Grants News Bulletin
Cumberland County Schools Grants and Funding Newsletter
July Newsletter
Your feedback on the newsletter, suggestions for future issues, and contributions are welcome! Contact Jennifer Lloyd at jenniferlloyd@ccs.k12.nc.us or 910-678-2797 with your comments and ideas.
Volume 1 Issue 4 July 2018
Social Media and Grants Go Together like...
Social media tools, including Google Tools, Twitter and Facebook, are a dynamic means of locating, applying for, and tracking grant funding. This article outlines specific methods that your school can follow to grow its funding base. You can use social media tools to locate, manage, update, track, announce, and implement grant funding. Acquiring funding is a relational process. You are communicating your school's story and making connections with grantors who share your values. Leverage your social media tools to improve your chances of engaging these donors.
Locating Grant Sources
The first step in receiving grant funding is to locate potential opportunities. Start with a Google search of applicable foundations. View their grant requirements and sign up for email notifications of new funding cycles. Create a Google Alert. Google Alerts let you set up specific keywords to notify you through email when a particular keyword pops up on a website or in the news. This allows you to track new notices of funding sources. You can, for example, visit the website of a foundation that traditionally posts information about its upcoming grant schedule and set up an alert to receive information about that site as soon as it has been updated. You can also use Google Alerts to track press releases and news releases so that you are made aware of funding opportunities as soon as they are available. This places your school in a more competitive position, because you are receiving information in a timely way and are able to respond to grant opportunities with enough notice and time to formulate a compelling grant application.
Use Twitter. Twitter is primarily a news and link sharing service. Search Twitter for funding opportunities. There are several tools that now allow you to set up an alert for Twitter to notify you when certain keywords are "tweeted." These tools included tweetbeep, twilert and tweetalarm. Many foundations and grantors are posting links to new grants and funding availability through their Twitter account. Setting up a Twitter notification allows you to discover grant sources that you might not have found otherwise.
Managing the Grant Writing Process
Writing grants can now become a more social experience. Your school can benefit from the collaborative tools now available for free to school leaders and classroom teachers. Use social media tools to support classroom teachers in the grant writing process. Email a link to an online survey form to request specific information from your teachers for DonorsChoose.org, the Target foundation, the Best Buy Children's Foundation and other organizations. Many of these foundations have small classroom implementation grants of a few thousand dollars. By creating a form with a specific deadline and notification settings, you can encourage your classroom teachers to fill them out and apply for these grants. Further, you can use Google Docs to allow a committee to edit the application instead of relying solely on one person to write and submit it. By subdividing the work across a number of faculty members and establishing tracking protocols and responsibilities, you can benefit from more efficiently managing the grant-writing process and repurposing grant content for future applications. The more you use collaborative tools in the writing process, the more likely you are to receive funding, as more teachers will be encouraged to apply for grants because of the lessened workload afforded by such tools.
Updating Your School Website
One of the key elements to receiving grant funding is positioning your school through your school website and social media presence in a way that helps make your school fundable. After you have spoken with potential grantors, your website is the first place they check to establish the credibility of your school. Many grantors will never even visit your school, so your website is their primary way of gathering information about it. If your website is outdated, you may be missing out on opportunities for funding. Remember, there are always more people requesting funding than the amount of funding available. Therefore, grant committees are constantly looking for a reason to turn down an applicant school. Your website should not be the reason you are being rejected for grant funding.
Tracking Grant Application Deadlines
Employing collaborative tools to track grant applications can be an effective use of social media. The challenge for school leaders is that they're too easily caught up in the day-to-day operations of the school, neglecting the big picture -- including the need to fund programs for their school's future success. Establishing a clear tracking system through Google Calendar will help ensure that more grants are applied for. Create a grant application calendar, setting three dates:
- The date of the initial grant committee meeting
- The deadline for the final application review by an administrator
- The deadline for submitting the grant
Establishing these dates on a calendar will help ensure that they are not neglected. Often, successfully receiving grant funding is simply a numbers game. Applying for three grants puts you in a different position than applying for a hundred grants. If you receive even ten percent of the grants you apply for, applying for a hundred puts you in a much better position than simply applying for three grants. In your shared grant application calendar, you might also include dates for following up a few days, two weeks, and a month after submitting the application. Being notified of when to follow up will help place your school in a better position to receive funding.
Announcing Grant Awards
Once your school receives grant funding, use social media to celebrate and share your success. The leverage provided by receiving grant funding will help your school stand out from the competition, allowing you to capitalize on other grant opportunities and community goodwill. Often, when a school receives grant funding, it has no strategic way to share that information with the community. Now you can share this news on your school website, on your Facebook page, on Twitter and in this e-newsletter. You can even make a YouTube video to show how your school will be using the funding to help students. It is up to you to share your story of grant funding.
Thanking this foundation through your social media pages will help establish further goodwill and set your school up for a good relationship for future foundation giving. Mentioning foundations through your social media pages before applying for these gifts can also help set your school apart in the application process. When a grant committee knows that they will be receiving an application from your school, they begin to look forward to that application and psychologically set your school apart from the rest of the crowd of schools seeking funding.
Implementing Grant Programs
Consider how you might use social media tools to track the implementation of the grant funding. Many foundations offer annual funding and appreciate your tracking how the funds have been used throughout the year. Doing this efficiently is an appropriate practice that helps put your school in a better position for receiving funds in the future. Use Google Calendar to create a shared calendar, or use online project management software, such as Do.com (which is integrated with Google Apps), to help your school better track the implementation of grant funds. When you have an efficient structure for reporting to the giving foundation, you continue to build trust, and the grantor will see you as a reliable and accountable partner in the venture about which it is passionate. Providing these data in an efficient and effective way can help better position your school to receive funding in subsequent years.
Grant Funding with Social Media
By Dr. Brian J. Dixon
Dixon, B. (2012, October 31). Grant Funding with Social Media. Retrieved July 11, 2018, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/grant-funding-with-social-media-brian-dixon
click image below for a guide to social media & donorschoose.org
click image below to watch video
click image below for application
Upcoming Grant Workshops
Developing a School Grants Team Workshop
Location: ERC Lab 1
Date: July 23, 2018
Time: 2:00 pm- 4:00 pm
Participants will learn strategies to develop a school grants team.
Target audience: principals, department leaders and school grants contact persons.
Write a Winning Grant Proposal Workshop
Location: ERC Lab 1
Dates July 26, 2018
Time: 10:00 am -12:00 pm
Participants will learn strategies to write a quality and competitive grant proposal. Templates and resources will be provided to get participants started on developing their own project proposals.
Donors Choose Support Session
Location: ERC Lab 1
Date: July 26, 2018
Time: 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
DC Ambassadors will provide an overview of the Donors Choose program, the success they have had with funding projects in their schools, step by step to write a project, Q and A session.
You do not need to register for these workshops. Simply plan to attend!
If you have any questions concerning these workshops please contact
Jennifer Lloyd at 910-678-2797 or jenniferlloyd@ccs.k12.nc.us
Upcoming Grants & Deadlines
Funding opportunities for schools and educators
Sponsor: Teaching Tolerance
Award: Awards range from $500 to $5,000 for classroom or school projects
Number of Awards: Not specified
Application Deadline: on a rolling basis until August 31, 2018
TT will fund projects that encourage students to learn about and engage in the democratic process, including non-partisan voter registration, information
and turnout efforts. If you have an idea for a project that will help students become empowered current or future voters or voting advocates in their communities, they'd love to fund it.
Wal-Mart Foundation Community Grant Program
Sponsor: Wal-Mart Foundation
Award: Awards range from $250 to $5,000 for classroom or school projects
Number of Awards: Not specified
Application Deadline: on a rolling basis until Dec. 31, 2018
There are 8 areas of funding for which an organization can apply. Please review the areas listed below to ensure your organization’s goals fall within one of these areas.
- Hunger relief and healthy eating: Providing Federal or charitable meals/snacks for low income individuals and families in the United States
- Health and human service: Providing medical screening, treatment, social services, or shelters for low income individuals and families in the United States
- Quality of life: Improving access to recreation, arts or cultural experiences for low income individuals and families in the United States
- Education: Providing afterschool enrichment, tutoring or vocational training for low income individuals and families in the United States
- Community and economic development: Improving local communities for the benefit of low income individuals and families in the United States
- Diversity and Inclusion: Fostering the building of relationships and understand among diverse groups in the United States
- Public Safety: Supporting public safety programs through training programs or equipment in the United States
- Environmental sustainability: Preventing waste, increasing recycling or supporting other programs that work to improve the environment in the United States.
NC Aquariums Teacher Mini-Grants
Aquarium Scholars is a new partnership between the NC Aquariums, NC public schools and the nonprofit NC Aquarium Society, through which private donors help fund access to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math)-based Aquarium education programs for underserved students across the state. These grants are only available for Title 1 teachers. Aquarium Scholars grant applicants can choose one of the following:
- Funding for an Aquarium visit (bus, fuel, fees, etc.).
- Funding for an educational program during your Aquarium visit and any related program fees.
- Funding for an Aquarium outreach program to bring Aquarium programs to your school.
- Funding for a distance learning program (live online programs with Aquarium staff and animals) for your class.
If you are interested in applying for the Aquarium Scholars Program, please read the following information carefully and fill out the online application.
North Carolina Electric Cooperatives are now accepting applications for Bright Ideas grants for the 2018-2019 school year . Grants amounts vary from electrical cooperative and are for K-12 teachers . Grants are available for all subjects . Teachers can also apply individually or as a team . To apply the educators must include :
- A budget
- Explanation of creative elements
- Implementation of the project
- Goals and Evaluation for the project
Please note from the Bright Ideas Website, “Because there are 26 electric cooperatives throughout North Carolina, there are some differences in how each cooperative administers its program (including varying grant amounts). Please contact your sponsoring cooperative for more information.” [Sponsoring cooperative information is on the Bright Ideas website ] For more information see www.NCBrightIdeas.com
Throughout the year, National PTA offers awards or grants to honor or support PTAs as they: engage families, support student success, improve the health and safety of students and families, increase access to arts education or celebrate advocacy and diversity.
American Honda Foundation STEM Grants
Sponsor: American Honda Foundation
Award: $20,000 to $75,000
Number of Awards: Not specified
Application Deadline: Feb. 1 and Aug. 1 for new organizations; May 1 for returning organizations
Project Learning Tree GreenWorks Grants
Sponsor: Project Learning Tree
Award: $1,000 per organization
Number of Awards: Not specified
Application Deadline: Sept. 30
SparkFun Community Partner Program
Sponsor: SparkFun
Award: STEM/STEAM-related prize packages, event and team sponsorships and other types of support
Number of Awards: Varies
Application Deadline: Ongoing: third Thursday of each month; awards announced on the last business day of each month
Career Awards for Science and Mathematics Teachers
Sponsor: Burroughs Wellcome Fund
Award: $175,000 over 5 years
Number of Awards: 6 awards
Application Deadline: September 24. 2018
The Career Award for Science and Mathematics Teachers provides $175,000 over five-years to outstanding science and/or mathematics teachers in the North Carolina public primary and secondary schools. The purpose of this award is to recognize teachers who have demonstrated solid knowledge of science and/or mathematics content and have outstanding performance records in educating children. This five-year award presents opportunities for professional development and collaboration with other master science and/or mathematics teachers who will help to ensure their success as teachers and their satisfaction with the field of teaching. Special consideration will be given to teachers working in hard-to-staff, economically deprived classrooms in North Carolina.
Naiku Innovative Teacher Grant
Deadline: Ongoing (approx. 10 awards per month)
Deadline: Ongoing (grants awarded on a rolling basis)
TAF Project-Based Learning Grants for Grades 6–12
Sponsor: Toshiba America Foundation
Award: Two categories: Up to $5,000 and more than $5,000
Number of Awards: Not specified
Application Deadline: Up to $5,000 awarded on a rolling basis; Feb. 1 deadline for applications for more than $5,000
@ccsgrants2
Connecting the Cumberland County Schools grant
community to learn of current grant opportunities
Your source to find important information of
future grant opportunities and grants that
have been awarded to CCS!