GRANTS

How We Award Grants
We make grants to increase opportunities for students in curricula, facilities and various learning options by securing resources from diverse sources of funding through broad community involvement. To achieve these goals, we take varied approaches to our work, including supporting classrooms directly through our annual teacher grants; working with school administration to determine the needs of the District and with those in the community working with our schools; sponsoring student groups; creating new opportunities; and supporting innovations that improve the lives of children in the St. Joseph Public Schools. These methods of problem-solving reflect our values and the diverse ways in which we support grantees.

Our mission is broad, and we carefully target how our grants can be used most effectively.

Our Grant-Awarding Process
The Project Committee reviews all submissions. You will be sent a letter 4-6 weeks after the deadline date with the results of your application. The Foundation is always looking for new projects and encourages parents, students and other groups to submit their ideas. Please keep in mind that our funds are limited in relation to the large number of worthwhile inquiries we receive. Projects that are more likely to affect a larger number of students in the areas of education, technology or the arts are more likely to match the Foundation’s goals. Incomplete grant forms will not be considered. In addition to ensuring appropriate use of our grant funds, there are mandatory reporting procedures for making and monitoring grants. If a grant is approved, the payment from the foundation will be negotiated according to the needs of the grant.

Grants Not Funded
We do not award individual student scholarships for programs outside of the St. Joseph Public School District or make grants for athletics or other programs already supported by existing booster clubs. Additionally it is not our goal to continually support a program. In most instances grants will only be funded 1 or 2 years in a row for the same project and or person. If you are not sure if your request fits within the guidelines of the Foundation’s mission, please contact our office at 926-3252.

Available Grants

Teacher Grants
Grant forms will be available on-line beginning March 15th. DEADLINE APRIL 30th.

Since 2005, The St. Joseph Public Schools Foundation has been able to provide grants to teachers for activities and programs that are not funded by the general fund of the school district. These are grants specific for teachers to use in their classrooms. These are only awarded once a year and we encourage teachers to plan ahead. An email will be sent to all teachers as a reminder when the on-line applications are available and a few days before they close. These must be filled out on-line. Any questions should be addressed to Christine Waterhouse at cwaterhouse@sjschools.org.
Grants will be awarded at the annual opening day breakfast.

Approximately $25,000 in grants is awarded each year. To view a list of recipients and the types of grants awarded please visit our web site. Click here to see list of recipients.

Special Funding Requests
Grant deadlines are October 1st and February 1st.

Special Funding requests are grants for those group leaders (non-teachers) and school projects that typically don’t happen in the classroom under the direction of one teacher. These may be for after school groups, special interest projects or district wide initiatives. Examples of grants given under this category are the Upton Career Day, Science Olympiad funds, District-wide license for media viewing, etc. To link to grant form, click here.

NEW! Summer Enrichment/Remediation Grants
Grant forms will be available on-line beginning Feb. 1st. DEADLINE MARCH 1st.

Kids don’t stop learning just because school lets out for the summer! The SJPS Foundation is looking for teachers who have ideas for summer enrichment and remediation programs. Please note that these dollars can only be used for equipment, tools, software, etc and cannot be used for compensation. To link to the grant form, click here.

Questions can be submitted via email to Michele Demchinski at mdemchinski@sjschools.org.

NEW! 4th R Grant for the 4th Grade
Grant forms will be available on-line beginning Feb. 1st. DEADLINE MARCH 1st.

This special grant is specifically for 4th grade students in the St. Joseph School District and funds must be used for the 4th R – Remembering. Approx. $8,000 is available annually. Grants will be given out by April 1st, so there is still time to use this for this year’s curriculum. To link to the grant form, click here.

Questions can be submitted via email to Allen Skibbe at askibbe@sjschools.org.