Our Focus
We are a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the high quality of education provided by the Pelham school district.
As in other high quality school districts, tax dollars alone are not plentiful enough to sustain the high quality educational experience that the Pelham community demands and that our students deserve. With increasing budgetary pressure on our school district, our community, via the Pelham Education Foundation, steps in to fund the creative and meaningful programs we could not otherwise afford.
History
The Pelham Education Foundation, Inc. was founded in 1995 as a not-for-profit and tax-exempt charitable foundation to receive tax-deductible contributions from individual donors, corporate gifts and grants from public and private foundations. Since inception we have made grants in excess of $2.2 million as detailed in Foundation Grants.
Our Process
We identify several major projects each year from which one or two Major Project Grants are awarded, often with input from the administration and teaching staff most directly involved with the particular proposal. Each Major Project must be approved by the Board of Education.
Teachers and administrative staff may apply for a Mini Grant from the Foundation. Grants are awarded in January. Mini Grants serve to support the training, development and creativity of our teaching staff by funding programs that can be implemented at a cost of under $5,000 per program. Initiatives may be district-wide or school, grade or subject-matter specific. Once underway these programs become integrated into the ongoing curriculum and are supported by the school budget.
A Micro Grant program is also available to all teachers. This program awards grants of under $1,000 to support teacher initiatives that are developed throughout the school year and require a minimal amount of money to be implemented. The Foundation Board accepts Micro Grant requests from teachers at any time and reviews such applications on a case-by-case basis.
The Foundation, through the work of its fund raising subcommittee, conducts a number of activities throughout the year to generate contributions from the Pelham community. An annual appeal letter is mailed to the community prior to the calendar year-end and a major fund-raising event is conducted each spring. Contributions may be made directly on this site at Donate Online Now.
For Educators
Mini & Micro Grants Programs
The Pelham Education Foundation is pleased to offer to teachers and administrators the opportunity to apply for mini grants (for any amount up to $5,000) or micro grants (for any amount up to $1,000) to support educational projects that are outside the annual school budget. The goal of our mini and micro grant programs is to foster and reward faculty initiative by funding creative and innovative projects that enrich the standard curriculum and directly enhance educational opportunities for a significant number of students.
The Mini Grants Program
The Foundation will award mini grants (up to $5,000) at the December 2014 Foundation board meeting. The deadline for applications is Friday, November 7, 2014 and all project proposals will be presented to the Foundation board at its December 2014 meeting.
Mini Grant ApplicationGrant Criteria
The directors of the Foundation would like to provide you with as much guidance as possible so that your application will have the best chance to be successful. Please see link below
Download Grant CriteriaExamples of Approved Grants
Some examples of approved grants in previous cycles.
Examples of Successful GrantsThe Micro Grants Program
Teachers are welcome to apply for micro grants (up to $1,000) at any time during the year.
Micro Grant Application