I Need Funds - Where Do I Begin?

Before you look from here to mars for money or pursue grant funding, it's critical that you have a clear idea of what it is you're seeking funding for. You need to match what you want funds for with what funders are interested in funding. Unfocused searching for "whatever is out there," rather than looking for funds for a specific purpose, program or project will result in numerous possibilities but little idea of which ones to seriously pursue.

There are many helpful resoruces for finding funding, but unfortunately there's not one place you can find a magic list of every possible grant or money source in which you might be interested. Instead let us suggest some options you might consider and some places you might begin to look for information about potential funding sources.

Do you need a little money or a lot of money?
If you need less than $1,000, you may not need a grant at all. You might want to consider just asking someone for the money. It is best to start close. Try your PTA or PTO. Or is there a local business nearby that could help? Coul you ask a restaurant, bank, retail business or small office near your school? Banks and larger businesses such as Wal-Mart, Target, etc. have small pots of money to give away as donations each year. Or perhaps you can come up with a fundraising scheme that can benefit both you and the local business. For instance, one WPS school has worked with a local pizza franchise earning $100-$200 each month. Once a month, the pizza franchise location near the school offers pizza with a specified percentage of sales to the school. The franchise picked its slowest night (Monday) and it became its busiest.

Organizing your grant search
If you've decided to look for grant funding, take a few minutes to read Deborah Ward's article, Grants & Funding: Five simple steps to organizing your grant search. Following her recommendations will likely result as Ms. Ward notes, in "viable funding sources to apply to and a starting point for working on proposals with a relatively stress-free approach!"
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstory.cfm?ArticleID=384

Grants Central Station - the district's grants website
Since you're reading this, you have found Grants Central Station, the website of the Wichita Public Schools' Grants and Development Services Office. In cas you arrived by other than the typical route, here's how to find us from the Wichita Public Schools' home page: www.usd259.net. On the home page, let your cursor hover over the reddish brown colored block on the left side of the page labelled "District Offices." Select "Grants and Development" from the flyout menu that appears to the right.

Grants Central Station contains links to mega-lists of grant funding agencies and grant writing resources. We urge you to click on the links of interest and explore.

You may be thinking, "Why doesn't the GDS Office just list every possible, relevant grant opportunity on its pages and not have us link to other places?" While it would be great, it would be impossible for several reasons. There are simply too many funding opportunities available and the information changes too rapidly for anyone to list all the possible grant opportunities and funding sources. Maintaining that kind of list would be a full-time job. That's why we list what we believe to be some of the most helpful resources and appreciate suggested additions for Grants Central Station. If you run across a good mega-list site, let us know.

Locating grant resources through Internet search engines
The use of Internet search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Lycos, AltaVista, DogPile, Ask.com and meta-search engines such as SurfWax can also help you locate potential grant resources. For example, typing the word grants will give you a list of links that you might check. Using reading or mathematics as a key word will also provide a list of resources, some of which, will likely relate to grants. Using both the search terms grants and terms such as math, reading, science, physical education, technology, middle school, school reform will narrow your search to more likely possibilities. Though beyond the scope of this web page, there are many Internet resources that will teach you strategies for searching the Internet more effectively. If you'd like to improve your search skills, check them out.

Professional organizations - a source for grant information
Another potential source of grant information is newsletters or journals, both print and on-line, published by various professional organizations of which you may be a member. For example, if you're interested in grants related to reading, you might check publications of the International Reading Association (IRA). Other examples of organizations with publications include the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the American Library Association (ALA).

Resources available at the Wichita Public Library
Still another source of information is the Directory of Kansas Foundations. It is available only in print format and a copy is available at the Wichita Public Library. The Directory includes information on approximately 400 Kansas Foundations. In general, Kansas foundations give special consideration to Kansas institutions and local needs but a relationship with the foundation needs to be established. If you identify a foundation whose priorities seem to match your needs, please send us an e-mail before contacting any foundation so we can assist you with the contact.

The Wichita Public Library (downtown location only at 223 S. Main) has a large collection of books that describe available grants and funding sources for a variety of purposes. These books are available only for reference and may not be checked out. Lois Gordon, one of the librarians at the Wichita Public Library has special expertise in using these resources and is available to help library patrons. Contact her by calling (316) 261-8500.

Part of the collection at the Wichita Public Library (downtown location only) includes a CD called FC Search: The Foundation Center's Database on CD-ROM. FC Search gives you access to the Foundation Center's database of 10,000+ foundation and corporate grantmakers, as well as their close to 200,000 newly reported grants. It's a fully searchable database that can significantly reduce the time you spend researching. You can choose from 12 search criteria to generate lists of funding possibilties in a very short amount of time.