Grants for Great Ideas

Grants to Midland, Texas public school teachers for innovative projects to enhance classroom education. Preference will be given to projects that directly involve students. Funding could also be requested for field trips and equipment purchase. Grant guidelines are as follows:

1) Projects should directly involve students as fully as possible. A film developed for classroom use, for instance, should ideally be written and produced by students.

2) Grants may be used to compensate experts or resource speakers who work with students, but cannot be used to pay teachers or staff.

3) Funds may be used to purchase equipment or to provide field trip transportation, but not when these are ends in themselves. Equipment and trips should be just one component of a well- planned program/project integrated with other curriculum materials and activities.

4) Proposals that incorporate matching funds or community resources will be considered favorably. (Students or PTA's might raise matching funds, for example. Community organizations could donate needed equipment, services or free admission to events.) Outside contributions generally indicate a commitment to the project and they enhance the effectiveness of the small grant award.

5) Projects should encourage interdisciplinary or team teaching, or those that involve various age groups. These often have greater impact than single-classroom efforts, fill unmet needs in the regular curriculum and encourage more grant applications in the future.

6) Review each proposal on its own merits, leaving maximum flexibility for review committee decisions. While general guidelines can be helpful, the committee will need to accommodate notable exceptions, as well as growth and change in the review committee's perceptions of the program. Projects not appropriate in a one-time context may be ideal in another. Concern for consistency should not rule out the funding of a quality proposal.

7) Variety in the proposals funded by the Foundation is acceptable, but remember - different projects, even if similar, will affect different groups of students. It is not unusual to see definite trends in applications during various grant periods. If, for example, the most imaginative proposals all happen to center on nutrition, you might consider the possibility of funding them.

8) The ability to communicate on an application form is not always a measure of a teacher's ability to communicate with students. The foundation director will clarify any project ideas that are poorly written. The committee does not want to constrain teachers with unnecessary requirements, such as making duplicate copies, etc. A minimum of bureaucracy encourages teachers to apply.

9) If the committee does not receive a sufficient number of strong proposals during a given grant period, they will not feel obligated to fund less promising projects. The committee can always extend the deadline for accepting new applications, or retaining the funds for future awards.