The application due date for the first set of four Howard G. Buffett Foundation 40 Chances Seed Grant Program funding is March 1. Applications are available at 40chances.com/seedgrants.

The program will provide the grants over four years to the most innovative nonprofit organizations built on the effective philanthropic principles described in The New York Times best-selling book, “40 Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World,” written by Howard G. Buffet with Howard W. Buffett.

Students and faculty enrolled in Arizona State University’s Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation graduate-level course, “Strategic Philanthropy: Learning by Giving” (taught by Lodestar senior fellow and former vice president of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Robert F. Long), will identify and recommend seed grant funding for the most qualified nonprofit applicants. The Howard G. Buffett Foundation will make the final determination on all grant recipients.

Those organizations seeking funding must support solutions to social challenges in the areas of food security, conflict or poverty alleviation. The strategies of a nonprofit applying for a seed grant must clearly involve local leadership and management into the operations of the organization, and integrate locally driven design, development and deployment in its programs or services.

“We are excited to be a part of this truly innovative program to support an initiative to help the world’s most vulnerable populations,” said professor Robert F. Ashcraft, executive director of the Lodestar Center. “By identifying and providing funding support to new ideas the foundation might not see otherwise, it creates a unique ability to seek solutions from truly anywhere around the world. By engaging our students and faculty in the selection process through this philanthropic learning laboratory, they will earn credit as part of a unique class experience.”

Seed grants will be awarded twice per year, and winners for the first round of grants will be announced in the spring of 2014. Organizations must have U.S. 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status or be sponsored by an organization with U.S. 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status to be eligible for consideration. Forty grants will be awarded over four years, for a total of $400,000. Recipients of seed grants will be expected to provide a report on the grant’s impact following the implementation of funds.

Find out more information about the 40 Chances Seed Grants program and apply by visiting40Chances.com/seedgrants.