National Grant Writing Day

National Grant Writing Day, celebrated May 15, was created by the American Grant Writers Association in recognition of grant seekers, grant writers, and grant funders across America.
History of grants
;1770: The St. George Society was created to help impoverished colonists in New York City. Branches soon followed in Philadelphia and Charleston, and later in other states and other countries (including Canada, Australia, and New Zealand). The society exists today as the St. George's Society of New York and is considered the oldest charity in the United States.
;1867: The Peabody Education Fund, the first modern foundation, was established by financier George Peabody. Peabody entrusted large sums of money in to a Board of Trustees to be administrated "for the welfare of the suffering South" through the education of white and black students. Most importantly, the fund's money was used to encourage the establishment of state systems of free schools.
;1907: The Russell Sage Foundation (the first private family foundation) was formed for "the improvement of social and living conditions in the United states."
;1914: Cleveland lawyer and banker Frederic H. Goff created the Cleveland Foundation, the world's first community foundation.
;1916: The Revenue Act of 1916 established the estate tax.
;1954: The GE Foundation, the philanthropic organization of General Electric, started the first matching gifts program to encourage GE employees to support the needs and objectives of higher education.
;1981: The MacArthur Fellows Program awarded its first "genius grants"—unrestricted fellowships to talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction.
;2002: National Grant Writing Day established by the American Grant Writers Association to recognize the contributions of grant writers in the development of both for-profit and nonprofit business, local governments, individuals and all others benefiting from grant funding.

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