Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Will Your School Need Grants This Year?

The faltering economy will likely make it another tough year for schools financially. Home values throughout most of the nation are still far down from where they once were. With property values down, less taxes will be collected. Some property owners will not be able to pay their property taxes because they haven't even been able to make their house payments.

Add to the property value problems the fact that cities and states aren't collecting as much sales tax or any other tax from businesses and corporations because of the slowdown in the economy. As a result many schools will collect even less money than they did last year while prices for fuel and many supplies stay relatively high.

The question is not whether you should write grants for your school this year. The question is can you write and receive enough grants to offset the shortfall that is almost surely coming. What can you do about it?

I suggest you do three things:

First, if you are not already using the free Discount School Supply grant database, you need to begin using it today. The database will allow you to spend a maximum of your time filling out grant applications and a minimum of your time actually looking for grants that are a fit for your school.

Second, recruit and train several people to write grants at your school. You need to be working on a grant application at all times--in fact, several of them. A person cannot write his/her second grant until he/she writes the first one. Get other people involved so you can get enough grant applications out there that it will really make a difference.

Third, consider using The School Funding Center's grant writers. We write on contingency, so you will only risk a $500 up-front fee in order for us to write any grant for you. If you get grant money, you will owe us a percentage based on the amount of money you receive. If you don't receive the grant money, you won't owe us anything else.

There are just two keys to getting large amounts of grant money for your school. You have to make sure the grants for which you apply match up well with the needs of your school. And, you have to fill out enough grant applications, so that if you only get 25-30% of them funded, you'll still have plenty of money to cover your needs.

The bad news is that tough economic times are here to stay for awhile for most schools. The good news is that you can help address this problem in a positive manner with the number and quality of grant applications
you submit this year.

New Grant Opportunity for Teachers!

Grant Name: Teacher Grants

Funded by: The Kids in Need Foundation

Description: Kids In Need Teacher Grants provide K-12 educators with funding to provide innovative learning opportunities for their students. The Kids In Need Foundation helps to engage students in the learning process by supporting our most creative and important educational resource our nation's teachers. All certified K-12 teachers in the U.S. are eligible.

Program Areas: Math, Reading, Science/Environment, Technology, All Other

Recipients: Public School, Private/Charter School

Proposal Deadline: 9/30/10

Average Amount: $100.00 - $500.00

Telephone: 877-296-1231

Email: info@kidsinneed.net

Website: http://www.kidsinneed.net/grants/index.php

Availability: All States

New Grant Opportunity for Field Trips!

Grant Name: Field Trip Grants

Funded by: Target

Description: Good news—registration’s open for the Target Field Trip Grants program. We’ll be awarding 5,000 grants of $700 each to schools for the upcoming school year. Teachers can use a grant to fund a school field trip that connects their curriculum to out-of-school experiences. It’s a great way to engage and inspire students. You can apply any time before September 30, 2010. Best of luck and happy learning.

Program Areas: General Education, Math, Reading, Science/Environment, Social Studies

Recipients: Public Schools, Private/Charter Schools

Proposal Deadline: 9/30/2010

Average Amount: $700.00

Website: http://sites.target.com/site/en/company/page.jsp?contentId=WCMP04-031880

Availability: All States

Monday, August 16, 2010

It’s Grant-Writing Time

It’s always a good time to apply for grants for your school. Several grants are always available regardless of the time of the year. If I were picking out the very best time to write grants, however, it would be at the beginning of the school year. Here are several reasons why:

1) You have all the data from last school year to determine what problems you had and what needs to be corrected. Why run the same programs and get the same poor results this year? If your math program fell further behind, if your reading levels were not up to par, if your minority students did not perform as well as your other students---all of these are reasons to change your programs and apply for grant money to fund them. You know if you have these problems by scanning last year's data. Use that data to get the grant money you need.

2) More grants are available this time of year than any other. Fall is when a majority of state and federal grants are announced. You should be scouring the Discount School Supply grant database to see what grants are newly available at least on a weekly basis.

Yes, it's true, many, many grants are available throughout the year as I said above, but it is also true that more grants are available in August, September, and October than at any other time of the year. Apply for several of these grants. You increase your chances of getting grant money by applying for multiple grants.

3) The beginning of school is usually hectic, but get past the first week or two, and blocking out time to write a grant or two will be easier now than later when things begin to pile up. Write grants before school starts or after things have settled down a little – after the first couple of weeks.

4) You can apply for grant money for the remainder of the fall semester, the spring semester, or even for next summer. You will never have as much flexibility as you do in the fall to apply for money, and, yes, there's still time to get money for the fall semester.

I've listed 4 solid reasons that NOW is the time to write grants for your school. Start by spending some time in the Discount School Supply grant database. Find the grants that match your problem areas and write several grants early in the fall semester. There is simply no better time to go after grant money for your school.

Check it Out: NEW Grant Opportunity!

Grant Name: Ezra Jack Keats Minigrant Program

Funded by: Ezra Jack Keats Foundation

Description: The grants support programs that encourage literacy and creativity in children and may be used for activities such as: bringing in guest authors, illustrators, or storytellers; puppet making, book making, or other projects; book writing contests, etc. The application is online and must be printed and mailed to the address listed below.

Program Areas: Arts, Library, Reading, All Other

Recipients: Public Schools

Proposal Deadline: 9/15/2010

Average Amount: $500.00

Address: Ezra Jack Keats Minigrant Program, 450 14th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215

Website: http://www.ezra-jack-keats.org/

Availability: All States

Check it Out: NEW Grant Opportunity!

Grant Name: Grants for Technology Improvements in Rural Schools

Funded by: Rural Telephone Finance Cooperative (RTFC)

Description: As the role of technology in classrooms grows, it becomes a powerful tool to improve both teaching and learning. Many schools are incorporating new, innovative technology in an effort to help motivate and inspire their students. Their goals include bringing modern computers to every classroom, connecting every classroom to the information superhighway, and making sure that effective and engaging software and online resources will be an integral part of every school curriculum. Many public schools in rural areas lack the resources to obtain new technologies and cannot meet those goals. The Foundation for Rural Education and Development (FRED) in cooperation with the Rural Telephone Finance Cooperative (RTFC) created the Technology Grants for Rural Schools program to help meet the growing need for innovative technology in the classroom. This grant program provides funding for projects that advance technology and foster cooperation among the telco, school, and community. Technol ogy Grants are available to public schools that are working in cooperation with their telcos to enhance learning by increasing the use of technology in the classroom. This includes adding new programs and curriculum for technology education and purchasing new equipment.

Program Areas: Technology

Recipients: Public School

Proposal Deadline: 9/17/10

Average Amount: $1,000.00 - $10,000.00

Telephone: 202-659-5990

Email: fred@opastco.org

Website: http://www.fred.org/tech.html

Availability: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Georgia Hawaii Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Wisconsin Wyoming