Springdale Park Elementary School (SPARK) is proud to announce the third year of its PTO Grants program. Funding for this program is supported by PTO membership and fund-raising activities, such as; gift wrap sales, T-shirts sales, Boosterthon, the Auction and many others. The purpose of the grant program is to enhance the learning experience of our children. At SPARK, the PTO has set aside $3500 for the 2012/2013 year to support enrichment items and activities for the school learning environment. Any member of the SPARK community—teachers, school administrators and staff, parents, or students-- can apply for funds for projects to enhance our children’s education. The SPARK Grants Committee can also leverage other sources of funds for worthwhile grant proposals that may go beyond the scope or budget of the PTO Grants Program.

Last year the Grants Committee received a total of 10 grant applications. Requested amounts ranged from $100-1,000. Projects funded by the Spark Grants Program included: 

• Introduction of the Star Fall program to include Kindergartners.
• A mobile kitchen to assist students in learning how food makes it from the garden to the table.
• The purchase of Rigsby Diagnostic which assists teachers understanding of student’s needs.
• The purchase of Scholastic News which has been made available to every student.
• Funding to support Ms. Lynch to attend a conference for the Georgia Association for Gifted Children.

The application process is easy:

1. Idea: Is there an activity or item that is needed in the classroom/school that would enhance learning?
2. Background: For teachers, consider discussing the idea with your grade level team or Ms. Brown to make sure that the items do not already exist.
3. Complete the application. Please give strong consideration to completing and submitting you grant application electronically. It greatly facilitates the review process and record keeping! Applications are due Wednesday, November 28th, 2012 and should be submitted electronically to Stephanie Frederick.
4. Application content: You will be asked to provide the following information:
1. Project goals, and how it relates to the school achievement plan or provides innovative enrichment for learning (20 pts)
2. Description of use of requested funds and project implementation (20 pts)
3. Beneficiaries-how large a group will be able to benefit from the project? (10 pts)
4. Duration/replicability/sustainability of the project-can this project be used in future years? (20 pts)
5. How will the project be evaluated? (10 pts)
6. Funding request, with a prompt to make sure other funding sources were explored (i.e. Department budget, other Spark funds, other grant funds like CINS). (20 pts)
5. Additional information: Between the review period and the date by which decisions are made, you may be asked for some additional information. You will be notified of grant awards Friday, December 14th, 2012.
6. Summary of activities: At the end of the year, you will be asked for a short description of how your funds were used.

Please contact Stephanie Frederick or Heidi Franetovich, this year’s Grants Committee Co-Chairs, or Jenny Lockwood, teacher representative to the Grants Committee, with any questions. The committee looks forward to receiving your grant applications! 

 

Enrichment Grant Application (pdf)