Water Wise Garden Grant

Deadline October 3, 2025

Do you teach elementary or middle school students and want to apply for a grant to teach about water conservation, water stewardship and responsible water management through gardening? Hunter Industries and KidsGardening are working together to offer 25 Waterwise Garden Grants with $1,000 – $2,250 in funding plus an irrigation supply kit valued at $500.

Eligibility

Any public or charter elementary or middle school (K-8th grades) located in the United States that works with at least 15 youth is eligible to apply. Applicants must be planning to use the funds to install a new or improve an existing youth garden. Note: KidsGardening grantees from any 2024 – 2025 grant program (Budding Botanist, Waterwise Garden, Youth Garden, GroMoreGood Grassroots, and Lots of Compassion) are not eligible to apply.

Schools must:

Support, work with, or serve under-resourced communities (those most impacted by systemic inequities and situational hardships.)
Have fifteen or more youth participate in the garden program.
Have received less than $10,000 in grants for the garden program in 2025 so far.

Funding Priorities

The selection of winners is based on demonstrated need and program impact. KidsGardening considers a variety of factors when determining needs, including:

Socioeconomic & Sociodemographic Factors: How does the program exist within or engage a community that has been systematically denied resources, whether physical assets and money or representative leadership and community services? Organizations affected by multiple socioeconomic and sociodemographic factors are given priority.

Program Funding and Support: Does an organization have access to consistent, substantial monetary support or prior grant funding? Or are pre-existing resources (financial or otherwise) limited? Organizations experiencing the latter are given priority.

Impact: Will grant funding dramatically expand learning opportunities for program participants? Does the intended impact reflect the needs of the community? Organizations working with greater than 50 youth will be given priority.

Award Packages

In 2026, 25 elementary and/or middle schools (K-8th grades) will be awarded $1,000 in funding and an irrigation supply kit valued at $500.

Programs will also have the opportunity to apply for additional funding through the Equity specialty award which is designed to fund new and existing garden programs that have greater funding needs due to, but not limited to, financial, environmental, safety, health, and regulatory challenges. The award will provide five programs with an additional $1,250, for a total of $2,250 in funding.

Irrigation Supply Kit

The irrigation supply kit provides enough materials for three 4’ x 8’-raised beds, or an equivalent garden with different dimensions. It includes a timer, pressure regulator adapter, pressure regulator, 100-foot roll of irrigation tubing, 100-foot roll of emitter irrigation tubing, elbows/tees/couplers, end caps, and a tube cutting knife. An instruction guide will be provided. If this collection of supplies is not a good fit for your garden’s needs, a custom kit of equal value can be developed with the assistance of a licensed irrigation professional.

Timer – Connects to the spigot/hose bib to allow you to control the frequency and duration of irrigation. It can also be used to turn the system on manually. This device can be controlled from a smartphone using a free Hunter app. Includes a screen to filter out particles that can clog the system.
Adapter – An adapter to connect the 17mm drip tubing to your pressure regulator. This will convert from ¾” garden hose thread to 17mm irrigation tubing
Pressure Regulator – Standard drip systems should be reduced to between 20 to 40 psi, which can occur at the spigot (after the timer). Connects to ¾” garden hose thread.
A 100-foot roll of standard 17mm blank irrigation tubing – This will be used to create the main header line that the drip lines will attach to. It can also be used as the water supply line.
A 100-foot roll of standard 17mm in-line emitter irrigation tubing – This will be used to create the runs in the planting beds that deliver water to the plants.
Elbows, tees, and couplers – The fittings connect to two or three pieces of tubing. They allow you to change direction at a 90º angle and add a piece of tubing to the side using a tee. Couplers let you join two pieces of tubing. The fittings have barbed ends, allowing you to easily push the tubing onto them to create a tight fit.
End caps – These are used at the end of tubing runs and at the end of each drip line.
Hunter HEMT Tool – Blue folding knife to cut tubing.