Offer Grants for Schools or Teachers

Goals for Your Grant

• Make long-term objectives consistent from year to year. Ask local educators, science department chairpersons and your own membership for suggestions on the best approach for your program.
• Establish the criteria for awarding the grant. You may consider having classroom poster or Power Point contests, or have teachers compete in a lesson plan competition.
• Develop a budget and determine how much funding you can offer. Don’t overlook incidental costs such as printing and mailing application forms, contacting schools and teachers and various other committee expenses.
• Make a plan for how you would like the funding dispersed (i.e., a large grant to a single recipient or smaller grants to multiple recipients).
• Create a timetable that shows when the applications will be dispersed, the deadline to submit the grant request and dates for when the grants will be presented and funded.
• Determine a list of candidates you would like to apply for the grant.
• Develop a thorough application form with clear judging criteria.
• Make a plan to advertise the grant.
• Prepare a review process for the applications.

Get the Word Out

• Advertise your grant and provide application forms to the schools in your area. The best approach is to hand-deliver the information to schools so that questions can be answered on the spot.
• Ask local school administrators how you can get in touch with parent-teacher organizations or school clubs to discuss your grant.

Evaluate the Applicants

• Evaluate candidates based on your objectives.
• Be fair, not only to the candidates, but also to the objectives you have set for the overall program. Evaluate each candidate on the basis of his or her potential to meet those objectives.

Present the Grant

• Send a notification letter to the grant winners and invite them to attend an awards ceremony held during a section meeting or at a reception. See sample letter.
• Make a formal presentation of the grant at a section meeting so members see the results of their goodwill and hard work. This will also acquaint the recipient with SPE.
• Send a notice of your selection and a photo of the recipient to newspapers where the section is located, as well as to the winning schools so they can publish information in their communications. Make sure to have Minor Photo Release signed if any students are in the photos.

Fund the Grant

Check with the school administration on their preferred method to receive the payment.  Let us know how your grant program works! We just might feature it to inspire others.