The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards is accepting applications for its grant programs through March 1, 2007, the board announced.
   The 2007 Financial Planning Grants program seeks to provide funding to "innovative and sustainable projects that reach people and encourage them to benefit from financial planning," according to the board.
   The CFP Board started the grant program last year, when it provided $875,500 in funding to 20 projects that are "reaching people with the benefits of financial planning," according to the board.
   Grant recipients last year included non-profit groups, educators and CFP professionals, involved in projects ranging from the development of new ways of using technology to provide financial planning to creating partnerships that provide financial planning information and assistance through libraries, high schools, colleges and community-based organizations.
   Requirements for 2007 funding applications and an online application form are available at www.cfp.net/teamup/grants.asp.
   Some examples of projects and their funding last year:
    Brett Danko, CFP, received $80,640 to develop a program of financial counseling, education and planning services for women served by non-profit domestic violence agencies in New Jersey. The project is expected to take three years.
    Bronx Community College in New York City received $74,938 to develop a financial planning overview to integrate into mandatory college freshman orientation courses and to coordinate programs with the school's Career Center counselors, Business Club and Alumni Association to enhance the visibility of financial planning information on campus and the nearby community.
    The Indian Valley Housing Corporation, a non-profit organization assisting low-income, homeless and at-risk households in Southeastern Pennsylvania with housing needs, received $79,285 to develop a three-year pilot program of financial education and one-on-one planning services for their clients.
    The Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling received $30,000 to develop an outreach project to provide financial education support to loved ones of people with gambling problems and to provide preventative education to adults in their twenties. The materials developed for the project will be available to organizations across the country.
   Applications for 2007 funding may be for new projects or proposals to enhance programs that already exist, according to the board.

   "The requested grant money must fund something distinct that furthers CFP Board's mission," the board states.