The Michelson 20MM Foundation is committed to promoting programs and policies that advance the proliferation and adoption of open educational resources to improve the affordability of instructional materials, efficacy of faculty instruction, and equitable access to educational opportunities. The foundation was launched over a decade ago when a simple news article of qualified community college students dropping out due to the cost of textbooks moved Dr. Michelson to first provide immediate help, and then to move towards addressing the issue at scale. The subsequent  $1.5 million grant to Openstax created the world’s first commercial grade, openly licensed college textbooks available to students at zero cost—and set our organization on its way.

We continue to make investments in this work through our Michelson Spark Grants program. The 2023 Open Educational Resources Spark Grants funding cycle opens May 30th and closes on June 13th. During this cycle, Michelson 20MM seeks to fund projects that support systems-level strategies with potential to create positive impact at scale and inform public policy. 

We are interested in supporting initiatives that address the following in the Higher Education space and are not looking for content creation proposals at this time: 

• Support the implementation of California’s historic investment in the Zero Textbook Cost degree program in the California Community College system;
  -Focusing on capacity building, professional development, and scaling OER marketing 
• Research on how OER impacts student outcomes for marginalized groups (BIPOC, student parents, unhoused students, tribal communities, etc)
  -Particularly research that focuses on how OER impacts the decisions students make, how it impacts their completion rates and grades, and how it impacts their lives outside of school
• Research and public education around automatic textbook billing, with a focus on student experience and consumer protection
  -Research on prevalence and types of automatic textbook billing that is occurring within the three California public higher education systems
  -Policy makers at the system, state, and federal levels often have outdated understandings of the course materials landscape, public education is required to bring them up to speed on the current landscape and the impact it has on today’s students
• Research around student data protections in the instructional materials marketplace
  -Specifically taking a consumer protection or policy analysis lens to examine the emerging risks and extent of student data use in digital course materials necessary to participate in courses 

Funding Cycle Details

We will be awarding grants up to $25,000 to nonprofits and educational institutions looking for support of projects that hit one of the focus areas outlined above.

We will not be funding initiatives that primarily seek to develop OER content during this Michelson Spark Grant cycle. While we realize there is a tremendous desire from faculty for this type of support, we are leveraging our funding to effect broader systemic change at this time. 

For this funding cycle, we will focus on organizations that are doing work in California in the higher education space. 

We welcome proposals where Michelson Spark Grant funds are part of a larger overall project with multiple funding streams.

OER Program Manager Cailyn Nagle and Director of Programs and Operations Ryan Erickson-Kulas will host an informational webinar on Thursday, May 18th, at 10:00 am PT, which will provide an in-depth overview of the Spark Grants program, highlight past awardees, and provide detailed updates on the Open Educational Resources funding cycle.