With the generous support of our alumni, Morehead-Cain is pleased to offer a Discovery Fund opportunity for educators in North Carolina who have been celebrated by our scholars and semifinalists for their impact on future leaders.

The Impact Educator Discovery Fund is intended to inspire self-discovery, exploration, skill development, and professional growth. It is modeled after the Lovelace Fund for Discovery, a unique fund that is available to all Morehead-Cain Scholars during their undergraduate years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

We aim to celebrate extraordinary teachers like you, and to enable your continued investment in the young people of our state. We hope that Discovery Fund experiences will be both restorative and productive, and that you will return to work feeling refreshed and prepared to share some element of your summer experience with your students and school community.

Grant Information and Application Process

In 2025, we expect to offer twenty-five grants of up to $2,500 each. Educators selected for this grant should complete their Discovery Fund projects by December 31, 2025.

Key Dates
Application Release Date: End of January 2025
Application Deadline: February 28, 2025
Recipients Notified: April 2025
Funds Disbursed: May 2025

Submission Information
You will be asked to describe the project and its importance to you, as well as how you might bring the experience back to your students and the broader school community.

Apply Today

Discovery Fund Project Examples

To spark your creativity, below are a few examples of how Impact Educators might use a grant of up to $2,500. Please do not feel limited or constrained by the ideas below; we look forward to receiving a proposal that reflects your unique interests and goals.

  • A journalism teacher attended the Journalism Education Association / National Scholastic Press Association Convention in Boston, Massachusetts.
  • A history teacher traveled to Oklahoma to learn more about the Indigenous people forcibly removed from the southeast United States to Oklahoma.
  • A business, economics, and finance teacher participated in an online global economics course through the London School of Economics and Political Science.
  • A chemistry teacher attended the 2023 ChemEd Conference at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
  • An English and leadership elective teacher traveled to Alabama to experience Civil Rights sites.
  • A counselor attended training for trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy and brainspotting phases I and II.
  • An English teacher who also serves as a college access counselor visited high school and college programs in the United States to learn best practices for serving students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Eligibility Policy: 

Morehead-Cain Impact Educator Grant recipients must be actively employed as educators within the state of North Carolina at the time of application and must intend to remain in the education profession for the entire academic year immediately following the grant award. 

Impact Educators applying for a discovery fund grant may not be a direct relative of a student currently engaged in the Morehead-Cain scholarship process. Nor may they be direct relatives of any Morehead-Cain staff member, trustee, or scholarship fund board member. 

Morehead-Cain Impact Educators are eligible to apply for a grant within a period of up to five years following their most recent recognition award. Morehead-Cain Impact Educators may only receive one Impact Educator grant within any five-year period.