It is educator grant season at the SAISD Foundation! We love this time of year because we get to witness firsthand the impact of our fundraising efforts through grants awarded to phenomenal SAISD educators. Educators, who during such a tumultuous time, have gone above and beyond for their students and still wish to offer them more. Our grant program accomplishes this in the following ways:
Innovative Grants – Awards up to $5,000
New Teacher Grants – $100 award
Mini Grants – Awards up to $500
The current learning environment has given us the opportunity to pivot from our traditional methods of offering these awards to educators. We hold true to the commitment of supporting student and teacher success in SAISD. It is through these grants that we see innovative ideas come to life and impact felt far and wide with all those who have participated in, or received funding from, the SAISD Foundation grants. Our award application and schedule may look a little different than before but know that we are looking forward to seeing smiling faces through a new process of awarding grants during virtual meetings. While some grant awards cannot be implemented immediately, there are some fantastic innovative ideas that will benefit our SAISD students throughout this semester and the following. We cannot wait to start awarding!
With the ‘19-‘20 school year abruptly ending, we have many educators who still plan to implement their grant awards during the ‘20-‘21 school year. We are continually amazed at what our educators can do with an investment of $500 in their program or classroom! The ideas presented in the Mini-Grant applications are often some of our most creative. Check out this grant video by Gabrielle Garcia from Washington Elementary who was awarded a Mini-Grant to support her campus garden club through the addition of a beehive. Her idea and fortitude are simply awesome! Her video highlights her ability to update her students during virtual learning and keep students engaged in a project they all saw begin. The ‘20-‘21 Mini-Grant application cycle will be delayed slightly to adjust to the start of such a different school year for us all. The application process will open on October 13, 2020 and close on November 13, 2020 – for more information on these type of grants, best practices and sample applications, please visit https://saisdfoundation.com/apply-for-grants/ . Thanks to our donors (many of whom are our own SAISD employees), the SAISD Foundation awarded 200 Mini-Grants impacting 25,759 students during the ‘19-‘20 school year.
Beginning a career in teaching is challenging in itself – can you imagine starting it during a global pandemic? The SAISD Foundation hopes to help teachers starting their careers – or simply transitioning to SAISD – have a smoother process. Teachers starting their first full year in the ‘20-‘21 school year are eligible for the $100 grant for use in creating their classroom as welcoming as they can imagine. Adjusting to the current environment, we have made few changes to our New Teacher Grants program; the grant application cycle will open on September 8, 2020 and will close on September 22, 2020. We will host a virtual open house at the end of September that will help those attending understand the importance of the SAISD Foundation and the resources we offer. Grants will be awarded in the form of an Amazon gift card so that socially distant shopping can be utilized. New SAISD teachers will receive an email with the New Teacher Grant application information in September!
The SAISD Foundation is a 501(c)3 public charity with a mission to mobilize the community to invest in student and teacher success. For more information about this and other SAISD Foundation programs email: info@saisdfoundation.com