The 2026 Food Vision Prize application starts with an open call for letters of interest. Following review, a subset of teams will be invited to submit a full application.
Letters of Interest
Getting started: The primary applicant must create an account in the Foundation’s grant management system. To create an account, the applicant will be required to submit contact information and include an EIN / Tax Identification Number.
To submit a Letter of Interest for the Prize, applicants must also provide the names and contact information for each partner associated with the Prize project along with a short explanation of the relationship between the primary applicant and partner. Remember, all primary applicants and educational institution partners must be based in New England.
Letter of Interest Details
Upload a one to two page narrative that describes your project or program and addresses the following:
- What measurable difference will your proposed use of funding have on building capacity or strengthening pathways for increasing the sourcing, serving, or use of regional food on higher education and/or K-12 academic campuses in New England?
- How do you propose to use the Prize funding, if awarded?
- What role(s) will educational institutions and other project partners play in this project?
- Why have you chosen this set of partners and how developed are the relationships between project partners?
- Who would benefit most as a result of your project and how? Please include the ways in which students will be engaged.
Budgets and letters of support from school partners are not required as part of the Letter of Interest process.
If your organization has not previously applied for funding from the Henry P. Kendall Foundation, and you’d like to provide us with additional information about your organization, you can submit background material in the portal (ex. Annual report, website page(s), recently presented slide deck, mission/vision/values statement, organizational history, etc.). This is not required for the LOI submission. Should your file exceed the size limit, please send it to info@kendall.org.
Letters of interest are due by June 5th and will be reviewed by June 30th.
All primary applicants will be notified on or before June 30th with an invitation to move forward with a full application or a decline.
Where do we submit our Letter of Interest?
Please submit your Letter of Interest via our grant portal. We look forward to hearing from you!
FULL APPLICATION
A select number of teams will be invited to submit a full application.
If invited to submit a full application, you will be contacted by the foundation team by June 30th. These teams will then have until August 7th to submit their full proposal.
The full application includes criteria-specific questions, a detailed budget, letters of support from all school partners, and an Executive Summary. You can reuse and repurpose language from your LOI to address the questions and maximum character limits are provided, but there are no minimum lengths.
Sample questions:
- What is the anticipated impact of this project on the near-term use of regionally produced food in K12 schools and/or higher education dining programs?
- Does this project shift existing systems, processes, or ways of working that prevent the prioritization of regional food procurement?
- How do you plan to measure project impact?
- How will this project strengthen relationships among institutional supply chain partners?
- What are the roles of key partners and what is the project team’s structure for collaboration?
- How will the project be sustained (financially, culturally, or logistically) after award funds have been exhausted?
- Who are the beneficiaries of this project?
A budget detailing how funds would be spent is required. Please see the FAQ page for more information on the budget.
Where do we access the 2026 Application?
If invited, you will apply via the same portal where you submitted your letter of interest.