The deadline is looming for grant proposals to the Wolf Aviation Fund, which provides grants to individuals and organizations doing “great work” in general aviation.
To date 307 projects or programs have received awards, with applicants receiving the funding and recognition that is so vital for folks working on new ideas, according to fund officials.
Applications must meet certain criteria and fit into the fund’s seven major program areas, which are: Developing Public Policy and Airports; Networking and Mutual Support; Development and Alternative Resources; Communications, Media, and Community Relations; General Aviation Technology, Safety, and Noise; Improving Public Understanding and Perception; and Aviation and Space Education.
Illustrating the wide variety of successful grant applicants, several of the 2010 Program projects include:
- Amy Laboda and Laura Ying Gao’s “Women to Women” program helping Chinese and US women in aviation meet and build a women’s aviation effort in China
- Talkeetna Build A Plane, a program offering high risk Alaskan youth a three-dimensional entry into aviation by rebuilding wrecked aircraft
- A two-day national conference organized by Doug Stewart and the Society of Aviation and Flight Educators (SAFE), focusing on the changes needed in pilot training doctrine, standards, and curricula
- The Neuse Basin Boy Scouts Aviation Merit Badge Camporee, a first time major jamboree involving more than 300 scouts and their adult leaders providing intensive training for aviation merit badges
- Teachers Day at AirVenture 2011, organized by Lyn Freeman and Build a Plane, designed to educate teachers how to use aviation in the classroom to motivate students in learning Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) subjects;
- Gregory Lawrence’s “You Can Fly” presentation for schools for the Deaf, DeafNation Expos, and Fly-Ins, showing that General Aviation is open and available to almost everyone;
- Centennial Celebration of the 1911 Wright Glider organized by the First Flight Foundation to observe and celebrate the record-setting soaring flight of Orville Wright, flying for 9 minutes and 45 seconds on October 24, 1911;
- Aerospace Adventures Summer Youth Program, the startup of a new summer youth aviation camp for middle and high school students, featuring a college level campus and the facilities at the Aviation Center of Excellence, Florida State College at Jacksonville, and the participation of prior grant recipient Youth Aviation Adventure;
- An online safety course for volunteer pilots and their organizations being produced by the AOPA Foundation’s Air Safety Institute;
- “May Day – Helicopters Save Lives” community aviation event at the American Helicopter Museum in Pennsylvania celebrating perhaps the most significant function of helicopters, saving lives;
- “Ballooning As A Gateway To General Aviation,” Dede and Kenneth Anderson’s new program involving hot air balloon demonstrations, rides, and associated educational activities;
- Jen Sachs’ documentary on Sophie Blanchard, a pioneering French woman gas balloonist;
- Huntington Airport Terminal Building, a project to kick off refurbishing an unused historic facility and using it as a center for aviation activities, focal point for community airport awareness and pilot education, and aviation gateway to the local economy.
Proposals often received partial support, because by providing partial funding as challenge grants the recipients then may use the honor and recognition of a Wolf Aviation Fund grant to approach others and seek additional funding, fund officials explained.
The Wolf Aviation Fund is a non-profit foundation created thanks to Alfred “Abby” and Constance “Connie” Wolf, who left their estate for the purpose. Connie was a world record setting gas balloonist and Abby was a prominent Philadelphia attorney and one of the five founders of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
For more information: Wolf-Aviation.org
