Project Lead The Way Named Winner of 2025 Amazon Web Services Imagine Grant for Nonprofits

PLTW will work with AWS to use generative AI and cloud-native technologies to transform instructional support for teachers and expand personalized learning opportunities for students giving them real-time guidance, accessibility support, and hands-on experiences with emerging AI skills that strengthen career readiness.

INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Project Lead The Way (PLTW) today announced it has been selected as a winner of the 2025 Amazon Web Services (AWS) Imagine Grant. The grant will support PLTW’s efforts to create secure, education-specific AI tools to help teachers save time, elevate instruction, and deliver personalized learning to students nationwide.

PLTW was named a winner of the Pathfinder – Generative AI award which recognizes highly innovative, mission-critical projects using generative AI. PLTW will receive up to $200,000 in unrestricted funding, up to $100,000 in AWS Credits, and implementation support from the AWS Generative AI Innovation Center. Awardees were selected based on several factors including the innovative and unique nature of the project, impact on mission-critical goals, and clearly defined outcomes and milestones.

PLTW’s AI strategy aims to give teachers and students access to responsible, high-quality AI capabilities that enhance instruction, streamline educator workflows, and expand personalized learning across STEM and CTE pathways. By working with AWS, PLTW will use generative AI and secure cloud technologies to reduce teacher workload, improve accessibility, and provide students with real-time guidance and hands-on exposure to emerging AI skills that support career readiness. AWS’s scalable infrastructure and expertise will enable PLTW to deliver these solutions safely, efficiently, and at a national level.

“AI offers incredible opportunities to help educators personalize learning, but ensuring that their confidence and comfort with the tools is essential. Our approach with AI resources for teachers is designed to make AI integration practical and approachable, providing teachers with support for both teaching with and about AI in ways that will inspire and empower students to also use it ethically, creatively and innovatively,” said Joel Kupperstein, PLTW Chief Product Officer.

The funds from the AWS Imagine Grant will go towards establishing the development, design, deployment, and ongoing refinement of PLTW’s AI-powered teacher and student supports. This investment will help accelerate implementation, strengthen operational capacity, and ensure that educators and learners receive high-quality, secure, and user-centered AI experiences informed by real classroom feedback.

“With AWS’s support, we can move faster in delivering secure, purpose-built AI solutions that make a real difference for educators and students,” said Brian Greiwe, PLTW Chief Technology Officer. “These tools will help teachers work more efficiently and give students the personalized guidance and career-ready skills they need to thrive. This effort reflects PLTW’s mission to prepare learners and educators for lasting success.”

“At AWS, we're continually amazed by the nonprofit sector's innovative spirit and dedication to creating positive change in our communities and around the globe," said Rick Buettner, managing director of global nonprofits at AWS. "Through the Imagine Grant program, we're seeing organizations embrace cloud technology in ways that fundamentally reshape how they deliver on their missions. From scaling their impact to reaching underserved communities, these nonprofits are showing us what's possible when vision meets innovation. We're proud to support their transformative work and help them build solutions that will benefit communities for years to come."

Since the launch of the Imagine Grant program in 2018, AWS has awarded more than $21 million in unrestricted funding, AWS cloud computing credits, and technical expertise to more than 180 nonprofit organizations. Learn more about past recipients and how nonprofits use AWS to advance their missions around the world at the AWS for nonprofits hub.

Previous winners are currently using AWS services to tackle critical challenges such as improving political transparency, reducing the administrative burden placed on clinicians, accelerating coral reef monitoring, helping millions access clean and safe drinking water globally, tackling rare disease research, and more.

Over 95,000 nonprofit organizations worldwide use AWS to increase their impact and advance mission goals. Through multiple programs tailored specifically to the nonprofit community, AWS enables nonprofits of all sizes to overcome barriers to technology adoption, while enhancing the scale, performance, and capabilities of mission operations.

For more information on the AWS Imagine Grant, visit https://aws.amazon.com/government-education/nonprofits/aws-imagine-grant-program/

About PLTW

For nearly 30 years, Project Lead The Way (PLTW) has prepared PreK–12 students for careers, college, and life by equipping them with the STEM knowledge, credential preparation, transferable skills, and confidence to succeed. Its hands-on, real-world learning, deep industry partnerships and clear, scaffolded curriculum guide students from early career curiosity to postsecondary readiness. With strong professional development and a national network of more than 116,000 trained teachers in 12,200+ schools across all 50 states, PLTW enables schools to design scalable, future-focused programs that inspire students, empower educators, and connect learning to life after graduation. Visit pltw.org to learn more.