Ashland Schools Foundation

2007-2008

Impact Grant Program Guidelines & Instructions

The Ashland Schools Foundation is dedicated to supporting educational enrichment activities for public school students in all schools at all grade levels.

Definition of ASF Impact Grants:

The Ashland Schools Foundations awards Impact Grants for projects that directly engage students for innovative and enriching classroom-based ideas for which no other district funding is available. These grants are meant to be classroom based (but are not limited to the classroom environment), and are not intended to be funding for school-wide programs.  Funded by hundreds of community donors, Impact Grants are awarded by the Board of the Foundation upon the recommendation of the Grants Committee, which consists of ASF Board members, parents, teachers, and community members who serve as representatives of the Ashland community and ASF donors.

Eligible Grant Recipients:

Grant applications must be written or sponsored by a teacher.  Students may generate ideas for grants, but student-generated ideas must meet the general grant criteria (see Eligible Grant Activities), be sponsored by a teacher, and may not be for an individual student project or thesis applicable to the student’s individual work. Each grant applicant is eligible for funding of one grant in the fall, and may apply for unlimited grants in the spring. If funding is limited, priority will be given to applicants who have not been funded yet that school year.

Eligible Grant Activities:

Grants will be made for activities that directly engage students and enhance educational activities.  Grants may involve a single classroom or multiple classrooms, but are not intended for school-wide programs.  Grant applicants are encouraged to involve volunteer community participants in the project.

The same grant project is eligible to be funded for a second time at the request of the applicant. Funding the same grant project beyond two times will be at the discretion of the committee depending on the project and the availability of funds.

The following are not eligible for funding through the Impact Grant process:

Þ     Projects that begin before ASF Grant Committee review of the grant proposal.

Þ     Transportation expenses.

Þ     Textbooks or textbook replacement.  Supplemental resources or curriculum materials that are an integral part of the project may be funded if the applicant can demonstrate there is no school district or other source of funds.

Þ     Staff development.

Þ     Food, unless it is used as an integral part of the grant activity.

Þ     School staff positions, or projects involving day-to-day running of the school

The following may be considered only if it supports other engaging and enriching elements of the grant project:

Þ     Computer software with direct, on-going engagement of students in the grant project.

Þ     Computer hardware (or other major equipment) if directly involved in the grant project

Maximum Grant Amount:

The maximum grant amount for a single classroom is $500.  Multi-classroom projects may be awarded more than $500, up to a maximum of $1000. No grant will be awarded more than $1000.

Application Due Dates, Review of Applications and Awarding of Grants:

Please note that, although there are two grant deadlines, there are no guarantees that funds will be remaining for the January deadline. It is possible that the entire grant budget of a school could be awarded in the fall, depending on the number and quality of grant applications at the fall deadline. It is recommended that, if possible, teachers should submit all grant applications in the fall to allow equal consideration with the other applications from their school. If they do not receive funding because of a lack of funds, they can be reconsidered at the January deadline provided there are extra funds available and their grant project opportunity has not passed.

Grant applications should be submitted electronically, and are due at the ASF Office by midnight Wednesday, September 26, 2007.  Grants to be implemented at any time during the 2007-08 school year will be considered. The Grants Committee will review the grant applications in early October.  Recommendations will be made to the ASF Board at the October ASF Board meeting. Grant applicants will be notified of the status of their grant application as soon as possible after the October ASF Board meeting.

If all funds are not awarded in the October grant round, there will be a second application round with applications due midnight Wednesday, January 30, 2008.  The Grants Committee will review these grant applications in early-February.  Recommendations will be made to the ASF Board at the regular February ASF Board meeting.  Grant applicants will be notified of the status of their grant application as soon as possible after the February ASF Board meeting.

Grant applications will be reviewed for conformance with eligibility criteria, consistency with school curriculum goals, direct involvement by students, participation by community members, and degree to which they enrich educational experiences. (see “Grant Committee Review Guidelines” document.) 

Grants that pass the review will be awarded funding according to the amounts available in their school’s budget. During the February meeting, and after the committee has completed the second application review and award process, any remaining funds will go into a pool of funds to be awarded to grants that met the grant criteria but did not have funding available. Therefore, at the second grant deadline schools may want to submit grants beyond their allotted budget on the chance that extra funds become available.  If schools submit grants for more than their allotted budget, principals will be given a chance to rank grants by school priority to guide the grants committee should the grants merit funding, but not enough funds are available.  

Impact Grants budgets for the 2007-08 school year will be published after the fall ASF Board meeting to set the grant budgets for the year.

Application Information Required:

Applications will only be accepted electronically.  The application should be emailed to Ashland.Foundation@ashland.k12.or.us.   Application forms will be e-mailed to all teachers and may be found in the grants section of the ASF web page:  http://www.ashlandschoolsfoundation.org/.

The applicant must complete the ASF Impact Grant Application Form and the ASF Impact Grant Budget Form. Supporting material for the budget expenses must accompany the budget form.

The ASF Application Form is a Word document consisting of a table with four parts. The applicant completes Parts A, B, and C (along with the separate budget document).  The Principal completes Part D of the Grant Application form.

It is recommended that grant applicants read the accompanying “Grant Committee Evaluation Guidelines” to help them prepare their grants for committee review.

The ASF Grant Budget Form contains an “Estimate” section and an “Actual Expenses” section.   Applicants must complete the “Estimate” side of the budget and submit with their application. If awarded funding, the grantee will complete the “Actual Expenses” section and submit it with their Grant Evaluation form.

Applicants are required to submit supporting pricing documentation for budget expenses such as copies of catalog pages, links to web pages with items to be purchased, quotes from vendors, quotes from personnel stating their cost (copies of emails, letters, etc), written agreements with 3^rd parties involved, etc. Some of these items may need to be submitted through district courier mail.

To complete the application:

·         Open the files “ASF Impact Grant Application Form 2007-08” and “ASF Impact Grant Budget Form 2007-08”

·         Use the “Save As” option under the “File” menu and save the files in your C:\ drive as:

             “ASF Grant App 2007-08 [School]-[Your Last Name]”

            “ASF Grant Budget 2007-08  [School]-[Your Last Name]”

      For example, an application file might be saved as “ASF Grant App 2007-08 AMS-Smith”.

            and a budget file saved as “ASF Grant Budget 2007-08 AMS-Smith”

·         Type information directly into the forms:

1.      Complete the Grant Application Summary (Part A)

2.      Complete the Grant Description (Part B)

3.      Sign the application (Part C) with your electronic signature.  If you do not have one, type your name (or the name of the lead teacher if more than one is involved) in the space provided.

4.      SAVE the document to your C: drive!

5.      Complete the ASF Grant Application Budget – gather supporting documentation (see Grant Application Information Required section above).  SAVE!

6.      Email both files to your principal for electronic verification of his/her concurrence with the grant application (Part D).  Ask him/her to email the signed application and budget form to the ASF office, and to copy you on the email so you will know the application was submitted to the ASF, by the deadline – September 26^th or January 30^th at midnight.

7.      Save the returned signed files in your C:\ Drive as the final copy.

8.      Send supporting budget documentation that is not electronic to the ASF Office at AMS through the courier with a printed copy of the budget.

If you have any problems or questions with these procedures, please contact ASF.

Grant Contracts and Funding procedures:

Shortly after notification of their grant funding status, successful applicants will receive a Grant Contract.  The Grant Contract must be signed and returned as soon as possible. Funds will be disbursed after receipt by the ASF of a signed copy of the Grant Contract.

The Ashland Schools Foundation will forward the first 90% of the total funded for the grant on or about November 1 for the fall grants, and March 1 for the spring grants to the office bookkeeper at each school. Only grants with signed contracts will have their funds extended. Therefore, it is important to return signed contracts promptly.  Funds will be administered between the school and the grantee according to school procedures.  (Please note that payment of any services will require going through the District Office and following the district procedures for payment of services. This process can require some time and the grant recipient should allow some lead-time to complete the process before their expected payment of the individual. Please talk with your office manager about the district approved process.)

A final expense report, included on the Budget Form, will be required along with the final Grant Evaluation (see instructions below).  Upon receipt of the final paperwork, the remaining 10% of the grant funds (if needed) will be forwarded to the office bookkeeper. Unused funds, if any, shall be returned to the Foundation.  Failure to turn in final paperwork will result in the lead teacher’s ineligibility for ASF grants in the following school year and loss of the final 10% payment.

Grant Evaluation requirements and process:

Grant Evaluation forms will be emailed to the grant recipient with notification of the awarding of their grant. Recipients will be required to complete the Grant Evaluation Form, complete the actual expenses portion of their original Grant Budget Form, and to submit photographic documentation of the grant. 

Grant Evaluations, final expense budgets, photographs and other supporting materials will be welcomed at anytime after completion of the grant.  The deadline for receipt of evaluation documents is June 1, 2008.

Failure to complete the grant evaluation requirements will result in ineligibility to apply for a grant in the next school year and loss of the final 10% grant payment.  

Non-implemented Grants

A school that has a grant awarded, but subsequently discovers the grant cannot be implemented, should notify the ASF that the grant is being returned. If this is done before the second grant review meeting, the amount of the grant will be returned to the school’s budget for reapplication by new grants in the second round of grants reviews. If notification happens after the second round grant review meeting has passed, the funds will be returned to the ASF General Fund. No re-application of new grants for old will be allowed after the final grant review meeting.

Grant Extensions

Impact Grants are expected to be implemented and completed within the year they are awarded.  However, the Ashland Schools Foundation understands that unusual circumstances might arise that may delay the completion or implementation of a grant. Therefore, grantees may apply for a one-year grant extension to allow the completion or implementation of an Impact Grant the following school year.

Grant extension applications must be received by the ASF by May 15.  Applicants will be notified by June 1 regarding the status of their extension request.  In order to receive a grant extension, the grantee must be working in the Ashland school district in the next school year with the appropriately aged students, and a reasonable attempt to have implemented the grant in the year awarded must be shown. Although some changes in the grant may be allowed, the spirit and substance of the extended grant cannot change.

Grants may not be extended more than once.

Further Information:

Questions may be emailed to ashland.foundation@ashland.k12.or.us or by calling 482-8197.