ARRL Foundation to Create Club Grants Program

San Diego, CA, January 13, 2022 --(PR.com)-- The ARRL has long recognized that it is in the best interests of amateur radio to encourage and support amateur radio clubs. Clubs historically have recruited, licensed and trained new radio amateurs and have provided the community setting for radio amateurs to continue their education and training. The new ARRL Foundation Club Grants program, funded by a grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), will make $500,000 available to clubs, enabling them to more easily provide and expand these important services. The program will provide up to $25,000 for worthy club projects, while requests for more than that will be referred back to ARDC.

Beginning in April 2022, amateur radio clubs will be able to apply for these grants by filling out a simple form on the ARRL website. The ARRL Foundation will then evaluate the grant proposals, with a key criterion being how the project will advance amateur radio in the grantee’s community. In most cases, this process should take no longer than 90 days.

Dr. David Woolweaver, ARRL Foundation President, is, understandably, quite enthusiastic about this program. He notes, “This program will substantially contribute to the growth of amateur radio clubs and their efforts to expand and support the amateur radio community."

Rosy Schechter, ARDC Executive Director, is equally enthusiastic. She notes that this program will streamline the process for getting club projects funded, so that clubs can get started on these projects more quickly. “We’re very excited about working with the ARRL Foundation on this program,” she says, “We can’t wait to see what kinds of creative things clubs will do with these grants.”

About ARRL Foundation
Established in 1973 by the American Radio Relay League, Inc. (ARRL) as an independent 501(c)(3) organization, the ARRL Foundation is funded entirely by the generous contributions of radio amateurs, friends, and ARDC. The Foundation advances the Amateur Radio Service by awarding financial grants and scholarships to individuals and amateur radio organizations in support of their charitable, educational and scientific efforts. To learn more about the ARRL Foundation, please visit http://www.arrl.org/the-arrl-foundation.

About ARDC
Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) is a California-based foundation with roots in amateur radio and the technology of internet communication. The organization got its start by managing allocations of the AMPRnet address space, which is designated to licensed amateur radio operators worldwide. Additionally, ARDC makes grants to projects and organizations that follow amateur radio’s practice and tradition of technical experimentation in both amateur radio and digital communication science. Such experimentation has led to broad advances for the benefit of the general public, including the mobile phone and wireless internet technology. ARDC envisions a world where all such technology is available through open source hardware and software, and where anyone has the ability to innovate upon it. To learn more about ARDC, please visit https://www.ampr.org.