Grants & Funding

Looking for sources of grants and funding? This page of resources will certainly get you started.

A few tips are included below as well. Want to suggest a site? Send a DM on Twitter to @mguhlin

Grant Sites & Resources

  1. Makerspaces
    1. DonorsChoose Tips
  2. Voxercasts: Collaborative Grant Writing: This was an enlightening session regarding crowdfunding (e.g. DonorsChoose) with Brandi (@aesfinearts) and Mandy Bryan (@mandyrbryan) and collaborative grant writing tools. It resulted in two parts.
  3. Audio: Grants That Are Easily Available to Teachers
  4. 5 Grants to Make a Difference at Your School
  5. Edutopia's Grants and Resources

"Websites like DonorsChoose, AdoptaClassroom, and DigitalWish all provide teachers the opportunity to ask the world for specific supplies, including technology, for their students. People make donations to the classroom, with all of the money being managed by the hosting site. When the need is fully funded, the organization either purchases what was requested by the teacher or works with him/her to purchase it."

(Source: Dr. Bruce Ellis, TCEA TechNotes Blog)

Other Sources of Funding & Grants

On March 22, 2018, President Trump signed the 2018 Omnibus Appropriations bill which included $1.1 billion for the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants which are outlined in Title IV, part A of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

Congress also included $2.1 billion in Title II, Part A which districts can use for professional development for their teachers, including training on the effective use of technology through TCEA and other providers.

(Source: Jennifer Bergland, TCEA TechNotes Blog)

Tip #1 - Celebrate People and Gather Stories

Every campus has teaching, learning opportunities that need to be documented and tracked. Consider those projects you can build on with grant funds. Take the time to collect work samples from staff and students, audio/video record information. One way is to start a podcast documenting the experiences.

Short video and audio clips work well. Here are some tools to facilitate that:

Tip #2 - Develop a Powerful, Data-Rich Narrative

Tell a compelling story that reflects your demographics, stories, history of success, and assessment/evaluation data.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/z89psvc

Tip #3 - Build a Writing Team

What usually happens with a grant? One person gets saddled with the task. Build a team of grant writers who can offer their insights.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/gpge76f

Tip #4 - Get Your Budget Straight

Develop budget that accounts for everything and is aligned to instructional goals. And, make it modular.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/zlr9s6m

Tip #5 - Define Success in Measurable Terms

Make your success simple to measure, the data easy to gather, and report it via video, audio, and web.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/z6bl3y7