Funding Sources for Libraries
(Including Grants and other Funding Sources)
The worlds of library and academic research thrive on grants and funding. Indeed there are a multitude of funding sources available throughout the country, and even internationally, that may provide monetary support for schools, public libraries, researchers, academic institutions, and even individuals for research, educational enhancement, or a variety of other related purposes.
Sources are generally grouped into two separate categories; government sources and non-government (including private) sources. They can be geared toward library needs or specific fields of interest. Our list follows below.
Non-Government
Education World
www.education-world.com/grants/
School Grants
www.schoolgrants.org
Kathy Schrock at Discovery.com
www.school.discovery.com/schrockguidelbusiness/grants.html
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation www.gatesfoundation.org
Environmental Research and Education Foundation http://www.erefdn.org/guide.html
National Geographic Society www.nationalgeographic.com/education/
The United Way
http://national.unitedway.org/
eSchoolNews
www.eschoolnews.com/resources/funding/
The Foundation Center
http://fdncenter.org
Financial Aid & Continuing Education
Yahoo Education Directory
http://dir.yahoo.com/Education/Financial%5fAid/Grants/
Milken Family Foundation
www.mff.org/mea/mea.taf
CollegeNet
www.collegenet.com
Other Resources for Library Grant Information
Technology Grant News
http://www.technologygrantnews.com/grant-index-by-type/library-grants-funding.html
InfoWorks Technology Company
http://www.itcompany.com/inforetriever/grant.htm
A Web portal for librarians, with resources for their profession
EBSCO Publishing Customer Success Stories
To read a Customer Success case study relating to school grants go to the Success Stories section; see Ephrata.
State & Federal Resources
LSTA - Library Services and Technology Act
LSTA focuses on priorities important to the 21st library – access to information technology and what ALA terms “information empowerment through special services.”
Funding gives states the ability to adapt particular needs to federal guidelines, making it one of the more flexible funding resources available for a variety of library categories. For example, states can use LSTA funds to offer professional development workshops for public and school librarians and teachers to learn and implement technology purchases specific to their state’s library system.
The American Library Association http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/Offers excellent information about LSTA
https://cs.ala.org/ra/lsta/
“Stories about How the Library Services and Technology Act is a Good Thing”
National Science Foundation
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/1998/nsf9891/nsf9891.htm
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.epa.gov/ogd/
National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)
www.nsta.org/lysol
Federal School Grants
ED.gov (Department of Educationwww.ed.gov/funding/html
web99.ed.gov/grant/grtawd00.nsf
Overview of Federal Title Grants
Title I -- Helping Disadvantaged Children Meet High Standards
OVERVIEW:
Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was originally enacted in 1965 as a cornerstone of President Lyndon B. Johnson's "War on Poverty." It marked the federal government's first substantial direct involvement in elementary and secondary education. The program now focuses on high standards for all students, professional development for teachers, flexibility, including school wide programs, partnerships among families, communities and schools, and a funding formula that focuses more funds on the highest-poverty schools.
PURPOSE of Title I:
Title I is the largest federal aid program for our nation's schools. The goal of the program is a high-quality education for every child, providing extra help to students who need it most. These are children who are the furthest from meeting the standards the state has set for all students. Title I resources are directed to schools with high poverty levels.
DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS:
The federal government provides funding to states each year for Title I. In turn, the state educational agency sends the money to school districts based on the number of low-income families. The local school department identifies eligible schools--those with the highest percentage of children from low-income families--and provides Title I resources.
The Title I school (this includes parents, teachers, administrators and other school staff) works to:
identify students most in need of educational help (students do not have to be from low-income families to receive help).
set goals for improvement.
measure student progress.
develop programs that supplement regular classroom instruction.
involve parents in all aspects of the program.
Title IC -- Migrant Education Program (MEP)
OVERVIEW:
Every year special children move from place to place and enroll in different school districts. They may stay for several months or for a day or two. There are thousands of these children in our nation. Their moving is not by choice, but by necessity, because their parents must seek temporary or seasonal employment.
PURPOSE:
The MEP is to ensure that children of migratory workers have access to the same free, appropriate public education, including public preschool education, provided to other children. To achieve this purpose, the MEP helps State and local educational agencies remove barriers to the enrollment, attendance, and achievement of migratory children.
The statutory purposes of the MEP are to:
Ensure that migrant children have the opportunity to meet the same challenging State content standards and challenging State student performance standards that all children are expected to meet.
Support high quality and comprehensive educational programs for migratory children to help reduce the educational disruption and other problems that result from repeated moves.
Ensure that migratory children are provided with appropriate educational services (including supportive services) that address their special needs in a coordinated and efficient manner.
Design programs to help migratory children overcome educational disruption, cultural and language barriers, social isolation, various health-related problems, and other factors that inhibit the ability of such children to do well in school and to prepare such children to make a successful transition to post-secondary education or employment.
Ensure that migratory children benefit from State and local systemic reforms.
Title II -- Eisenhower Professional Development
OVERVIEW:
There are two separate sections for Title II. The first one is flow through monies for school districts, and the second is for institutions of higher learning or non-profit agencies dealing with math and science. These funds are only to be used for upgrading the skills of teachers in mathematics and science through staff development. The PRISM conference is part of this program and is held five times a year for grades K-12 teachers and focuses on strong science and mathematics content and pedagogy.
PURPOSE:
To upgrade the skills of teachers in mathematics and science.
Title III -- Technology Literacy Challenge Fund
OVERVIEW:
The Title III/Technology Literacy Challenge Fund provides grants to accelerate the implementation of statewide educational technology plans by providing financial assistance to local school systems. This grant is competitively administered at the state level.
PURPOSE:
The purpose of the Title III Technology Literacy Challenge Fund is to provide resources to speed the implementation of statewide strategies designed to enable all schools to integrate technology fully into school curricula. All students can become technologically literate, with the reading, math, science, and other core academic skills essential for their success in the 21st Century. The technology grants also can be
used to connect teachers and parents to work together, link students to careers, colleges, and community resources and provide extended learning opportunities for students after school and during the summer. A key purpose of the program is to enable states to assist school systems that have the highest numbers or percentages of children in poverty and demonstrate the greatest need for technology. All teachers in the Nation will have the training and support they need to help all students learn through computers and through the information superhighway.
All teachers and students will have modern computers in their classrooms.
Every classroom will be connected to the information superhighway.
Effective and engaging software and online learning resources will be an integral part of every school curriculum.
Title IV -- Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Act.
OVERVIEW:
The Act encourages schools to collaborate with community resources to design flexible programs that may include: school safety strategies; violence prevention activities; and alcohol, tobacco, and other drug prevention initiatives. Related staff and parent training initiatives are often funded with Title IV.
PURPOSE:
The Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Act provides funds to states to create comprehensive strategies to deal with school violence, and alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use by youth. Effective instruction and learning require environments that are safe and drug free. SDFSCA funding gives each school district an opportunity to identify its unique needs and use these targeted resources to impact them.
Title VI -- Innovative Education
OVERVIEW:
This Federal grant to education is the most flexible and least restrictive of all the IASA titles. It has the potential to serve all students and teachers in a school district. The funds cannot be used for administrative purposes or to supplant existing programs.
PURPOSE:
The intents of the program are to:
assist local educational reform efforts which are consistent with and support statewide reform efforts under Goals 2000;
render support to state and local efforts to accomplish the National Education Goals;
contribute a source of funding to enable SEAs and LEAs to implement promising educational reform programs;
provide a continuing source of innovation, educational improvement and support for library, instructional and media materials;
meet the educational needs of at-risk and high cost students.
Rural Education Achievement Program (administered by Title VI)
The Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) is a new initiative designed to address the unique needs of rural school districts. These districts frequently lack the personnel and resources needed to compete for federal competitive grants and often receive formula allocations that are too small to be used effectively for their intended purposes. The purpose of the REAP initiative is to help eligible LEAs address local academic needs more effectively by giving them greater flexibility in the use of limited federal resources. In determining how best to use their applicable funding, LEAs should be cautious about spending these resources on too many programs.
Title VII - Bilingual Education: Part A: Subpart 1 (Bilingual Education Capacity & Demonstration Grants); Subpart 2 (Research, Evaluation, and Dissemination); Subpart 3 (Professional Development); Subpart 4 (Transition). Part B: Foreign Language Assistance. Part C: Emergency Immigrant Education. Part D: (Administration). Part E: (General Provisions).
OVERVIEW of Title VII:
Begun in 1968, Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (now IASA) initially funded schools and universities for the promotion of instruction conducted in both English and non-English languages for students with limited English proficiency. The Act has expanded its focus considerably, both in types of programs funded and in its current mission: to educate limited English proficient students to meet the same challenging state content and student performance standards expected of all students.
PURPOSE of Title VII:
Schools under Title VII "Program Development and Implementation Grants" establish new 3-year comprehensive bilingual education and/or ESL programs. Schools and collaborative agencies may apply for 2-year "Program Enhancement Projects" to expand or enhance their existing bilingual education and/or ESL programs. Five-year school wide bilingual education and/or ESL projects may be undertaken under the "Comprehensive School Grants" if they reform, restructure, and upgrade all relevant programs and operations in schools with significant concentrations of limited English proficient students. "System wide Improvement Grants" are 5-year district wide projects whose purpose is comparable to the comprehensive school grants. Five-year "Career Ladder Programs" are available to colleges and universities in consortia with schools for the purpose of upgrading non-federal personnel and to train secondary school students as bilingual education teachers. Some of the Title VII grants are available to universities for professional development and fellowships. The "Emergency Immigrant Education Program" assists schools with large populations of immigrant students to help them meet challenging state performance standards.