Connecticut Agricultural Education Foundation

What Connecticut Agricultural Education Foundation does

The Connecticut Agricultural Education Foundation (CTAEF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation established in 1985 and headquartered in Enfield, Connecticut. Its mission is to advance agricultural education throughout the state, operating a portfolio of programs that includes a Scholarship Program awarding $500-$1,500 per recipient, Ag in the Classroom curriculum support, the CT Farm City community-outreach initiative, the Outstanding Young Farmer recognition, White-Reinhardt Mini-Grants, and the CT AgriScience Excellence Award. The foundation is governed by a board of directors and staffed by 11-50 personnel, with programs reaching Connecticut K-12 students, post-secondary agricultural students, educators, and the broader agricultural community. CTAEF serves as a coordination and funding vehicle for agricultural literacy and workforce pipeline development within the state.

CTAEF's business model is donation-driven rather than product- or service-based. Revenue consists of tax-deductible contributions from individuals, corporate sponsors, and event proceeds, with no fees or commercial sales. Disbursements flow outward as scholarships, mini-grants, program support, and recognition awards. Distribution is achieved through partnerships with the Connecticut Department of Agriculture, Connecticut Farm Bureau, Farm Credit East, and Connecticut's network of schools, 4-H chapters, and FFA programs. Operating economics are those of a small mission-driven foundation: low fixed costs relative to community impact, with no disclosed capital structure, debt, or external funding rounds.

Name

Connecticut Agricultural Education Foundation

Legal name

Connecticut Agricultural Education Foundation, Inc.

Website

https://ctaef.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1985

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Connecticut Agricultural Education Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 1985 that funds scholarships, mini-grants, and agricultural literacy programs for Connecticut students, educators, and farming communities through tax-deductible donations and institutional partnerships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Education

NAICS

Educational Support Services (6117), Educational Services (611)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Education Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Agribusiness, Farm Management & Compliance (EDAOAOAN)

Keywords

• Agricultural education
• Student scholarships
• Classroom literacy
• Farm recognition programs
• Youth agricultural programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Enfield

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Connecticut Agricultural Education Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that funds agricultural education initiatives in Connecticut. It administers student scholarships, runs the Ag in the Classroom literacy program, awards the White-Reinhardt Mini-Grants to educators, recognizes outstanding young farmers, hosts the CT Farm City program, and presents the Connecticut AgriScience Excellence Award. Its deliverables are scholarships, grants, recognition events, and curriculum-support funding directed at students, teachers, and farms.

Product overview

The Connecticut Agricultural Education Foundation operates as a non-profit organization that administers multiple agricultural education programs rather than a unified technology product. Its core offerings include the Scholarship Program for students pursuing agricultural careers, the Ag in the Classroom initiative with Read Across Connecticut literacy events, CT Farm City experiential farm visits, and the Outstanding Young Farmer recognition program. Supporting grant programs include White-Reinhardt Mini-Grants for K-12 classroom projects and the Connecticut AgriScience Excellence Award for teachers. These programs work together to advance agricultural awareness and education across Connecticut communities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Scholarship Program
• Ag in the Classroom A classroom-based agricultural literacy program that supplies instructional support and resources to Connecticut K-12 teachers to integrate agriculture into the curriculum.
• White-Reinhardt Mini-Grants Small grant awards provided to Connecticut educators to fund agricultural education projects and classroom activities.
• Outstanding Young Farmer A recognition program that identifies and celebrates outstanding young farmers in Connecticut.
• CT Farm City A foundation-hosted program/event focused on the connection between Connecticut farms and urban or community audiences.
• Connecticut AgriScience Excellence Award An award that recognizes excellence in agricultural science among students or educators in Connecticut.

Quantifiable outcome

• Thousands of books donated to classrooms and libraries across Connecticut
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• CT Department of AgriculturecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Connecticut Department of Agriculture works with CTAEF on agricultural education initiatives. The department provides sponsorship support and is listed as a partner on the CTAEF sponsors page. The relationship involves co-funding educational programs and connecting the foundation with state agricultural resources.
• Connecticut Farm BureaucoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerConnecticut Farm Bureau is a key sponsor and partner of CTAEF, providing financial support and helping to promote agricultural education programs. The relationship includes joint sponsorship of events and programs, with county Farm Bureaus (Hartford, Litchfield, Middlesex, New London, Windham) also listed as supporters.
• Farm Credit EastcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFarm Credit East is a major sponsor of CTAEF, supporting agricultural education programs. The organization has Connecticut locations in Dayville and Enfield. As a leading agricultural lender, they support the foundation's mission to educate students about agriculture.
• CT Agricultural Experiment StationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as a partner link on CTAEF's website, representing a connection to Connecticut's agricultural research institution that can provide educational resources and expertise for programs.
• NationwideminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNationwide insurance company is listed as a sponsor of CTAEF, providing financial support for the foundation's agricultural education initiatives.
• County Farm Bureaus (Hartford, Litchfield, Middlesex, New London, Windham)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFive county Farm Bureaus are sponsors of CTAEF, supporting agricultural education at the local level across Connecticut.
• National Ag In The Classroom ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCTAEF is partnered with the National Ag In The Classroom consortium, which provides access to educational resources, curriculum materials, and a national network for agricultural literacy programs. This partnership connects local programs to national standards and resources.
• CT Young FarmersminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as a partner organization, representing a connection to young farming professionals in Connecticut who can support and participate in agricultural education programs.
• American Farm Bureau Foundation for AgriculturecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThrough the White-Reinhardt Fund for Education, this national foundation provides mini-grants and educator scholarships that CTAEF helps distribute to Connecticut schools for agricultural literacy programs. The foundation is building awareness and understanding of agriculture through education.
• Eastern States Exposition (The Big E)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerConnecticut Corporators to the Eastern States Exposition award the Connecticut AgriScience Excellence Award grants through CTAEF. The $500 grants are awarded to elementary school teachers for special agricultural education projects, payable in September to winning schools.
• CT Ag Information Council (CAIC)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCAIC coordinates the Connecticut Outstanding Young Farmer award program. Applications are reviewed by this council, with the winner announced at Ag Day at the Capitol.
• AmazonSmileminorGTM or Marketing PartnerAmazon's charitable giving program allows shoppers to designate CTAEF as their charity of choice, with Amazon donating 0.5% of eligible purchases to the foundation.
• Bishop's Orchards Farm MarketminorOthersBishop's Orchards Farm Market in Guilford, CT is a sponsor of CTAEF, providing financial support for agricultural education programs.
• Beckett FarmsminorOthersBeckett Farms is listed as a supporter of CTAEF.
• Prides Corner FarmsminorOthersPrides Corner Farms is listed as a Friend of CTAEF.
• Van Wilgen's Garden CenterminorOthersVan Wilgen's Garden Center is listed as a supporter of CTAEF.

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• National Ag in the Classroom: National consortium of which CTAEF is a state-level partner; both deliver K-12 agricultural literacy curricula, teacher resources, and classroom programming through affiliated state organizations.
• American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture: National foundation that operates the White-Reinhardt Mini-Grants program which CTAEF helps distribute in Connecticut; both fund ag literacy and educator mini-grants using shared programmatic infrastructure.
• FoodCorps: National nonprofit that CTAEF directly supports through funding for transportation and literacy materials in Connecticut; both deploy volunteer networks into classrooms to deliver food and agriculture education.

Broad incumbents

• National FFA Organization: National youth leadership organization developing future agricultural educators and advocates; many CTAEF scholarship recipients are active FFA members, and both organizations pursue overlapping talent pipelines in agricultural education.
• National 4-H Council: National youth development organization with strong Connecticut presence; multiple CTAEF scholarship recipients are 4-H alumni, and both organizations serve the same future-farmer talent pool.
• American Farmland Trust: National farmland conservation organization with strong Connecticut engagement; shares CTAEF's mission of sustaining agriculture through public education and policy advocacy.
• Cornell Cooperative Extension: Major land-grant extension system providing agricultural education and youth programming; En-Ming Holtz, a 2023 CTAEF scholarship recipient, is studying Animal Science at Cornell with CCE overlap.

Regional players

• New York Agriculture in the Classroom: State-level affiliate of the National Ag in the Classroom network serving New York; operates an analogous program stack of literacy, mini-grants, and teacher support in an adjacent Northeast state.
• Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom (MAC): New England counterpart delivering K-12 agricultural literacy, teacher resources, and grants in Massachusetts; provides a comparable state-level model against which CTAEF's program reach and fundraising can be benchmarked.

Emerging players

• Heifer International: International nonprofit with farm-based experiential education programming in the Northeast; shares CTAEF's interest in agricultural literacy and farm-city connections but operates at a larger geographic scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/ctaef
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/connecticut-agricultural-education-foundation-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Connecticut Agricultural Education Foundation