2026-27 Special Olympics Maine Unified Champion Schools Grant Application

Grant Timelines

Application Deadline 1: October 26, 2026

Review Period 1: October 27 – November 9, 2026

Fund Distribution Period 1: November 10 – 13, 2026

Application Deadline 2: February 22, 2027

Review Period 2: February 23 – March 8, 2027

Fund Distribution Period 2: March 9 – 12, 2027

Grant Awards

Awards will range from $1-$7,000.00. See examples of funding below:

Interscholastic Special Olympics Unified Basketball applicants max request - $3,500.00 year 1 & $2,300.00 year 2. Schools that previously received Year 1 & 2 funding - $1,000.00 max
Interscholastic Special Olympics Unified Bocce applicants max request per year - $1,700.00
Youth Athletes Programs max request - $1,200.00 per year
Youth Summit max per year - $750.00

If you have not reviewed the application information, please do so by visiting, www.somaine.org/programs/unifiedchampionschools/ and download the application materials. Continue on to complete your school's Unified Champion Schools funding application.

Proposal Review Criteria

History of funding from Special Olympics and sustainability of support from school district
Complete entire Unified Champion Schools grant application
Merits/quality of proposed project
A clearly-defined, appropriate budget
Concise, clear and straightforward answers to the proposal questions
Written sections show attention to spelling, grammar and punctuation
Strong evidence that youth have been involved in developing the proposal

Project Funding Eligibility

1. An active Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools High School, Middle School, Elementary School or SO College program on your campus is required to apply.

2. To be eligible for consideration for project funding you must be one of the three below:

Student, grades 6-12
Teacher, Pre-k, elementary school, middle school or high School
College/University undergraduate student or Unified Club mentor

Note: Students and teachers are encouraged to work together in developing proposals, with the expectation that youth will lead whenever possible.

3. Schools are not eligible to apply for funding if it has received funding from Special Olympics Maine for 2 or more years unless the school is applying to support the start of a new unified program (new sport, club, or event offering).

Proposal Review Criteria

1. Your project must focus on all three main components of Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools and will require your school to meet the requirements of a Unified Champion School by the end of their 1st year of participation:

Unified Sports
Inclusive Youth Leadership & Advocacy
Whole School Involvement

2. The project must meet a need you have identified in your school, district or community

3. Partnerships with local community groups, businesses and organizations are strongly encouraged

4. Each School must have a Unified Champion Schools School Leadership Team or demonstrate a plan in place to establish one within the school year.

5. Each School must have at least one staff member certified in Coaching Unified Sports, when Unified Sports is being offered.

The Project

Your project must include the following:

Elements of Service-Learning (S-L): S-L differs from Community Service in that youth identify a need and organize service to create meaningful change. Learning – tied to academic curriculum – accompanies service. Students explore, plan, implement, reflect and modify as needed along the way.
School Leadership Team: The team will be responsible for establishing the vision and overarching goals for the school, coordinating early stages of implementation, and working with leaders of specific events. The team will also monitor the success of the strategy, with an eye toward continuous improvement.
Budget: What expenses do you anticipate and how much will you spend on each? What is the total budget for your project? What expenses can be donated or shared?
Project Documentation: photos, video, written updates/journal, Facebook posts, receipts
Project Evaluation: Completion of National and State level surveys capturing what worked. What would you change? What improvements would you make? What challenges did you face? How did you overcome them?
Final Report, including receipts, unused funds and any post-project action plan, must be submitted to Special Olympics Maine no more than thirty (30) days after the event or activities conclude.

School & Contact Information

In this section you will verify your school information and provide key contact information.
Please start by looking up your school in the search bar below.

School Name Lookup (Start typing for options to appear)

If your school does not appear in this list, please reach out to our Unified Champion Schools team to add your school to our system before applying for grant funding.

Email Erin at erins@somaine.org.

School Information Verification (This will populate when you pick your school)

Street Address

City

State

Zip/Postal Code

School Phone Number

I need to update my school's information

Please list the needed updates to your school's information:

School Administrator (Please Complete)

School Administrator First Name

School Administrator Last Name

School Administrator Title

School Administrator Email

Unified Champion School Liaison (Please Complete)

The Unified Champion School Liaison is a faculty member overseeing Unified School programming in your school

UCS Liaison First Name

UCS Liaison Last Name

UCS Liaison Title

UCS Liaison Email

HIDDEN - Account ID from Lookup

Inclusive Youth Leadership

In this section you will be asked to provide answers about your school's plans for Inclusive Youth Leadership opportunities for your students with and without intellectual disabilities. Inclusive Youth leadership can be accomplished through student participation/involvement in, but not limited to:

Unified Club
Unified Youth Council
Partners Club
Best Buddies
Already established student groups like Student Council & Civil Rights with members with and without ID.

What Inclusive youth leadership opportunities will your school/students be involved in? Inclusive Youth leadership opportunities are where students with and without intellectual disabilities work together, as a team, to provide awareness and advocacy for all students while promoting respect. Check all that apply

Other write in

What leadership roles will students (athletes and partners) take on through Unified Champion Schools programming?

Whom of your school staff will support and sustain these youth leadership opportunities? How will they do so?

How will you promote, recruit, and retain students and faculty for these leadership roles? School website & social media, school rally, daily announcements, newsletters etc.

Whole School Engagement

In this section you will be asked to provide answers about your school's plans for Whole School Engagement. Whole School Engagement activities have a goal of bringing awareness of inclusion to all of your school community and can be accomplished through school participation/involvement in, but not limited to:

Spread the Word Campaign
Respect Campaign/Rally
Fans in the Stands (students attend Special Olympics and/or Unified Sporting events)
Host a Special Olympics Maine event/competition
Participate in Special Olympics Maine fundraiser
Host a fundraising event to benefit Special Olympics Maine

What Whole School Engagement opportunities will your school be involved in? Check all that apply.

Other write in

Describe your school's Whole School Engagement Plan. Include the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of your school's Whole School Engagement plan.

How do you see Unified Champion School programming impacting your school culture and community as a whole?

Unified Champion Schools - School Leadership Team

In this section we will ask you to provide information about the Unified Leadership Team you will have to support your Unified Champion Schools programming.

Who will be part of your school's Unified Leadership Team? How often will they meet and who will coordinate this schedule? Ideally, your Unified Leadership Team will include at least two teachers, one athlete, one partner, and one administrator.

How does this plan for Unified Champion Schools programming meet your overall school and district goals?

Describe your school's sustainability plan for Unified Champion Schools programs after grant funding is exhausted, if approved.

Unified Champion Schools - Budget Proposal
In this section you will enter dollar amounts regarding your school's Unified Champion Schools program budget. The budget must reflect spending associated with your Unified Champion Schools project proposal. Budget proposals should reflect only cost for items that will be paid for with the awarded funds, if approved. Please enter only whole number (i.e. 100) without decimals or dollar signs.

Budget Details

What budget categories are included in your Unified Champion Schools project proposal?

Coach Stipend Budget (i.e. Unified sport season coach stipend)Equipment Budget (i.e Unified sports equipment)Officials Budget (i.e. Fees associated with unified sport game officials)Provisional Budget (i.e. Food & beverages you may need to provide for participants on the day of you project, miscellaneous or unexpected expenses that do not fit into another category)Supplies Budget (i.e. Unified sport team uniforms, merchandise, YAC meeting materials etc. Please be advised, you may NOT reference "t-shirt" or any clothing purchase besides "uniforms".)Transportation Budget (i.e. Fees associated with transportation to & from Unified Schools event/competitions)Other Budget (i.e. What else will you need to complete your project that isn’t listed above?)

Coach Stipend Budget Amount (please enter only whole number (i.e. 100) without decimals, commas, or dollar signs.)

Coach Stipend Budget Purpose

Equipment Budget Amount (please enter only whole number (i.e. 100) without decimals, commas, or dollar signs.)

Equipment Budget Purpose

Officials Budget Amount (please enter only whole number (i.e. 100) without decimals, commas, or dollar signs.)

Officials Budget Purpose

Provisional Budget Amount (please enter only whole number (i.e. 100) without decimals, commas, or dollar signs.)

Provisional Budget Purpose

Supplies Budget Amount (please enter only whole number (i.e. 100) without decimals, commas, or dollar signs.)

Supplies Budget Purpose

Transportation Budget Amount (please enter only whole number (i.e. 100) without decimals, commas, or dollar signs.)

Transportation Budget Purpose

Other Budget Amount (please enter only whole number (i.e. 100) without decimals, commas, or dollar signs.)

Other Budget Purpose

Total Funding Request - Total of all budget items associated with application.

Will your school, district or district foundation support the Unified Champion School program with funding and/or materials for your project? Please describe. Provide any financial or in-kind (free gym space, bus costs, etc.) support from your school or school district. In what ways will they help?

Describe any community, parent or local business support of the project. Include signed statements or letters of support from each, as applicable.

By entering my name below, I verify the information in this application and in any accompanying documentation is true, accurate, and complete to the best of my knowledge, and authorizes Special Olympics Maine (SOME) to collect information relating to my application. I will notify SOME of any material changes to the information in this application and in any accompanying documentation.

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