AAUW Community Action Grants
AAUW Community Action Grants support K–12 girls through community-based STEM projects that build skills, confidence, and belonging, helping prepare them for STEM higher education and careers.
Funder: American Association of University Women
Due Dates: September 17, 2026, 5:00 p.m. ET (LOI) | January 14, 2027, 5:00 p.m. ET (Invited application)
Funding Amounts: Up to $50,000 per project for up to 24 months
Summary: Supports community-based projects that build STEM skills, confidence, and pathways to education and careers for K–12 girls.
Key Information: Projects must exclusively serve participants who identify as girls; mixed-gender projects are ineligible.
Description
AAUW Community Action Grants support innovative, community-based projects that dismantle barriers to girls’ participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Run by the American Association of University Women, the program helps girls in grades K–12 develop the confidence, skills, identity, and preparation to pursue STEM higher education and careers. It prioritizes girls from historically underrepresented communities in STEM.
Projects may strengthen ongoing programs or launch new initiatives. AAUW’s approach emphasizes hands-on STEM learning, mentorship or exposure to women in STEM, family or caregiver encouragement, and intentional confidence, identity, or belonging-building experiences. Projects need not include every element, but cohesive integration of multiple elements may improve competitiveness. Community-based work may be place-based, multi-site, or virtual, provided it meaningfully engages a clearly defined community.
