Welcome to the world of grants and grant writing!  The Grants Office is available to help facilitate grant writing throughout the district by providing the following services:

• Help search for funding opportunities - send out a GRANT FLASH!!!
• Provide information on funding patterns and requirements of potential funders
• Share sample grants, budgets and program design outlines
• Coach/teach grant writing to all levels (beginners on up to the very experienced)
• Provide technical review/editing of both DRAFT and FINAL proposals

The first step is to file an Intent to File a Grant form .  See Grant Forms and Procedures below.
 
 

At first glance, a grant seems only positive - new money coming into the District, exciting projects getting done, student learning is enhanced, etc.  Why are we putting this additional burden on teachers and administrators?

There are several potential concerns - legal, financial and public relations - that the District needs to make sure are addressed first.  Because the District is a public agency, there are specific guidelines on how we can spend money and how we have to report it to the state and federal government.  We need to make sure the money will be spent properly so we don't end up having to pay it back. 

A big concern is that we want to make sure that the District is not legally obligated for activities beyond the life of the grant - for example, what happens if we get the grant money to hire some new teachers and then the grant runs out?  Does the District have to come up with money out of the General Fund to pay for them to continue their activities?  Another example - if we are hiring staff members or substitute teachers or going to a conference, there are District guidelines (that have been negotiated through formal bargaining) that stipulate how much people need to be paid or how much to charge for mileage and lodging.

The Intent to File a Grant is simply a Form that asks the applicant to walk through their proposal and make sure that all of the above concerns are addressed.  For most of the smaller grants (<$500) these really aren't much of a concern at all, but it's a good practice to be safe and get in the habit of checking first.  Another advantage of filling out an Intent to File a Grant is that it lets the Grants Office become aware of the types of projects that you are working on.  If we come across other funding opportunities, we can send them your way.

• Intent to File a Grant Form is required - Complete and return the form to the Grants Office (it is not required for an "Award"-type program nor for the Education Foundation Impact Grant program).
   
• Intent to File a Grant instructions
   
• Grant Procedure Checklist - a worksheet, for your use only
   
• Grant Procedure Flowchart - information only
   
• Expenditure of Grant Funds - Read thoroughly, especially if you are going to be paying personnel
   
• Grants Resource Guide - Provides various resources to help you develop your grant writing skills.

The Bend-La Pine Schools Grant Office already has researched for you literally hundreds of sources which fund educational programs. These funding sources (foundation, government, corporations) are described on one-page flyers - GRANT FLASHES!!! - and distributed to each school site where they are posted on the site's centrally- located GRANT FLASH!!! poster. The site's designated grant contact periodically cleans the board and files the GRANT FLASHES!!! into the site's GRANT FLASH!!! notebook.

Each site now has three GRANT FLASH!!! notebooks, holding flyers from 1992 to the present. Many funding sources highlighted as past GRANT FLASHES!!! offer similar grant dollars and programs each year. Thus, they remain viable funding sources to consider. The first step in finding a funding source is to scan these GRANT FLASH!!! notebooks and try to match your program idea and monetary requirements with the program priorities and available funds of three to five funding sources. The Grants Office (383-6030) has extended  information, grant guidelines, and applications for each GRANT FLASH!!! source and will mail this information to you within 24 hours. At this point, the Grants Office can discuss the steps in securing and preparing a grant to fund your idea and give you insight into the particular funding sources you are considering.