Stay in the loop! Join our community newsletter for the latest updates, exciting news, and more. Don’t miss out!

Subscribe
Miami County Community Foundation
Donate Now
Apply for funding

Grants and Scholarships

The Miami County Community Foundation awards scholarships to local students and grants to the organizations that serve them. Two different routes — start with whichever one you are.

For students
Scholarships

Eleven scholarships across four high schools, from $500 to $3,000 a year. Almost all are applied for through your school.

See scholarships and how to apply
For schools, churches and youth groups
Grants

Rolling applications, year-round. Decisions about a month after we receive your application.

See grant guidelines and apply
For students

Scholarships

Eleven scholarships, and almost every one is applied for the same way — through your high school. Your counselor holds the application and the dates. Filter by your school to see the ones open to you.

Read the full guide: local scholarships · scholarship essay examples

1

Talk to your counselor

Almost every Foundation scholarship is applied for through your school, not through us directly.

2

Complete your school’s application

Your counselor will give you the form and tell you what it needs.

3

Watch your school’s calendar

Each high school runs its own scholarship calendar, generally January to March.

Show scholarships for
Showing all 11 scholarships
Nursing · Any Miami County school

D.O. Smith Memorial Scholarship

  • Who can applyPermanent residents of Miami County — your family home must be in the county. You must hold a CNA certification and/or have been accepted into a nursing program. Special consideration is given to applicants working in a Miami County hospital or nursing home.
  • Award amount$3,000 a year, renewable for a second year — up to $6,000 in total. The second year is not automatic: it depends on how many students the fund is already supporting.
  • DeadlineSet by your school. Each high school runs its own scholarship calendar, generally January to March.
  • How to applyThrough your high school counselor.
How to applyGive to this fund
Leadership · Paola, Osawatomie, Louisburg

Miami County (MICO) Youth Leadership Council Scholarship

  • Who can applyCouncil members in their senior year. Each school’s counselors select four seniors and four juniors to serve on the Council — 24 students across the three schools. One scholarship is awarded per school.
  • Award amount$500 — one award at each of the three high schools, $1,500 a year in total.
  • DeadlineThere is no separate application. The Council votes at its March meeting.
  • How to applyAsk your counselor about joining the Council — membership is the route to the scholarship.
How the recipient is chosen

Council members vote for the senior they believe best demonstrates leadership, accountability, engagement, self-motivation, optimism and positivity. The Council meets monthly, runs a philanthropic project each year, and its students attend Foundation board meetings.

How to join the CouncilGive to this fund
Writing & media arts · Paola

Steve Pepoon Memorial Scholarship

  • Who can applyCurrent Paola High School seniors pursuing writing, screenwriting, playwriting, film, television, media arts or theater, who demonstrate creativity and an interest in storytelling. Minimum GPA 2.5.
  • Award amount$1,000
  • DeadlineOn the Paola High School scholarship calendar, generally January to March.
  • How to applyThrough your high school counselor.
About this fund

Steve Pepoon was a Paola native and an Emmy Award-winning television writer. The fund carries his name forward for students who want to tell stories for a living.

How to applyGive to this fund
Nursing · Louisburg

Johanna Vickrey Nursing Scholarship

  • Who can applyLouisburg High School students entering nursing.
  • Award amount$750
  • DeadlineOn the Louisburg High School scholarship calendar, generally January to March.
  • How to applyThrough your high school counselor.
How to applyGive to this fund
Memorial · Louisburg

Bill McNatt / Louisburg United Methodist Church Scholarship

  • Who can applyLouisburg High School graduates going on to an accredited junior college, college or university, or a trade or technical school.
  • Award amount$500 — one award a year, presented at the annual awards ceremony.
  • DeadlineOn the Louisburg High School scholarship calendar, generally January to March.
  • How to applyThrough your high school counselor.
  • What the application needsA typed summary of your intended field of study and why you chose it, your proposed career, and your extra-curricular activities, leadership roles, volunteering or work history; one letter of reference from someone not connected to Louisburg High School, addressing your character, community service and leadership; and a written answer to one of two prompts — what community means to you, or a mentor in your life and what that person has meant to you. Incomplete applications are not considered.
  • How the recipient is chosenExtra-curricular activities, leadership and work history, and character and community service, weighed equally.
About this fund

Bill McNatt lived in rural Paola and was a long-time member of the Louisburg United Methodist Church, where he gave countless hours to the youth group as a mentor and joined its mission trips. He died in May 2025 and left his legacy to the church to support young people in the community. The church established this scholarship to honor his memory and his volunteer service.

How to applyGive to this fund
Education · Paola

Suzy Wilcox Education Scholarship

  • Who can applyPaola High School students committed to education and inclusion.
  • Award amount$500
  • DeadlineOn the Paola High School scholarship calendar, generally January to March.
  • How to applyThrough your high school counselor.
How to applyGive to this fund
Cosmetology & art · Paola

Jenny Jo Paulsen Cosmetology and Art Scholarship

  • Who can applyGraduating Paola High School seniors going into cosmetology, or into art with a focus on painting.
  • Award amount$500
  • DeadlineOn the Paola High School scholarship calendar, generally January to March.
  • How to applyThrough your high school counselor.
How to applyGive to this fund
Memorial · Paola

Shifting Gears for Regan Memorial Scholarship

  • Who can applyPaola High School seniors affected by suicide and/or mental illness — whether personally or through a family member.
  • Award amount$500
  • DeadlineOn the Paola High School scholarship calendar, generally January to March.
  • How to applyThrough your high school counselor.
Also a grant program

Shifting Gears also funds suicide-prevention training for schools. See Grants, below.

How to applyGive to this fund
Memorial · Osawatomie

Stomp Out Suicide Scholarship

  • Who can applyGraduating Osawatomie High School seniors.
  • Award amount$500
  • DeadlineOn the Osawatomie High School scholarship calendar, generally January to March.
  • How to applyThrough your high school counselor.
About this fund

Added in 2026, in memory of Joshua McQuay. Stomp Out Suicide also runs a grant program funding suicide-prevention work in schools.

How to applyGive to this fund
Memorial · Osawatomie

Jennifer Gander Memorial Scholarship

  • Who can applyOsawatomie High School seniors.
  • Award amount$1,000
  • DeadlineOn the Osawatomie High School scholarship calendar, generally January to March.
  • How to applyThrough your high school counselor.
  • How the recipient is chosenTeachers at Osawatomie High School choose the recipient. The family that established the fund asked that the choice be left to their discretion.
How to applyGive to this fund
Music education · Paola and Prairie View

George H. Diehm Music Education Scholarship

  • Who can applyStudents at Paola and Prairie View high schools going into music or music education. One recipient per year across the two schools.
  • Award amount$1,750 — a one-time award.
  • DeadlineOn your school’s scholarship calendar, generally January to March.
  • How to applyThrough your high school counselor.
About the two schools

Prairie View High School is in La Cygne, just over the Linn County line, and that community is closely tied to Miami County. This is the one Foundation scholarship open to Prairie View students.

How to applyGive to this fund
No scholarships match that filter.
For schools, churches and youth groups

Grants

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, year-round. Decisions are announced about a month after we receive an application.

Read the full guide: grant proposal template

Grant programs, and who can apply

Eligibility depends on the program. Each fund supports a different kind of organization.

  • Avelyn SonShine JourneyChurches and youth groups. Does not award money — the fund gives away children’s bibles. How many depends on what you need: five, or five hundred.
  • Shifting GearsPublic or private schools, with no county limit. Provides direct suicide-prevention training, delivered in the school at no cost.
  • Stomp Out SuicidePublic schools in Miami and Linn County. Funds suicide-prevention work — speakers and interventions in schools, teacher training outside the district, and counseling for individual students.

Something else in Miami County?

The three programs above are funded for particular purposes. If your project does not fit any of them, write to us anyway — the board considers other work in Miami County case by case.

  • No form and no deadline. Email us what you are planning and what it will cost.
  • The project has to take place in Miami County. The people running it do not have to live here.

What we do and don’t fund

  • Grant size: depends on the project — contact us and we will talk it through
  • Not funded: anything outside the purposes above

How to apply

There is no application form. Email the Foundation and tell us about the project — that email is the application.

  • What the project is, and what it will do in Miami County
  • How much you are asking for
  • Whether your organization is a 501(c)(3)
  • Who you are, and how to reach you

Tammy Booe, Executive Director · tammy.booe@micocf.org · (913) 404-7287. A call is fine for questions, but the email is what starts an application.

Organizations we have supported

Grants and contributions from the Foundation have supported these Miami County organizations.

Miami County Historical Museum Paola Community Garden of HOPE Lakemary Center American Legion Riders Cops for Tots Salvation Army United Way Paola Senior Center USD #367

Distributed and contributed

To organizations and students working in Miami County. Much of what the Foundation pays out is donations and contributions rather than grants.

$100,000+

Private giving we don’t list

A number of private donors are not listed on this page and give to Miami County nonprofits at their own discretion.

Giving to a fund

Two ways to give to a specific fund

1. Online

A drop-down lets you choose which fund your gift goes to. PayPal, or any debit or credit card.

Donate now

2. By check

Make the check payable to Miami County Community Foundation, and write the name of the fund in the memo line.

Mail it to 702 Baptiste Dr, Paola, KS 66071.

Miami County Community Foundation

702 Baptiste Dr
Paola, KS 66071

Questions about any fund: Tammy Booe, Executive Director
(913) 404-7287 · info@micocf.org

Related

Also on the site

Our Funds →

Every named fund, with the story behind each one.

Ways to Give →

Start a fund, planned giving, memorial and honor gifts.

eCommunity Loans →

Gap financing for Miami County small businesses.