What Grants are Available????

When looking at all the technology available, a teacher begins to wonder how she is going to be able to get it and use it with their students. After looking at several different organizations that offer grants and other donations to educators, here are three that I felt would benefit me and my students.

Olathe Public Schools Foundation - The Foundation helps the staff and students in the Olathe Public Schools in various ways. One way is by honoring two teachers each month through the Educator Excellence Program. The teachers are presented a check for $500 to be used in any way the teacher sees necessary for the classroom. The winners are picked based on nominations made by parents and students. Another way the foundation supports educators is through grant programs. Through these grant programs, the foundation will award teachers up to $1,000 for innovative classroom projects and up to $5,000 for projects impacting multiple classrooms, grades, or schools. During the 2010-2011 school year, the foundation awarded more than $70,000 in grants but received applications for over $160,000. To receive a grant, the teacher must submit a proposal and then be selected. The proposal should include the following areas: Innovation; Demonstrated Need; Educational Outcomes; and Student Success. This would be a great place for me to start when thinking about receiving donations for my classroom.

Adopt-A-Classroom - This is a non-profit organization based out of Florida that was started by a man who worked as a mentor to a boy in a special needs classroom. He was amazed at the lack of resources the teacher had for these students. He started Adopt-A-Classroom as a way for teachers to get money donated to purchase the things they need without having to spend their own money. Teachers can register their classroom and then donors can donate to their classroom through the organization’s website. Teachers are asked to give a description of the students they serve as well as what they would purchase with the donations. Once donors have donated to the classroom, the teacher is able to shop online through a variety of organizations that have partnered with Adopt-A-Classroom. If the teacher cannot find what they want to purchase for their classroom through the vendors already working with Adopt-A-Classroom, then Adopt-A-Classroom will work one-on-one with the teacher. This program sounds very beneficial as a way to get donations for your classroom. The donors can be anyone who wants to donate to a classroom. Donors can search by school name, location, teacher’s name, and many other ways. Teachers can also put a link to the website on their class website or in the monthly newsletter. This way, parents can donate as frequently as they wish. This is an organization I will be looking into as another resource through which to receive donations. This would be an easy location for people to go to donate money as well as receive a tax deductible donation letter that would benefit them at tax time. People across the world would be able to donate as long as they had internet access so it would not be limited to people in the Kansas City area.

Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators - This is a great resource for teachers who are looking for help in writing grants as well as finding grants that are available. Kathy has provided educators with a list of Federal programs, projects, services, and activities that provide assistance to the public as well as information on doing fundraisers. Many teachers have worked with the teachers on their grade level team to develop fundraisers to fund field trips as well as to purchase supplies for experiments or the classroom in general. It is always a good idea to have new ideas for fundraisers so people do not get bored with what you sell and they are more likely to purchase again and again if there are different items. A person will only buy so many tubs of cookie dough before they begin to say “No”. Varied fundraisers will attract different groups of people which may increase the profit from the sales. The grant writing tips found on Kathy’s website are very helpful. I have never written a grant before but after reading the tips she has provided, I think it is something I may be able to do.

There are many resources available to teachers who are looking for ways to fund new technology to use in their classroom. Many grant applications are free but there are some with a processing fee. It is important for the teacher to research the different programs and find ones that would be the best for them. Starting with the school district’s foundation is great because they want to support the students and staff in their school district. Grants may take awhile to write and process, but when you are awarded the money, it is well worth it. The look on your students’ faces when they get to use new technology is priceless!