspects of sustainability, typically dealing with our planet's natural resources.
  • Examples of this might include, improving energy efficiency, reducing consumption of single-use items, sourcing food grown with regenerative practices, reducing waste, etc.

• Increases social sustainability on the University of Michigan’s campus

  • Projects eligible for funding embody sustainability as a mindset and framework for ensuring that current and future generations have equitable access to resources for full and vibrant life without the exploitation of people, society, or the planet.
  • Examples of this might include, expanding access to fresh produce, increasing affordable housing options, fostering inclusion of diverse perspectives, etc.

• Projects should engage students in a variety of ways. Examples include research, education, and experiential learning, hands-on involvement, outreach & awareness, teaching about a topic, student usage of end product, etc.)

• The SES grant prioritizes projects that make a clear impact on the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor’s campus.

• This specific grant program will only accept applications from student-initiated and student-driven projects..

• SSC prioritizes funding projects that present a clear and realistic budget and plan for completion.

• Further considerations include project durability, cross-collaborativeness, impact across multiple areas of sustainability, maximizing of impact.

Please note we do not award funding for compensating students’ time, or budget items not justified as necessary.

The SES grant does not have a specific application deadline.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until the funds are exhausted. SSC reviews SES grants bi-weekly.

• The Fall 2025 semester application deadlines:

  • September 21, 2025
  • October 5, 2025
  • November 2, 2025
  • November 16, 2025

Submit your Application>)

ATTENTION: Due to cuts in funding, we have significantly less money for our grant program this year. This resulted in our PBSIF grant only being offered in the Winter semester. We continue to engage U-M leadership in ways to increase funding for this year and future years.

Aply for this grant if you or your student organization is working on a project with long-lasting impact that addresses a campus sustainability challenge and enhances campus-wide student engagement with sustainability. Project and application must be student-generated and student-driven. Staff and faculty are also welcome to submit grant applications as long as they clearly specify what the student involvement and learning outcomes will be from the project.

• Projects should provide opportunities for a wide range of student engagement

  • Some examples include research, education, and experiential learning, hands-on experience, outreach and awareness, training & development, student usage of end product, etc.
  • Priority will be given to project proposals that engage students throughout the project build or are student-facing upon completion/deployment.

• Projects must be student OR staff/faculty-initiated

  • This specific grant program will accept project applications that are initiated by both students and faculty/staff. We expect that all grant applications demonstrate a strong student engagement component regardless of who initiated the project.

• Projects should address campus sustainability and carbon neutrality goals

  • We prioritize funding projects that align with and work toward the University of Michigan’s campus sustainability and carbon neutrality goals.

• Projects should be Innovative & transformative

  • We don’t want to limit what “innovative” or “transformative” could be, but if you have a new idea, an improvement on an old one, a design or technology to prove a path to a new way of looking at old problems, a new tool or method, a new way of looking or thinking about something, these are what we are looking to fund with our grant.

• Projects should demonstrate long-term durability

  • We want to support projects and ideas tied to a longer-term vision. We do not want to award grants for projects that end the moment the grant is over.
  • Our grants primarily serve as seed grants or start-up funds for projects and efforts; therefore we will look for how you plan to secure other funding further down the road, if needed.

• Projects must be campus-facing

  • This grant program funds projects that take place on the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus. Projects taking place off campus or on Dearborn/Flint are not eligible for this particular grant program.

• Projects should incorporate environmental justice

  • We prioritize initiatives that incorporate and work toward environmental justice.

Fall 2025: NO GRANTS AVAILABLE

Winter 2026:

Letter of intent due by Sunday, November 16th @11:59P

Application due by Sunday, February 15th @ 11:59

A successful application requires the following:

• Submission of a Letter of Intent

• Submission of a Full Application

  All potential grant applicants are strongly encouraged to meet with our team during Grants Program Office Hours before applying to strive for the strongest application possible.

After funding requirements:

• Grant recipients will be required to meet with our Resource & Impact team in an ongoing & consistent manner.
• Grant recipients will be required to share updates and reports on their respective projects on an ongoing basis.
• Projects are required to acknowledge/promote SSC as a sponsor whenever possible to help advance our mission of raising awareness about SSC resources across campus.

Submit a Letter of Intent

Submit an Application