Grants For Schools

Are You Looking for Grants?

You’ve got great project ideas, but you need funding!

As great teachers who work resolutely to provide the best education for our students, we’re really busy. A mammoth hurdle to procuring grant funding is finding the time to research and prepare the applications. Here we provide some ideas to help with the research phase.

Grants of a General Nature

This site is a centralized location where you can find and apply for federal funding opportunities. Managed by the US Department of Health and Human Services, the system stores information on over 1,000 grant programs, and evaluates grant applications for 26 federal grant-making agencies. Browse categories and use keywords to search.

STEM Supplies has a useful “STEM Funding Finder” where you can search for opportunities to obtain funds, by state.

Have a creative hands-on STEM project? $3000 to three elementary, middle or high schools. The deadline is November 14, 2014.

Grants, of a minimum of $50,000 per year, are provided to support the development and implementation of programs. The Foundation will provide funds for the purchase of equipment related to programs activities (i.e., computers, activity trunks, laboratory equipment, water and air monitoring apparatus, etc.) as long as the cost of the equipment does not exceed 30 percent of the total grant application.

Targeting grades K-5 Project Based Learning in math or science instruction with measurable outcomes. $1000 grants are available with applications due Oct 1st each year.

Targeting grades 6-12 Project Based Learning in math or science. Applications for less than $5000 are accepted year round, if greater than $5000 there are deadlines of Feb 1st and Aug 1st of each year.

These guys sell STEM education kits-which we are not endorsing-but they also have an extensive list of STEM education grant opportunities. On the main page, click the STEM & Beyond tab. Scroll down to the bottom of the list. You will find Free STEM Resources and STEM Grants.

Public K-12 schools, among others, are encouraged to apply; no private schools. One of their strategic focus areas is STEM education. Applications are accepted year-round. Apply online.

Search for grants and other educator resources.

A collection of over 2,000 grants and opportunities from federal, state, regional and community sources available to public and private, preK–12 schools, districts and educators. Updated and monitored daily, you can search by six criteria, including areas of focus, content areas and 21st century themes and skills that support your curriculum. You can save information if you register. Sponsored by CDW, a provider of integrated information technology solutions in the US and Canada.

You ask, the donors choose. This online charity provides teachers an opportunity to request funds for classroom projects. Donors give any amount to projects of their choice. When a project reaches its funding goal, DonorsChoose ships the materials to the school. The donors receive photos of the project in action, a letter from you and your students, and accounting of how all monies were spent.
Here is interesting reading if you are interested in the above funding source.

$500 for Professional Development or Classroom Materials. Can be used for a variety of projects and materials, including books, software, calculators, math manipulative, art supplies, audio-visual equipment, and lab materials. Funds must be used within one year of the application deadlines, October 1st and March 1st.

Each fall, a funding cycle with specified award categories opens. Preference is to requests in areas where their operations are located.

Located near DeKalb? 3M is looking to support primary and secondary student achievement in STEM but you must be located near their facility.

This group maintains a listing of K12 STEM grants, and check out their home page for Funding News, as well as STEM Resources and Tools. Looks like you can pay them to help you obtain grants, but we have no experience with them and cannot endorse them, in any case.

A multitude of grants for individuals and teams of educators to support instruction , purchase of supplies, professional development, and bringing trainers to school. The applicant must be a member of NEA. Applications are reviewed at different times of the year for the various grants. NEA provide s a guide for writing proposals, and a list of other grantors is provided at this site.

Grants to Support Technology Purchases

This program allows schools and educational nonprofit organizations to view and select the computer equipment that federal agencies have reported as excess.

Grants specifically for probeware.

The International Society for Technology in Education, go to their site and search “grants” for changing information.

Apply for specific grants listed on their website, and browse for others. There are also Lesson Plans and opportunities to fundraise.

Best Buy recognizes the need for our youth to be tech-savvy and develop 21st-century skills. They offer grants and also exciting programming for kids.