Grants, Competitions and Other “Winning” Opportunities
Achieve Blended Learning Success
The Waggle Blended Learning Grant will award up to $5 million to districts and charter school organizations to recognize outstanding blended learning models withWaggle, Personalized Smart Practice. Waggle is an online, adaptive program developed by Triumph Learning for English language arts and mathematics for students in grades 2–8. Waggle champions productive struggle by creating a safe and engaging environment for students to explore, grow in confidence and accelerate learning. Grant winners will receive up to $50,000 for Waggle, professional development and implementation.
Deadline: Applications accepted through September 30, 2015
Make a Mark on the World
Every year Kohl’s recognizes and rewards young volunteers across the country for their amazing contributions to their communities with up to $10,000 in scholarships. Students can find out how to get started by visiting generationOn, where they will find project inspiration, instructions and in-depth toolkits that they can download for free. They can choose projects that are just for children or perfect for teens. To be eligible, students between the ages of six and 15 must be legal US residents of a state in which a Kohl’s store is located.
Deadline: Nominations accepted through March 13, 2015
Shine a Spotlight on a Music Educator
The GRAMMY Foundation creates opportunities for high school students to work with music professionals to get real-world experience and advice about how to have a career in music. The GRAMMY Music EducatorAward was created to shine a spotlight on the excellent and impactful work that thousands of music teachers across the US are doing. The nominee will be evaluated based on having made a measurable difference in the lives of students and a significant and lasting contribution to the field of music education. In addition, the nominee should have shown a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining music education in the schools and have made a significant impact on his or her school and community. To be eligible, teachers must teach music in public or private schools, kindergarten through college. Teachers in after-school, private studios or other educational settings are not eligible. A custom award will be given as well as a monetary award ranging from $1,000 to $10,000.
Deadline: Nominations due by March 15, 2015
Inspire Safe Teen Driving
Toyota and Discovery Education have launched the 2014–2015 TeenDrive365 Video Challenge (formerly known as the Toyota Teen Driver Video Challenge). Now in its fourth year, the Video Challenge invites teens across the country to create short videos to inspire their friends to drive safely and avoid distractions. Ten finalists will be chosen, and their entries will be posted online for public vote. The winner of the public vote will receive the People’s Choice Award along with a $5,000 cash prize and a trip to see a taping of a Velocitynetwork show. In addition, a panel of judges from Discovery Education and Toyota, as well as educators and community leaders, will select a first-, second- and third-place winner. The winners will be chosen based on the creativity, content and presentation of their videos. The grand-prize winner will receive a $15,000 cash prize and work with a Discovery film crew to reshoot his or her video as a professional, TV-ready PSA. The second-place winner will be awarded a $10,000 cash prize along with a trip to attend a taping of a Velocitynetwork show, and the third-place winner will receive a $7,500 cash prize.
Deadline: Entries due by March 16, 2015
Improve Learning Through Community Funding
Anyone involved in education (teacher, administrator, parent, student) can start a crowd-source campaign on PledgeCents. The goal should be the amount needed to fund a project. Educators receive the money raised, with the check sent to the school. They can close their campaigns and receive whatever funds are raised even if the goal wasn’t reached. Posting campaigns on PledgeCents has no cost.
Deadline: Ongoing until goal reached or campaign closed
Supplement Your Stretched Budget
GetEdFunding is a free website sponsored by CDW•G to help educators and institutions find the funds they need in order to supplement their already stretched budgets. GetEdFunding hosts a collection of thousands of grants and other funding opportunities culled from federal, state, regional and community sources and available to public and private, preK–12 educators, schools and districts, higher education institutions and nonprofit organizations that work with them. GetEdFunding offers customized searches by six criteria, including 43 areas of focus, eight content areas and any of the 21st century themes and skills that support your curriculum. After registering on the site, you can save the grant opportunities of greatest interest and then return to them at any time. This rich resource of funding opportunities is expanded, updated and monitored daily.