K12 Grant Alert
Funding, Competitions and Award Opportunities for Educators 1/16/2018

Grant Spotlight


  • Proposals Sought for $500,000 to $4 Million Gates Foundation Grants

    Proposals Sought for $500,000 to $4 Million Gates Foundation Grants 

    The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is requesting proposals for networks of school improvement (NSIs).

    NSIs are, according to the foundation's glossary for the project, groups of schools serving students in grades 6-12 that work on their own and together with an intermediary to implement a continuous improvement process that aims to improve outcomes for black, Latino and low-income students.

    The organization said in a release that it will be requesting additional proposals to lead NSIs in the coming years, but the current one is specifically for intermediaries, which will receive funding directly.

    An intermediary, according to the organization, is "a central, coordinating entity that brings together multiple school leadership teams to tackle common problems and work toward common aims. Intermediaries serve several functions, including: (a) supporting individual school teams to use continuous improvement to improve student outcomes; (b) networking school teams with one another to innovate, improve and build capacity; (c) sharing and codifying lessons learned within and across the network; and (d) bringing together key stakeholders who can support and accelerate a network’s success, including external experts."

    A range of organizations may qualify as intermediaries, including nonprofit school improvement organizations, charter management organizations, higher education institutions and school districts, for example.

    Two types of grants will be awarded through the program.

    Type 1 grants will be for three to five years and will vary in amount according to the number of schools in the network. The organiation offered a preliminary estimate, subject to later change, of $1 million to $4 million per year for this type of grant, assuming an average network size of 20 to 40 schools. Only three of these grants are likely to be available in 2018, though the number will increase yearly for the next three years, according to information released by the fooundation.

    "Type 2 grants," according to information released by the organiation, "are reserved for intermediaries that have demonstrated experience in some, but not all, of the following areas: continuous improvement methods; data collection and analysis; network facilitation; school-level leadership development; improving outcomes for Black, Latino and low-income students; and knowledge management."

    These grants are intended to build capacity for the intermediaries receiving them, and are therefore smaller in both the amount of the award and the time of the grant. These awards will be on the order of $500,000 for an entire 12- to 24-month grant period, with the actual amount determined by the needs of each individual project. More of these smaller grants will be available, according to the foundation, with as many as 10 to 15 intermediaries being awarded in 2018.

    The NSI initiative is designed to help schools launch innovative change themselves, rather than having it imposed from the outside, according to an October speech by Bill Gates.

    "We believe this kind of approach — where groups of schools have the flexibility to propose the set of approaches they want — will lead to more impactful and durable systemic change that is attractive enough to be widely adopted by other schools," Gates said at the time.

    For more information, visit k12education.gatesfoundation.org.

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Grant & Funding News


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    Upcoming K–12 Grants

    • NEA Foundation Learning & Leadership Grants

      Sponsor: National Education Association Foundation
      Award: $2,000 or $5,000
      Number of Awards: Not specified
      Application Deadline: Feb. 1, June 1 and Oct. 15 of each year
    • NEA Foundation Student Achievement Grants

      Sponsor: National Education Association Foundation
      Award: $2,000 or $5,000
      Number of Awards: Not specified
      Application Deadline: Feb. 1, June 1 and Oct. 15 of each year
    • 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
    • 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
    • Innovative Practices in K–12 Education

      Sponsor: Braitmayer Foundation
      Award: Two categories: Up to $35,000
      Number of Awards: Not specified
      Application Deadline: March 15
    • America's Farmers Grow Rural Education

      Sponsor: Monsanto
      Award: Up to $25,000
      Number of Awards: Varies ($2.3 million available)
      Application Deadline: Nominations due April 2; grant proposals due April 15
    • ACS-Hach High School Chemistry Classroom Grant

      Sponsor: American Chemical Society
      Award: Up to $1,500
      Number of Awards: Not specified
      Application Deadline: April 14 (grant opens Feb. 1)
    • Academic Enrichment Grants

      Sponsor: McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation
      Award: $30,000 maximum ($10,000 over three years)
      Number of Awards: Not specified (five awarded last year)
      Application Deadline: April 15 (submissions open Jan. 15)
    • Teacher Development Grants

      Sponsor: McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation
      Award: $30,000 maximum ($10,000 over three years)
      Number of Awards: Not specified (two awarded last year)
      Application Deadline: April 15 (submissions open Jan. 15)
    • Young Scientist Challenge

      Sponsor: Discovery Education and 3M
      Award: $25,000 grand prize; other prizes vary
      Number of Awards: 71 (61 for students, 10 for educators)
      Application Deadline: April 19
    • Siemens STEM Day

      Sponsor: Discovery Education and Siemens
      Award: $10,000
      Number of Awards: 1
      Application Deadline: April 27
    • ESA Foundation STEM Grant

      Sponsor: Entertainment Software Association Foundation
      Award: Not specified, but suggested upper limit for first-time applicants is $50,000
      Number of Awards: Not specified
      Application Deadline: Letters of inquiry due May 15 (submission period opens April 14)
    • 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
    • Adopt a Classroom

      Deadline: Ongoing
    • Brinker International Grants

      Deadline: Ongoing
    • Brown Rudnick Community Grants

      Deadline: Ongoing
    • Corning Foundation Grants

      Deadline: Ongoing
    • DonorsChoose.org

      Deadline: Ongoing
    • Michael & Susan Dell Foundation Grants


      Deadline: Ongoing
      Award: No more than 10 percent of an organization's annual operating expenses or 25 percent of the total budget for the project being funded; awards have ranged from the hundreds to the millions of dollars.
      Number of Awards: Varies
      Qualification: Project should "directly serve or impact children living in urban poverty, particularly in the areas of education, family economic stability (including microfinance) and childhood health."
    • Naiku Innovative Teacher Grant

      Deadline: Ongoing (approx. 10 awards per month)
    • Sony Grants for Education

      Deadline: Ongoing (grants awarded on a rolling basis)

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