Database of grants helps schools




As California education budgets continue to suffer due to the poor state economy, one teacher has found a way to help her school district.

Victoria Willig, a special education teacher at A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas, spent a portion of her summer vacation developing a database of grant opportunities for Las Virgenes Unified School District.

Grants offered by foundations, agencies or corporations can provide money for programs for a classroom, a school or the entire district.

In July, Willig formed a team of 15 teachers and other district employees to research groups that offer various educational grants. Of the 1,000-plus potential benefactors identified by Willig and her team, 111 foundations made it into the database.

“It was fascinating,” Willig said of the process of drilling down into the world of grants, sponsorships and partnerships. “A lot of this stuff just takes time to find,” Willig said.

She said thousands of foundations, government agencies and businesses offer grant opportunities ranging from $500 to more than $5,000. Embedded within all grants are specific requirements and restrictions that limit the applicant pool. The database gives Las Virgenes teachers, administrators and parent-faculty club members a leg up on the sometimes unwieldy, time-consuming and complicated search for grant money.

Some grants are restricted to schools within a certain geographic area, while others are specific to programs that promote a product or brand, Willig said. Government grants generally offer more lucrative monetary awards, but such opportunities usually require an unrealistic amount of work by teams of teachers and administrators for a slim chance at winning the grant.

Federal grants sometimes require a trip to Washington, D.C., and spending limited school funds on a chance at winning is too much of a gamble, according to Willig. Instead of listing government grants on the database, Willig posted smaller grants that were not as labor intensive and that accepted online applications.

Willig hopes that teachers at each school in the district will update the database as needed.

She said foundations, corporations and other groups differ in their approach to providing educational grants to schools. Corporations may prefer to forge a community partnership with schools, sponsoring an activity or a building “to get their name out there.”

Target, a national store chain, funds field trips and allows customers to designate a specific school on credit card applications. A percentage of each sale made on the credit card is given to the school.

Many companies offer scrip, vouchers that can be used as money at specified businesses. When parents purchase scrip at their school for grocery and department stores, restaurants and bookstores, a percentage of the sales go into the school coffers.

Willig said that there are many grants available for art, music and theater programs. Environmental and science grants are also available from many organizations. Las Virgenes Municipal Water District offers science, environmental and outdoor education programs, and donates funds and books to local schools.

“Every little bit helps,” Willig said of money garnered from grants and parent participation in the grant-writing process. “The hope is that parents, teachers and district staff will work together. There are a lot of parents in the district who are talented writers.”


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