Fundraising and Grant Resources for Tech Integration
There are an increasing number of available resources out there to support your classroom projects – you just need to know where to look.
It's great to talk about integrating technology, but what if you're stuck in a classroom with little or no technology or in a school with limited resources?
Seek out free money!
Here are some great resources for getting technology into your students' hands.
Create a profile for your school. Anyone can make a donation toward your school. When you have enough funds in your account you can go shopping through the Digital Wish store. They also have grants.
Ongoing grants for anything from $200 to a flip cam. Submit a project idea and garner enough votes by the deadline and you win. There are constantly new grants announced.
Create a teacher account and submit a project proposal like a set of books or a digital camera. Solicit donations and get your project funded by a deadline. If your project is not funded by the deadline, any donations made to your project can be applied to another project. Many corporate donors fund projects, too.
Create a student team to solve a real-world problem and win hardware and a cash prize for your school. Requires a good amount of commitment, but epitomizes authentic learning. Competitions in various age ranges under 19 years old.
Sign up for a Target RedCard and get your families and teachers to do so as well. Then, Target will reward your school each time they make a purchase with the card.
Other Grant Resources
eSchoolNews has a great article on grant writing if you're looking to write a larger grant.
What's great about completing little projects is building up a formidable collection of technology over the course of a few years. You don't have to outfit your entire room in one year. Adding one new tool each year or twice a year will ensure that you and your students get the most out of your materials.
If you have other great resources, please share them here!