The First Post: All About Getting Grants

I’m very excited to be starting this school grant blog. With twenty years experience as an educator and seven years of experience running The School Funding Center, I think you’ll find my tips and advice both timely and illuminating. I’ll be covering a wide range of topics in the next few months so try not to miss a single update. Updates will be posted 3-4 times every month, and I’ll even include a grant opportunity or two with each listing.

So it doesn’t matter if you’re just generally interested in how to write a grant or if you specifically want to know how to win an early childhood education grant, I’ll be sharing vital information that you can use.

Let’s get started. Do you need grant money for your school or organization? The first step toward getting grant money is to clearly define a problem that you’re having. The problem can’t just be that you need money or that you didn’t get enough money put in your budget this year. That won’t do. No federal government, state government, or foundation is going to give you grant money if that’s what you put on your application.

What if your problem is that you teach kindergarten and are alarmed that more than 40% of your students are overweight? In fact, three of them are obese. You have nothing in your curriculum that deals with their nutritional needs, their physical activity, or communicating with parents about this problem.

Now you don’t just need money. You have a well-defined problem, and this well-defined problem may very well qualify you for grant money.

If you need grant money, then you have a problem or problems that need to be solved.
Take your first step toward getting that grant money by getting pen and paper and clearly defining the problem you have. Once you’ve got that problem clearly defined, you are then ready to begin searching for granting entities that want to help you address that problem by giving you the grant money you need.

We’ll talk about matching your needs with those grantors next time……..

CHECK THIS OUT!

Grant Name: DonorsChoose.org Grants
Funded by: DonorsChoose.org

Description: DonorsChoose.org is a simple way to provide students in need with resources that our public schools often lack. At this not-for-profit web site, teachers submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. These ideas become classroom reality when concerned individuals, whom we call Citizen Philanthropists, choose projects to fund.

Program Areas: Adult Literacy After-School Arts At-Risk/Character Community Involvement/Volunteerism Disabilities Early Childhood ESL/Bilingual/Foreign Language Facilities/Maintenance Family Services General Education Health/PE Homeless Indian Journalism Library Math Migrant Miscellaneous Professional Development Reading Safe/Drug Free Schools Science/Environmental Social Studies Special Education TAG Technology Transportation Vocational
Recipients: Public School
Proposal Deadline Description: no deadline
Website: Click Here
Availability: All States