Since 1990, The NRA Foundation has awarded over $473 million through over 60,000 grants. NRA Foundation grants enable shooting sports-related and safety programs to develop, expand, and enhance their educational curricula to deliver valuable services to millions of Americans. Ruthann Sprague, Assistant Director of The NRA Foundation Grant Outreach & Strategy explains, “The NRA Foundation State Fund Grant program is the country’s premier funding source for the shooting sports, hunting and conservation programs, Second Amendment protections, range improvements, and law enforcement support.”
Every year, The NRA Foundation allocates half of all net event proceeds for use by the state in which it was raised. Friends of NRA volunteers are appointed to State Fund Committees who then make recommendations on how the local grant funding is dispersed. The other half is used by The NRA Foundation to fund operations and projects like those on the local and state levels, but with a national scope. These monies sustain vital programs such as Youth and Women’s Programs, Range Services, Eddie Eagle, Education & Training, Law Enforcement, Competitive Shooting, Hunter Safety & Services, the National Firearms Museum, and NRA School Shield.
According to Ruthann, “In 2022, over $8 million was awarded to qualified nonprofit organizations. Often, an NRA Foundation State Fund Grant means a youth team can train and compete, or the program must be cut.” Sometimes, these teams can go above and beyond with the support of The NRA Foundation. That was the case with Berkeley County 4-H Shooting Sports, a 2022 grant recipient from Martinsburg, West Virginia.
The grant for Berkeley County 4-H helped expand their program from 48 to 70 participants. Not only were they able to grow their program by over a third, but it was also one of their most successful archery and air rifle seasons yet. A representative for the team shared, “We had the highest scoring junior air rifle competitor in West Virginia 4-H. A month later, we had juniors place 1st, 3rd, and 4th in archery, and the 4th place senior is 4-H for West Virginia. These were huge accomplishments only achievable through The NRA Foundation grant!”
The NRA Foundation also made a huge impact with another 2022 grant recipient, the Liberty County High School JROTC Program in Bristol, Florida. A representative of the program explained, “We are the second smallest public high school in the state of Florida and as you can imagine, fundraising for the five extracurricular JROTC teams is not easy in our small community. This grant enables us to continue our competitive air rifle team without having to worry about paying for equipment and consumables.”
Interested in receiving an NRA Foundation grant? Learn more and apply starting on August 2, 2023 at https://www.nrafoundation.org/grants/
