Bentonville Schools Foundation

2018

Bentonville Schools Foundation Grants Program

The Bentonville Schools Foundation (BSF) is pleased to offer teachers in the Bentonville School District the opportunity to apply for funds through the Foundation Grants Program.

The purpose of this program is to enhance the learning of all students by awarding monetary grants to staff who develop innovative projects that seek to engage and motivate students to be active participants in their learning.

Application Process

  1. The BSF Grants Program Packet is available on the school district’s web-site: or the BSF web-site:
  2. BSF Grant Applications must be typed, single paged. No folders, notebooks or plastic sleeves will be accepted.
  3. BSF Grant Applications must be received at the BSF office (located in the Administration offices at 500 Tiger Blvd) or emailed to by 4:00 p.m. on March 16, 2018. We cannot accept applications via fax, and applications received after the deadline will not be considered.
  4. BSF Grants Program awards are intended to fund a proposed project, not a specific staff member. Awards granted to an individual staff member or staff members are to remain as the property of the school.
  5. An individual staff member may submit only one application per year.
  6. *Requests for funding that include curriculum programs and/or staff development must be approved by those prospective district directors before receiving consideration of approval by the BSF Grant Committee.
  7. *Requests for technology equipment or software must be approved by the Director of Technology before receiving consideration of approval by the BSF Grant Committee.
  8. Recipients will be notified by early May, and funding will be available in school accounts by May 3rd.
  9. Acknowledgement of the gift of funds from the Bentonville Schools Foundation is requested whenever publicity surrounding the grant is given. (i.e. Television or newspaper coverage)
  10. Questions should be directed to Maribeth Hobbs at ().

Applications must be received by 4:00 p.m. on March 16, 2018 at:

Bentonville Schools Foundation

Administration Building

Send through interschool mail or e-mail

Bentonville Schools Foundation

Grants Program Guidelines

2018

These guidelines will assist you in applying for a BSF Grant. To determine the merits of the grant and ultimately the award decision, the Grant Committee will use the information you provide to make its recommendation to the BSF Board. The Grant Committee is made up of BSF board members, community leaders and educators outside of the Bentonville School District. The BSF Board will consider the following criteria to make its final award decisions.

Grant Criteria: Applications will be selected based on:

  • Complete application with Principal’s signature submitted by deadline
  • The program must directly enhance student education, and be academic or educational in nature.
  • The program shouldn't pull teachers from the classroom, but should enhance the classroom experience.
  • The program should be innovative or creative in nature. It should be something that progresses the learning experience of the students.
  • Project has clearly defined goals that are measureable and specific to the improvement and/or enhancement of student learning
  • Aligned with school/district initiatives.
  1. Each proposal will be scored on its own merits without the foundation committee’s knowledge of applicant’s name or school.
  2. We will require reporting on the impact of the program within a year and will share results broadly with the District. So, teachers will have to be comfortable providing that reporting and allowing for that sharing.
  3. We encourage partial funding of grant requests when our grant is part of a larger fund-raising effort.
  4. The BSF reserves the right to use the names of Teacher Grant recipients and descriptions of their projects in promotional and publicity materials.

Grants Program Rating Scale

2017-2018

A scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the highest us used by the Grant Committee to rate the quality of the proposed projects. Funding will be awarded based on the total number of points and the recommendation a grant proposal receives from Grant Committee members. The BPSF Board has the final approval of all Foundation Grant allocations.

A 1-5 rating will be given to each descriptor below:

  • Project has clearly defined goals that are measureable and specific to the improvement and/or enhancement of student learning
  • Project is aligned with school/district initiative
  • Project has the potential to impact learning for large numbers of students
  • Project is innovative and enhances classroom instruction/student learning
  • Project seeks to increase student engagement
  • Project represents a good fiscal investment – will benefit future students or more than one content area

Bentonville Schools Foundation

Application

2018

Foundation Grants Program

____ Literature/Language ____ Math

____ Innovation____ General

____ Science/Technology

(Technology - focus on integrating and enhancing teaching, not devices)

Project Title (5 to 6 words) : ______

Building: ______

Applicant Names: ______

______

Primary Contact for Grant: ______

Contact number: ______

Contact email: ______

Principal/Administrator Approval Signature: ______

District Director Approval (If Required): ______

Technology Approval (If required): ______

(Do not include teacher, school name or any other identifying information in the below section of the application.)

  1. Project Title and Description:

(Include your project goal and solution, what you hope to achieve, funding level sought and identify your population)

(TIP: Utilize statistics, #’s and %’s, in your description, include at least two measurable outcomes, impact to student education, number of students impacted)

  1. Need:

(TIP: What problem are you trying to address or correct?)

  1. Timeline:

(TIP: List activities in chronological order, identify final progress measurement)

  1. Budget:

(TIP: How will you spend your money, show requested funds, include narrative with a formula for each item, calculate totals and provide a total dollar figure, is this grant fully funding the project or is other (identify) funding being used)

  1. School/district initiative to which the project is aligned:

(TIP: Identify school/district initiative and explain how your project supports the initiative)

  1. Is this project targeted for a specific sub-population of students?

(i.e. SPED students, ESL students, etc.)

  1. How will the project be evaluated?

(TIP: How do you know if the program was successful in accomplishing your goal, use #’s and %’s)