NEA Foundation Launches Green Grant Application

If you’ve never applied for a NEA Foundation grant, you should. Not only is the money good (up to $5,000), but the application process just got easier and greener.

In a move it says will make applying for grants easier, more convenient, and less prone to user error, the NEA Foundation has launching a web-based application process for its popular $2,000 and $5,000 Student Achievement and Learning & Leadership grants that support public school educators’ ideas to improve teaching and learning.

“In an increasingly technologically savvy world, we want to encourage educators to use all the resources they have at their fingertips, many of which can be found online,” says Harriet Sanford, President and CEO of the NEA Foundation. “Our new process is green, easier and more convenient to complete, and requires less time: all attributes that we know busy educators will appreciate.”

Applicants can link directly to the application from the NEA Foundation’s web site at www.neafoundation.org. After responding to three questions that determine eligibility, applicants complete the process in five simple steps. They are prompted when they’ve left out any required information, and they are allowed to save their application if they need more time. The process also allows repeat applicants the opportunity to save personal and school information, cutting down on time spent on the administrative portion of the application and allowing more time for the narrative section.

Sanford added that the Foundation will accept both paper and online applications for its Student Achievement Grants and its Learning and Leadership Grants through June 1, 2009, when it will convert to the web-based system. The next deadline for applications is Feb. 1, 2009.
“We have designated a staff person to answer any questions applicants may have as we make this transition,” she said. “The bottom line is that we want educators to apply for these grants and to fully understand and to feel comfortable with the new process. By phasing it in slowly over time, we hope to accomplish this.”

Over the past decade, the NEA Foundation has awarded more than $4.1 million in grants to public school educators. “Our goal is to fund and share successful strategies to improve public education and to enrich our students’ learning experience by supporting their teachers’ best ideas,” Sanford said. “Through these grants, we are improving the quality of teaching and learning for everyone.”

By Edith Wooten