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Chapter 1

Getting Your Share Means Playing an Aggressive Game

GETTING YOUR SHARE OF GRANT MONIES requires winning at the grant game. Why do I call grant seeking a game? Because it is a competitive endeavor requiring skills, strategy, persistence, practice, and the desire to come out on top. Some schools win the grant game, while others lose. The winners take the game seriously, and they take a serious portion of the grants doled out by the U.S. Department of Education and other grant makers. The Department currently (2005) administers a budget of about $63 billion per year and operates programs touching on every area and level of education. The Department’s elementary and secondary programs annually serve approximately 14,000 school districts and nearly 54 million students attending more than 93,000 public schools and 27,000 private schools. Department programs also provide grant, loan, and work-study assistance to more than 9.5 million postsecondary students (U.S. Department of Education Web site: http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/index.html).

In this chapter you will learn where the money comes from: what foundation and corporate grants are and how state and federal governments distribute grants. You will also be given pointers on how to catch up with and join the aggressors in the grant game. If your school needs more money, this book will provide you with valuable information you can use and share with administrators and colleagues.

WHERE DOES THE MONEY COME FROM?

Government Grants

Despite the perception that the federal government is responsible for the bulk of educational spending in America, primary responsibility rests at the state and local levels. In fact, although Congress has increased the president’s budget for education every year except one since the early 1990s, the federal government still contributes only 7% of all spending on education. Why? The bulk of the federal allocations for education are monies that are passed down to State Education Agencies (SEAs) for grantmaking purposes.

This money from Washington, D.C., trickles down to each state education agency (commonly called department of education by the individual states). You can locate the address and contact information for your state agency at the U.S. Department of Education Web site: http://wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/Programs/EROD/. Click on “Organization By Type,” and scroll down to “State Education Agency,” click, and the state agencies are listed in alphabetical order.

Once the money arrives in your state, the state education agency retains a portion for program administration costs and places the rest into an allocation fund. States can make two types of allocations to public school districts and charter schools: formula grants and competitive grants. Formula grants take a big chunk from the allocation fund, and are distributed to schools based on their makeup. Any monies left over in the allocation fund are divided into multiple competitive grant applications aimed at improving preschool programs, technology infrastructure, professional development, and a host of other areas.

Dark clouds are looming for states and localities struggling to provide quality education to children. Stateline.org (www.stateline.org/stateline) recently reported that declining tax revenues, exploding school enrollments, and state budget cuts are combining to put increased state spending on education at risk for everything from new buildings and teacher salary hikes to expanded preschool programs.

The competition for money is stiff and although your school’s need is great, it must compete against every other public school and charter school in your state. Further, even though the federal government is constantly increasing allocations, there will never be enough money trickling down for your state to award one grant in every county or parish. That is why you must be aggressive in the grant game.

Foundation and Corporate Grants

Foundations and corporations also have money to dole out to causes they deem worthy. These private or not-for-profit organizations have a certain amount of funds earmarked for philanthropy. Your school’s area of need could be a perfect match for a corporation’s area of interest, and foundations award billions of dollars annually for education programs.

If your funding needs are less than $10,000, route your request to a corporation. Many corporations set aside a percentage of their annual profits for philanthropic initiatives in the communities where they operate. Look around your town and ask yourself, “Who is conducting business?” Talk to your business manager or comptroller to get a list of school or university vendors. Even in dire financial times, larger companies will have reserves set aside for social responsibility.

If your funding needs are greater than $10,000, then you will need to do your homework to identify small- to medium-sized foundations. These grantmakers are typically nonprofit in nature and will have an IRS 501(c)(3) status. This means they can raise funds through solicitation to individuals and larger foundations as well as regrant funds received to fulfill grant proposal requests that meet their funding interests and guidelines.

CHARACTERISTICS OF GRANT WINNING SCHOOLS

What separates the winning schools from the losing schools in the grant game? Winning schools might have full-time grant writers and supporting staff working hard to look for and write grant applications and proposals; however, they might also send teachers and administrators for grant writing training, and then collect a return on the investment by allocating work time to form grant writing teams. Winning schools subscribe to online funding directories, alerts, and newsletters and check them on a daily basis so they know where there is a grant funding opportunity, when the proposal or application is due, and the average amount of the grant award. Winning schools identify needs and seek external funding support to implement research-driven solutions. In other words, grant winning schools work aggressively to keep on top of the grant game, and they continually apply for foundation, corporate, state, and federal grant opportunities.

Is your school a winner at the grant game? If you feel your school is unsuccessful, then it is time for you to learn the grant seeking and grant writing process. Say to yourself, “Enough of this wishful thinking. I’ll write the grant applications for the computers, supplies, electronic white boards, and other things that my classroom and school need.”

LESSONS LEARNED

Years ago, I lived in a small midwestern town that at one time had been an economically thriving community with 58 schools and widespread district administrative offices. The district had been the recipient of the nation’s first foundation grant for after-school enrichment programs. The administration had been so confident that the fiscal security and future growth of the district was cast in stone that they retired their grant writer.

Several years passed and the town’s largest employer closed three of its major facilities. Among the workers laid off indefinitely were the parents of school-age children. Families lost their homes and were forced to move elsewhere to seek minimum-wage or service-level employment openings. As the community population and economy diminished, the school corporation lost much of its funding. In panic, the school administrators finally appealed to local foundations and other private sources for major financial assistance. But it was too late; nothing could save the school district from the serious dilemma it faced. Today, 30 schools have been closed. The teachers that remain are counting the days until retirement, and administrators are hoping to stockpile paychecks before they are laid off.

The lesson I learned from observing this situation is that schools that always operate in crisis management style—acting on the moment and failing to look out for tomorrow—do not win. I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to start the ball rolling when it comes to locating grant funding opportunities. Get your administrators to allocate work time to form a team and go after these highly sought after monies. Important action steps for getting started appear below.

ACTION STEPS

Form the team. Search out other teachers and parent/community volunteers who have an interest in grant writing. Form a small building-level team of 10 or fewer volunteers.

Train the team. Get administration approval and support for team members to attend grant writing training workshops. Some presenters, including this author, deliver customized grant writing workshops for teachers and administrators throughout North America. Many online education vendors such as Education To Go (www.educationtogo.com) offer basic and advanced grant writing classes. I recommend the following courses for educators: A to Z Grantwriting, Get Grants!, Writing Effective Grant Proposals, and Advanced Proposal Writing (taught by Bev Browning).

Feed the team grant funding information. Do a quick survey of all teachers in your building to find out who subscribes to a funding alert. Ask those who receive alerts—free and subscription-based—to forward and share them with others. Also, consider subscribing to free alerts for yourself. (See page 96, Waiting for the E-Mail Alert.)