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The Safe Student Foundation mobilizes charitable donations from the firearms community to fund projects to protect PreK – 12th grade schools from active shooters and extreme violence.
The Safe Student Foundation prioritizes children as our most valuable assets, essential for our future and the nation’s well-being. Many schools lack funds to design secure infrastructure and strategies for student safety and a conducive learning environment. The Safe Student Foundation collects and provides funds for school infrastructure and educator training to repel violence.
Today, schools are not secure and vulnerable to threats, each facing unique challenges with no simple solutions. Ensuring safety requires community-driven efforts to protect students, teachers, and administrators. The Foundation seeks support from the gun community, uniquely committed to children’s safety in educational settings.
Whether training schools for security or improving infrastructure, the Foundation collaborates with the firearms industry to ensure a safe environment. We urge firearm enthusiasts, merchants, retailers, and manufacturers to contribute in the creating a secure atmosphere for learning and developing.
The Foundation upholds both rights of student safety and well-being, as well as the Constitutional right of the people to keep and bear arms. Further, we honor those who defend our freedoms and work tirelessly for our safety.
Schools are challenged by limited financial resources. They rely either on public funding or private donations, both of which are limited and difficult to acquire.
Public schools are constrained by funding cycles that rely on local funding sources and appropriations, or they reach out for grants from federal agencies such as the Department of Education, the Department of Justice, Department of Defense, Department of Health and Human Services, FEMA, and others, all of which rely on federal congressional budgets and approvals.
Public school fund availability is made via various listservs, email lists, discussion groups , or forums, all of which have to be monitored by the schools administration or through expensive consultants. In contrast, private schools rely on fees from parents and private funding sources bound to philanthropy and donations, all of which is constrained and increasingly difficult to procure.
In response to these challenges, the Safe Student Foundation funds public and private schools with donations from the Firearms Industry, hunters, and shooting sports participants. Schools need only submit a simple application, provide a detailed project assessment, and confirm completion of the work.
Our goal is to break the cycle of financial uncertainty, empowering both the firearms industry to contribute to protection efforts and the educational sector to enhance defensive capabilities for our children.
The Safe Student Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity, EIN #99-1344715.
The Safe Student Foundation is a firearms community-supported public charity, providing financial support to PreK – 12th grade schools—public, charter, private or secular. The recipients of these funds are grantees. Grantees are awarded funds to build necessary infrastructure to protect students, educators, staff and administrators from the threat of active shooters. Additionally, the Foundation provides the funds necessary for training in both defensive and offensive actions designed to protect against active shooter situations. One hundred percent of the Foundation’s general operating expenses and grant awards are provided by the firearms community.
You can share potential grantees with the Foundation through the Recommend a Grantee form. This form is not an application, but rather a referral form. Please remember that the Foundation is unable to guarantee a response or funding for all school applications that are submitted.
Potential grantees are identified through our network of donors, school administrators, teachers and parents. Additionally, Foundation staff, community advisors and other nonprofits and philanthropic organizations can make recommendations through our Recommend a Grantee form.
99-1344715
Because the Safe Student Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity, donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. tax law. If you have questions about deductibility, consult a tax advisor.
Thanks to the generosity of the firearms community, approximately 91% of donations from the sale of firearms, ammunition and associated merchandise are provided to grantees to strengthen their security posture and training against active shooters.
Yes. When donating on our website, you will automatically receive an emailed receipt of your donation.
Yes. Please contact us to arrange such contributions.
Schools can check the eligibility requirements and apply for a grant on our For Schools page.
Grant funds can be used on any school upgrades aimed at enhancing the defensive capabilities to better protect school inhabitants from active shooter situations. Grant funds can also be allocated for training administrators, teachers, staff and security personnel. Please note that funds cannot be used for training third-party or contracted security staff.
The Foundation carefully considers a number of factors when determining grant winners and amounts, including use case and need; amount requested; and the demonstrated risk students, teachers and administrators face on a daily basis.
Grants are awarded twice a year; once in the spring, and again in the fall.