2023 Open Educational Resources Spark Grants Funding Cycle Informational Webinar

The Michelson 20MM Foundation is committed to promoting programs and policies that advance the proliferation and adoption of open educational resources to improve the affordability of instructional materials, efficacy of faculty instruction, and equitable access to educational opportunities. The foundation was launched over a decade ago when a simple news article of qualified community college students dropping out due to the cost of textbooks moved Dr. Michelson to provide immediate help and address the issue at scale. The subsequent $1.5 million grant to OpenStax created the world's first commercial-grade, openly licensed college textbooks available to students at zero cost—and set our organization on its way.

We continue to make investments in this work through our Michelson Spark Grants program. The 2023 Open Educational Resources Spark Grants funding cycle opens on May 30th and closes on June 13th. During this cycle, Michelson 20MM seeks to fund projects that support systems-level strategies with the potential to create a positive impact at scale and inform public policy.

Please note that at this time, we are not looking for content creation proposals. Additionally, we are not funding initiatives that primarily seek to develop OER content during this Michelson Spark Grant cycle. While we realize there is a tremendous desire from faculty for this type of support, we are leveraging our funding to effect broader systemic change at this time.

For this funding cycle, we will focus on organizations that are doing work in California.