Grants

This page details the different kinds of grants available to schools, and what you can do to pursue a grant for your school.

Grants are divided into three categories:

• Timely Opportunities are current grants whose application dates have not yet passed.
• Allocative Grants, also known as Formula Grants, come from the state and are allocated to districts using a formula based on specific populations or needs. These include Title I, II, and III grants.
• Competitive Grants lists grants awarded to New York City schools.

More grants are added to these pages on a regular basis.

Requirements You May Encounter

Time and Effort Certifications

Contact

Schools should contact their Borough Citywide Office (BCO) Budget Director if they have questions regarding grants and they will work with their BCO's Senior Grants Officer. A Senior Grants Officer (SGO) is assigned to each BCO to provide support with grants.

Senior Grants Officers

Data Resources

• Catholic schools
• Census Bureau: Provides demographic, economic and statistical data on neighborhoods and communities throughout the country.
• Census poverty rates
• Congressional districts and members: Searchable by zip code and address.
• E-Rate Vendor Procedures
• Grants and Gifts Policy
• NY State report cards: Organized according to geographical region; you will need to scroll down to the NYC GEOG DIST # portion at the bottom of the page.
• National Center for Educational Statistics
• Other Than Personal Services and Other Than Personal Services Summary: Descriptions of allowable purchases by object code and expenditure/budget.
• Per session and per diem rates: Includes rates with fringe and without. Rates must include fringe when reimbursable funds are used to pay someone's salary.
• Reimbursable handbook: A reference and support guide for schools and central on the appropriate use of reimbursable funds.

Grant Writing Tutorial

Components of a Proposal

This section provides a brief tutorial for the novice grant writers.

Whether a school is applying to a grant from the United States Department of Education, the New York State Education Department, or a private organization, a grant proposal package usually consists of the following sections:

Abstract

The project abstract is a brief summary description of the proposed project’s goals and objectives, population to be served, expected outcomes, and program contact information. Depending on the requirements of the request for proposal, the project abstract maybe two pages in length or less.

Project Narrative

The project narrative is the heart of the proposal, and usually includes a "statement of need." The statement of need should be a clear, concise, well-supported statement of the problem to be overcome by using grant funding. In addition, it should answer the following questions:

• Why should your school project be funded?
• Explain who the project/program is targeting and how they will benefit from the grant.
• Describe what currently is being done to address the problem.

The project description is part of the project narrative and it should provide a description of how the project is expected to work and solve the stated problem. The project description should also: 

• Describe the methods you will use to achieve your goals and objectives.
• Provide a description of staff, resources and collaborations needed to implement the project.
• Highlight creative features of your proposal which would be considered distinct from other
• proposals under consideration.   

In addition, you should use data that best supports the case you are building such as: 

• Statistics—student achievement data, demographics, description of school, etc.
• Examples—real life examples, quotes.
• You may want to include data collected during a needs assessment to illustrate the problem to be addressed.

The information provided should be both factual and directly related to the problem addressed by the proposal. 

Data can be obtained from many sources including:

• School report cards
• Standardized test data
• Demographic and fiscal data, including revenues and current expenditures
• Poverty data -Title I free lunch or census data
• Attendance data
• Dropout rates
• Data from questionnaires, surveys and focus groups

Goals and Objectives

Goals and objectives are usually required in the Project Narrative section.

Goals:

A goal is a broad statement of what you wish to accomplish. Goals are general, intangible, and abstract.

Objectives:

Objectives should be stated in measurable terms. They should be realistic and should address: Who? What? When? and Where?

Project Sustainability

Research that involves the application of rigorous, systematic, and objective procedures to obtain reliable and valid knowledge relevant to education activities and programs. To meet this standard, research must have the following:

• Involve rigorous data analysis that are adequate to test the stated hypothesis and justify the general conclusions drawn;
• Rely on measurements or observational methods that provide reliable and valid data across evaluators and observers, across multiple measurements and observations, and across studies by the same or different investigators;

Project Evaluation

Describes the tools and techniques you will use to evaluate the effectiveness of the program/project. Evaluation tools include:

• Survey instruments.
• Pre- and post-skill assessments.
• Student portfolios of project work.
• Informal observations and school visits.
• Review of program documentation.
• Focus group interviews with participating teachers, students, and parents.
• Improvement in student achievement as evidenced by increases in performance on standardized exams.
• Evidence that goals and objectives were met.

Project Staffing and Management

Describes staff that will participate in the project and includes the following information:

• Who will coordinate and oversee implementation of the grant.
• Roles and responsibilities of key staff.
• Credentials of project staff.
  

Budget

• Should be consistent with the project narrative, and should provide a clear description of how the school plans to use the funds.
• Should be aligned to the needs of the project and all expenses should be justifiable.

The budget should include the following:

• Personnel Costs — staffing (per session, per diem, F-Status, etc.).
• Fringe Benefits — health, FICA, pension, etc.
• Equipment not included in the indirect cost.
• Supplies — materials, books, printer, etc.
• Current Indirect Costs (renegotiated annually) 

Computer items with a per unit cost that is less than $5,000 must be included in supplies and materials. Anything above that amount should be scheduled in object code 300.

You may need to include information such as School Agency/BEDs Codes, Commonly used OTPS codes, per diem/per session rates, etc. that schools need when submitting a grant application. That information is below:

• Commonly used OTPS codes
• Budget Resources for Principals

Agency Codes

An agency BEDS code is a 12 digit number given to each district by SED. It follows this formula:

[Borough Number] [District] [the numbers 000] [a 1 if it is a district or a 3 if it is a school] and [the number 0 followed by the school number]

The Borough Number depends on the borough:

• Citywide or Central DOE: 30
• Manhattan: 31
• Bronx: 32
• Brooklyn: 33
• Queens: 34
• Staten Island: 35

So a school in District 24, in Queens, numbered 073, would have the ID: 342400030073

And a school in District 25, in queens, numbered 460, would have the ID: 342500030460