Franconia, NH – The New England Ski Museum in Franconia will offer $3,000 in grants in 2012 to support individuals and organizations that sustain the Museum’s mission to preserve the history of skiing and winter sports under its Cal Conniff Grant program.

The grants are presented at the Hannes Schneider Meister Cup Race, held each March at Cranmore Mountain Resort in North Conway, N.H. The Cal Conniff awards will be announced on Friday, March 2, 2012 at the opening reception of the Schneider Race in Cranmore’s Eating House restaurant.

Previous Cal Conniff Grant awards have included:

• Bretton Woods Adaptive Sports & Recreation, Bretton Woods, NH, $1,000 to provide adaptive ski lessons for local students with physical and developmental disabilities;
• The Ford K. Sayre Memorial Ski Council, Inc, Hanover, NH, $1,000 to purchase ski jumping boots for their junior and high school jumpers;
• The Damon O’Neal Scholarship Committee, North Conway, NH, $800 to partially fund a scholarship in memory of ski racer Damon O’Neal;
• New England Disabled Sports, Lincoln, NH, $1,000 to support its hosting of the National Disabled Ski Hall of Fame;
• Nick Alexander, Lebanon, NH, $1,000, in support of his ski jumping career;
• Thunderbolt Ski Runners, Adams, MA, $800 to support its 75th anniversary race on the Thunderbolt Trail;
• Cochran’s Ski Area, Richmond, VT, $1000 to support its community after-school programs;
• Bruce Whittier Middle School and Poland Regional High School in Poland Maine, $1,000 to support nordic ski equipment acquisition;
• Northeast Slopes, East Corinth, VT, $500 to support installation of a T-Bar tow.

The Cal Conniff Grant Program is open to individuals, organizations and educational institutions with an interest in winter sports, such as alpine and nordic skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing. Anyone who can demonstrate the need for funding for the purposes of education, preservation of skiing history, encouraging winter sports participation, or other involvement in snow sports is eligible.

The selection process is conducted by the Museum’s Grant Committee on an objective and nondiscriminatory basis. The committee judges applications based on: the importance of the grant to the success of the proposed program; the proposal’s contribution to the preservation of ski or snowboard history; the educational value of the proposal; the extent to which the project encourages skiing or snowboarding participation; and the applicant’s degree of organization in the pursuit of the project.

The application process is kept purposefully informal. Applicants submit a letter that outlines a description of the project, its goals, the audience that it will impact, and the dollar amount requested. Supporting information for the application should include: a resume or organizational description, including mailing address; two letters supporting the merits of the individual or program; a representative photograph for publication if the applicant is successful.

The Grant Program is named in honor of Ski Museum Board member Cal Conniff. He is a former Executive Director of the National Ski Areas Association, and while President of the New England Ski Museum founded the Hannes Schneider Meister Cup as a benefit event for the non-profit group.

Questions about the program or application materials should be e-mailed to staff@skimuseum.org or mailed to:

Cal Conniff Grant Committee
New England Ski Museum
PO Box 267
Franconia, NH 03580

The deadline for applications is February 14, 2012.