Monthly Archives: July 2015

Current Grant Opportunities – July 2015

  1. Teacher as Researcher Educational Grant from the International Reading Association (IRA)
  2. Health and Nutrition Grants from the Allen Foundation, Inc.
  3. Challenge Educational Grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
  4. The Victor C. Clark Youth Incentive Program from the American Radio Relay League Foundation
  5. Foundation Grants from the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation
  6. Mathematics Course Work Scholarships for Grades PreK-5 Teachers from the Dale Seymour Fund and NCTM
  7. Green Education Program Grants from the Alternative Fuel Foundation
  8. Foundation Grants from the Ryman Hospitality Properties Foundation
  9. Advancing Student Achievement Math Grants from the Actuarial Foundation
  10. Teacher Art Grants from P. Buckley Moss Foundation for Children’s Education

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Social Media Outlets for Grant Success

I’ve written about using social media in your overall school marketing campaign, but it deserves updating. Your school is a brand; you need to develop positive brand awareness among community and governmental grant contacts. You want to be the Band-Aid™ of the school market with a name so recognizable that it stands on its own with dignity and character. This effort will take time, and you need to employ every strategy to make it happen.

I assume your school has a first rate website. Don’t settle for just the node on your district’s main site that has a cookie cutter template for each school in the district. I mean a unique, individual site that establishes your brand beyond the district presence. Create the site with the approval of your school superintendent and district technology personnel. They may not let you “go rogue” and to have your own image. With careful planning and agreements about restricting content to district approved subjects, you should be able to launch a new site.

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Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

I’ve written many articles about private and corporate foundations and the world of good they have been doing for schools in our country. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, though controversial, is one of those sources of funds.

If you watch streaming TV, you’ve seen “Breaking Bad” with Walter White, dying chemistry teacher who becomes a drug manufacturer (long story). You will recall the conundrum he faced when trying to get rid of all the money, bags and barrels of it. Likewise, a company like Microsoft may face some similar challenges.

Bill Gates left his job as head of the company in 2000. That same year he established the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, so he could pursue interests outside the software industry. The Foundation provides grants for many useful projects like eliminating malaria, but they have also defined a role as a change agent in public education.

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