Opportunities for Funding

Helping Build Stronger Communities
Mission
The Mission Statement of Vulcan Materials Company states that Vulcan “will be a good corporate citizen in each community in which we operate. We will support and take an active part in public and charitable projects.” Vulcan established the Vulcan Materials Company Foundation in 1988 to assist in carrying out that mission. Because contributions made by the Foundation are corporate-based business dollars, it is essential that they be made in a planned and consistent manner that best serves the combined interests of Vulcan and the communities in which we operate.

Vision
Helping Build Stronger Communities

Grantmaking Guidelines
Geographic Funding Priorities
In addition to the corporate headquarters, located in Birmingham, Alabama, there are eight Construction Materials divisions. Further, Vulcan has over 404* active aggregates facilities located in 22 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. Virgin Islands, Canada, and Honduras, Mexico and the Bahamas. Regarding proposals submitted to the Foundation, first consideration will be given to those organizations that will benefit the communities where Vulcan employees live and work. The Foundation’s giving program is decentralized to spread ownership of the program to a wider base. Because unit managers are directly involved with the communities where they do business, decentralization enables the Foundation to be more informed about, and to better address, local needs. Proposals submitted to the Foundation should be sent directly to the charitable contributions officer in the appropriate geographical area. To obtain the appropriate divisional contact or additional information, please contact giving@vmcmail.com.

* Updated after the acquisition of U.S. Concrete

Support Priorities
The Foundation supports many types of worthwhile organizations that enhance the quality of life in Vulcan’s communities. The Vulcan Materials Foundation focuses on three areas in particular:

Working with schools;
Supporting environmental stewardship; and
Encouraging employee involvement.
Special consideration will be given to proposals that integrate two or more of these focus areas.

Education
A major focus of the Foundation is to play a part in maintaining or improving the quality of life and standard of living through the support of education.

Elementary/Secondary Education
The Foundation will consider proposals that provide public education programs and projects that enhance the quality of learning for all students. The Foundation works to support efforts to improve educational systems and individual schools in Vulcan’s communities by partnering with public schools located in its operating areas. Vulcan has adopted 230 schools in its communities through support from the Foundation. It is Vulcan’s goal to increase the number of its school partnerships every year.

The Foundation is also interested in efforts to encourage young people to develop an interest in math, science and business. The Foundation, therefore, gives consideration to proposals designed to help maintain students’ curiosity and excitement about the world of math and science and to explore the world of industry and business. The Foundation is particularly interested in helping young people and their teachers understand the relevance of math and science to society, and supports efforts to link these subjects to their application in the workplace. The Foundation also will consider programs designed to educate our students about the vital role of business and industry in society.

Although all worthwhile proposals for elementary and secondary education projects are considered on an individual basis, the Foundation generally does not fund projects involving private schools.

Higher Education
Higher education will play an increasingly critical role in helping the economy effectively compete in the global market. The Foundation recognizes the invaluable contributions made by institutions of higher learning in educating the nation’s future workforce.

The Foundation will consider proposals from those institutions located in states where the Company has facilities, particularly proposals that focus on science and engineering or improving public education. Although proposals for capital improvements will be considered, the Foundation prefers to fund projects that directly affect the outcome of the educational process, such as scholarships and science and technology programs.

The Foundation funds many types of educational programs, such as:

An extended learning program at Hodgkins Elementary School in Hodgkins, Illinois.
The Accelerated Reading program for students in various elementary schools in the metro Atlanta area.
The Construction Engineering and Management Program at San Diego State University.
Numerous scholarships nationwide.

Environmental Stewardship

The Foundation supports the philosophy that economic development and environmental stewardship have common goals. Responsible economic growth provides the resources necessary to be a good steward of the environment, while this stewardship helps to sustain growth.

There are important links between industry, the environment and technological innovation. A society that is better informed about environmental issues will be able to participate more effectively in public policy debates. Grantmaking will focus on organizations and programs that seek to develop an understanding of the connection between environmental stewardship and sustainable development.
The Foundation will consider supporting those environmental organizations
that adhere to fact-based, balanced environmental principles.

Through partnerships with organizations such as the Wildlife Habitat Council, of which Vulcan was a founding member, Vulcan seeks to promote environmental stewardship in the communities where our employees live and work. Vulcan employees actively participate in improving their communities by establishing and maintaining certified wildlife habitats on Vulcan property. During 2019, Vulcan operated 37 certified wildlife habitats at its facilities across the U.S. The Foundation funds many types of programs to conserve the environment and to increase environmental education, such as:

The Cahaba River Society’s CLEAN program that educates middle and high school students about watershed conservation in Central Alabama.
The conservation of native vegetation in the China Creek Park in Fresno, California, where, in addition to sponsorship, West Region employees have been working with Centerville Elementary students to plant native trees and shrubs.
The preservation programs of the Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina, protecting the natural areas of the eastern Blue Ridge Mountains and Foothills.

Employee Involvement
Vulcan has a history of encouraging its employees to participate in volunteer activities in their communities. We recognize that our workforce offers a unique resource to provide leadership in the communities where we operate. Thus, high priority will be given by the Foundation to proposals from those organizations in which company employees are actively involved, especially in our focus areas of education and environmental stewardship.

General Information
The Foundation awards grants to public charities and units of government, such as public schools and parks. A public charity is any Section 501(c)(3) charitable organization which also meets one of the three Internal Revenue Code definitions: 509(a)(1), 509(a)(2) or 509(a)(3). The Foundation does not award grants to private foundations.

As a matter of policy, the Foundation does not fund individuals; organizations outside the United States; telephone or mass-mail appeals; political organizations; testimonial dinners; sectarian religious activities; organizations which have discriminatory practices; or athletic, labor, fraternal and veterans associations. The Foundation generally will not consider requests from organizations located in communities where Vulcan has no operations, offices or employees.

The American-Made Community Power Accelerator Prize: Accessing Capital to Deploy Equitable Community Solar is a $10 million prize designed to fast-track the efforts of new, emerging, and expanding solar developers and co-developers to learn, participate, and grow their operations to support multiple successful community solar projects. The goal of this prize is to expand a robust ecosystem of community solar project developers that incorporate meaningful benefits into projects across the United States. In 2024, Round 3 of the Community Power Accelerator Prize expanded beyond community solar to include other forms of distributed solar energy technologies.

The prize is part of the Community Power AcceleratorTM, an initiative of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Community Solar Partnership+ (NCSP+) that connects developers, investors, philanthropists, and community-based organizations to get more equitable solar projects financed and deployed. The Accelerator provides training, technical assistance, and an online platform to support the critical connections necessary to finance and expand access to affordable distributed solar.

Catalyzing transformative economic opportunities through advanced AI technologies.
Building on the success of our inaugural year, the GitLab Foundation is thrilled to announce the continuation and expansion of the AI for Economic Opportunity Fund with a second round of funding focused on demonstration and scaling.

This initiative represents a partnership between the GitLab Foundation, Ballmer Group, and OpenAI, demonstrating our collective commitment to leveraging emerging AI technologies to create economic opportunity and drive income growth.

Our Commitment
In this second year, the AI for Economic Opportunity Demonstration and Scaling Fund has evolved into a two-phase initiative:

In the first phase, the GitLab Foundation will grant a minimum of $3.5 million to up to 14 demonstration projects. These projects will be focused on developing and deploying prototype tools, gathering user feedback and building evidence of outcomes.

In the second phase, Ballmer Group will provide funding to scale high-potential projects, awarding either 1-year or 2-year grants ranging from $500K to $1.5M per year to a maximum of six selected grantees from the demonstration phase.

OpenAI will continue to provide both financial and technical support to grantees, including additional funding, access to early product releases, credits, and technical advice.

Additional funders are encouraged to participate in helping source, review and support these high potential projects. We expect total awards over the lifecycle of this funding round to exceed $10 million.

We are interested in creative applications including (but not limited to) tools and services that improve economic opportunity across many applications: skill development, job matching, hiring systems, internal mobility, coaching, benefits access, debiasing systems, data analysis and use, job quality, etc.

Undocumented Orphaned Well Characterization and Remediation

This announcement aligns with Department of Energy's Office of Resource Sustainability's Methane Mitigation Technologies Program to develop advanced tools and technologies that will significantly reduce methane emissions and other environmental impacts associated with undocumented orphaned wells. This announcement will support the undocumented orphaned wells subprogram by soliciting research on new processes and development of new materials, tools, and technologies for wellbore characterization, effective plugging and abandonment operations, and pre and post plugging and abandonment emissions monitoring.

Objective
The objective of this FOA is to competitively solicit applications for advancing
cost-effective technology options toward commercialization that can more
efficiently characterize the condition of Undocumented Orphaned Wells
(UOWs) and provide a range of remediation options.

Areas of Inerest (AOI)
• Area of Interest 1: Advanced Remediation Techniques for UOW Boreholes
• Area of Interest 2: UOW Wellbore Characterization
• Area of Interest 3: Long-Term UOW Monitoring

Are you an Indigenous student passionate about agriculture? The Tribal Agriculture Fellowship is your opportunity to participate in a fellowship devoted to sharing the Indigenous perspective and making a difference in Tribal agriculture. Our application will reopen again in Fall 2024. Become part of our mission to create a lasting impact for future generations.

Together, let’s shape the future of Native agriculture.

Eligibility
TAF was designed to aid Native students in achieving their educational goals leading to careers in agriculture. The fellowship program provides a generous benefits package that can include up to four years of fellowship status, with funding to earn agricultural degrees or technical certifications.

Rising and current technical, undergraduate, and graduate students
Provide proof of Tribal enrollment or community connectedness
Upon selection for TAF, provide acceptance/enrollment information for selected academic or certificate program
Upon selection for Tribal Agriculture Fellowship program, fellows will be required to:

Sustain suitable academic progress
Complete two (2) fellowship hours per month assigned by TAF staff
Participate in all TAF required activities
Provide semester updates to TAF Program Coordinator
Serve as a peer mentor to upcoming Fellows

Have questions about the application?
Reach out to April, our program coordinator. Her email is aprilp@taffellows.org or phone is 479-871-2135.

Supporters
In recognition of the need for more agriculture education opportunities specifically geared toward Native students, the Native American Agriculture Fund (NAAF) and the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) established the Tribal Agriculture Fellowship (TAF) with additional support provided by John Deere, Farmer Mac and the Farm Credit.

The EPA’s Brownfields Program provides funds to empower states, Tribal Nations, communities, and nonprofit organizations to prevent, inventory, assess, clean up, and reuse brownfield sites. This funding opportunity will award assessment grants to develop inventories of brownfield sites, prioritize sites, conduct community involvement activities, conduct planning, conduct site assessments, develop site-specific cleanup plans, and develop reuse plans related to brownfield sites. A portion of the Assessment Grant funding must be used to conduct site assessments.

This opportunity provides funding to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites owned by the applicant. A brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, contaminant, controlled substance, petroleum, or petroleum product, or is mine-scarred land. This program is being funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“Bipartisan Infrastructure Law”).

Community-wide Assessment Grants are for communities that are beginning to address their brownfield challenges, as well as for communities that have ongoing efforts to bring sites into productive reuse. This funding opportunity will provide funding for developing inventories of brownfield sites, prioritizing sites, conducting community involvement activities, conducting planning, conducting site assessments, developing site-specific cleanup plans, and developing reuse plans related to brownfield sites. A portion of the assessment grant funding must be used to conduct site assessments.

Assessment Grants provide funding for developing inventories of brownfield sites, prioritizing sites, conducting community involvement activities, conducting planning, conducting site assessments, developing site-specific cleanup plans, and developing reuse plans related to brownfield sites. A portion of the Assessment Grant funding must be used to conduct site assessments. Assessment Grant funds may not be used to conduct cleanup activities.

Community-wide Assessment Grants are appropriate for communities that are beginning to
address their brownfield challenges, as well as for communities that have ongoing efforts to
bring sites into productive reuse.

Applicants may request funding up to $500,000 to address sites contaminated by hazardous
substances (i.e., sites with potential contamination of hazardous substances, pollutants, or
contaminants) and/or petroleum7 (i.e., sites with potential petroleum contamination). For the purposes of this solicitation, the cost of assessment activities carried out at each approved, eligible site may not exceed $200,000 per site.

EPA will determine site eligibility after the award of the grant throughout the project period.

Applicants can only apply for one Community-wide Assessment Grant.

Revolving Loan Funds (RLF) are used to provide no-interest or low-interest loans for eligible brownfield cleanups, subgrants for cleanups, and other eligible programmatic costs necessary to manage the RLF. Applications will be evaluated based on the extent to which the applicant demonstrates: a vision for the cleanup, reuse and redevelopment of brownfield sites and a strategy for leveraging resources to help accomplish the vision; the environmental, social, health and economic needs and benefits of the target area(s); strong community engagement; reasonable costs, eligible tasks, and appropriate use of grant funding; the capacity for managing and successfully implementing the cooperative agreement; and other factors.

Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grants provide funding to a grant recipient to capitalize an RLF
program. RLF programs provide loans and subgrants to eligible entities to carry out cleanup
activities at brownfield sites contaminated with hazardous substances and/or petroleum. Site eligibility will be determined by EPA after grant award and prior to expending grant funds at any site. Sites where hazardous substances and petroleum contamination are distinguishable must meet eligibility requirements for both contaminants.
Only eligible entities that do not have, or are not a part of (i.e., a coalition member), an open
cooperative agreement for a Brownfields RLF at the time of application may apply for funding under this solicitation. An “open” cooperative agreement is one in which the Period of performance, as defined in 2 CFR § 200.1, has not yet ended. The period of performance is specified in EPA’s initial or amended “Notice of Award.”

Note for grant recipients that do have an open cooperative agreement for a Brownfields RLF:
Grant recipients with an open cooperative agreement will be given the opportunity to request
additional funding to capitalize their RLF program through the Brownfields Program’s annual,
non-competitive, supplemental funding process. As of Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22), instead of
extending the existing RLF cooperative agreement period of performance when providing
supplemental funding, EPA may choose to award a new RLF Grant. Additional information on the timing, requirements, and procedures for supplemental funding requests will be available on EPA’s Brownfields Program Website (www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfields-revolving-loanfund-rlf-grants).

The American-Made Large Animal and Solar System Operations (LASSO) Prize offers more than $8 million in cash prizes to multi-stakeholder teams that develop impactful projects to deepen our understanding of the co-location of solar photovoltaics (PV) and cattle grazing operations (cattle agrivoltaics).

The LASSO Prize is designed to bring solar developers, farmers, ranchers, and other stakeholders together to form teams; build pilot sites; identify best practices, use cases, costs, applicable business models, and associated energy and agricultural outcomes; host field days; and more!

Prize Overview
Agrivoltaics, the co-location of solar PV and agriculture, is a growing industry that shows promising benefits for both agricultural production and solar energy development.

Cattle agrivoltaics has the potential to reduce land use conflict, preserve agricultural land, increase landowner and farmer/rancher revenues, and may also benefit animal welfare and plant and soil health while easing some of the barriers to solar energy deployment.

This innovative practice is relatively new in the United States, and more pilot and pilot site projects are needed to de-risk designs and business models to prove that cattle agrivoltaics can yield agricultural and economic opportunities.

The LASSO Prize, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office, will support pilot and pilot sites projects designed to gather and share information about costs, business models, and energy and agricultural outcomes associated with cattle agrivoltaics. The prize also aims to support relationship-building between the solar energy and agricultural communities and generate best practices that will help expand the industry.

Interested competitors are encouraged to create multi-stakeholder teams and compete in one of two available tracks: Standard Track and Operating Projects Track. Phase 1 submissions for both tracks are due March 6, 2025, at 5 p.m. ET.

Standard Track
The Standard Track is open to new cattle agrivoltaics projects. Through the three phases (Phase 2 consists of two subphases), this track focuses on teaming, system and grazing plan design, construction, implementation, and multi-year data collection.

Standard Track
The Standard Track is open to new cattle agrivoltaics projects. Through the three phases (Phase 2 consists of two subphases), this track focuses on teaming, system and grazing plan design, construction, implementation, and multi-year data collection.

Bonus Prizes
The LASSO Prize offers two bonus prizes: the Largest PV System Bonus Prize and the Data Bounty Bonus Prize.

The Largest PV System Bonus Prize is awarded to the team with the largest operational cattle agrivoltaics system in which cattle interact with a DC-rated PV capacity over 5 MW-dc, considering only teams from the Standard Track with eligible Standard Track Phase 2B submissions.

The Data Bounty Bonus Prize is awarded to the team that submits the most valuable datasets from cattle agrivoltaics projects that go above and beyond minimum requirements. Submissions from both Standard Track Phase 3 and Operating Projects Track Phase 2 are eligible for this bonus prize.

Who Is Eligible to Compete
The prize is open to U.S.-based individuals and organizations, including solar developers, ranchers, and farmers. Teams are encouraged to include members who are hardware and software manufacturers, local governments, utilities, commodity organizations, historically underserved producers, researchers, extension programs, and universities with expertise in cattle research and agrivoltaics. See the Official Rules for eligibility criteria.

NOTE: For this prize, cattle agrivoltaics entails the co-location of solar PV arrays and cattle grazing. It does not include rooftop PV systems, projects without interaction between the cattle and the PV array, or projects with any livestock other than cattle.