PLATO (Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization) is a national network devoted to promoting pre-college philosophy education. It just created the PLATO Philosophy Fund (PPF), “which will provide funding for a wide range of innovative philosophy programs with the aim of broadening philosophy’s reach,” according to a post by PLATO founding president and PPF chairperson Jana Mohr Lone (Washington) at the Blog of the American Philosophical Association.

It doesn’t appear that the PPF is taking applications just yet, but they will be due February 1, 2017.

The fund is supported by donations from institutional members. A number of philosophy departments have become members, which is possible with a minimum donation of $250. Dr. Lone writes:

PPF is a membership organization, established and run by volunteers, and 100% of all membership contributions will be pooled to fund philosophy programs. All PPF members will receive an annual detailed list of all project proposals submitted to the fund, along with information about which projects were funded, which can serve to inspire new ideas for potential projects.

In the coming months, PPF will be reaching out to all philosophy departments and related institutions, including the APA, to become members, in the hope of building our 2016 founding membership to take as close to full advantage as possible of [a recent] $50,000 challenge grant.

If you are interested in having your department or organization become a founding member, email Dr. Lone at [email protected].

Gert van Duinen, “OwlPod”