2026 Educating Character Initiative: Collaboration and Community Across U.S. Higher Education

Overview

The Educating Character Initiative aims to equip a wide range of public and private institutions of higher education––including, but not limited to, major research universities, liberal arts colleges, community colleges, military academies, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, religiously affiliated colleges, and colleges that serve under-resourced students––with the resources, funding, and support to integrate character education into their distinctive institutional contexts, curricula, and cultures. Additionally, our initiative provides support for practitioners and researchers across a variety of roles and sectors within higher education to collaborate and build communities of character. The broader aspiration is to work with individuals and institutions to foster a robust community that recognizes the value of educating character within higher education.

In addition to organizing workshops, conferences, and convenings and developing resources for faculty and staff, the Educating Character Initiative awards grants to institutions. In 2026, funding for institutions will include Institutional Impact Grants of between $100,000 and $1,000,000 and Capacity-Building Grants of up to $50,000. Successful grantees will be teams of faculty, staff, and administrators at U.S. colleges and universities with outstanding proposals for developing the moral, civic, and/or intellectual character of faculty, staff, and students.

1. Institutional Impact Grants: We will award Institutional Impact Grants of between $100,000 and $1,000,000 to institutions who wish to undertake a substantial and sustained effort to educate character in undergraduate populations at their institution or through multi-institutional collaborations. Organizations should align the size of the request with the impact of the proposed project and with their expertise and capacity to steward the funds efficiently and effectively. Since funds are limited, please design projects that will have the maximum impact using the fewest resources.

2. Capacity-Building Grants: Among the persistent challenges for faculty, staff, and administrators seeking to cultivate character at their institutions is a lack of resources, including difficulty integrating character across their curriculum or culture without more institutional and financial support. To address this challenge, ECI will award Capacity-Building Grants of up to $50,000 to institutions who wish to strengthen their ability to educate and embed character in their distinctive contexts. These grants may be especially useful for institutions that are just beginning to explore how to educate character or envisioning discrete projects that do not require substantial funding. Some teams may wish to use funding from this grant to develop a larger grant application to a funding initiative in a future year.

 ASU may apply for (1) an Institutional Impact Grant or (1) a Capacity-Building Grant, but not both.

• Colleges and universities should coordinate projects internally and plan to apply for no more than one Institutional Impact Grant.
• In most cases, institutions may apply for an Institutional Impact or Capacity-Building Grant, but not both.
• Institutions that currently hold an Institutional Impact Grant from the ECI should consult with ECI before applying for any additional funding opportunities.

Awards: Institutional Impact Grants: $100,000- $1,000,000; Capacity-Building Grants: up to $50,000

The Educating Character Initiative team will host two hour-long online sessions in order to provide a general overview of all available grants on October 28 and November 13, 2025, 12:00-1:00 pm ET. We will host one one-hour online session in order to provide an overview of Capacity-Building Grants on January 8, 2026, 12:00-1:00 pm ET.  Register for an online session here. All inquiries should be directed toward [email protected].   

  Please note there are different deadlines for Institutional Impact Grants and Capacity Building Grants.