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January 5, 2020

Professional Development Funding Sources

Making the choice to enroll in a professional development opportunity was the easy part, but we know that funding can be challenging. Here are a number of funding sources for teachers available (we’re constantly on the lookout for more and update this page as we find them).

man doing chair yoga at his desk

Donors Choose – An online charity aimed at providing crowdfunding to K-12 public schools throughout the United States. Teachers post project requests on the site. Donors can then contribute to those projects in amounts as small as one dollar. Approximately 70% of projects are successfully funded. If a project does not meet its stated goal, funds contributed are returned to the donors.

Class Wish – A website that allows teachers to create a “Wish List” of the materials needed for their classrooms. Supporters then contribute money designated for specific K-12 schools or teachers. ClassWish then purchases the materials and has them shipped directly to the school. ClassWish is a nonprofit organization and donations are tax deductible.

Adopt A Classroom – A nonprofit organization that pairs donors with teachers to raise money for their classroom needs. 100% of the funds received are made immediately available to the teacher through an online credit.

Piggy Backr – A crowdfunding website that focuses on schools, communities groups and youth. Individuals and groups seeking funds in these areas create a project fundraising page on the site. Donors contribute using credit and debit cards. Once the fundraiser is over, Piggybackr sends the funds seeker a check for the amount raised, minus a small percentage-based fee.

Classy – A crowdfunding website designed to make things easy. Bring your story and mission to life through beautiful, brand-centric campaign pages without a single line of code. First campaign is free to launch.

Fund For Teachers – An organization that grants to teachers that allow them to “pursue self-designed professional learning experiences.” Eligibility is open to PreK-12 teachers, who apply by submitting detailed descriptions of their proposed fellowships. Awards of up to $5,000 are made to individuals and up to $10,000 for educator teams.

The NEA Foundation – A nonprofit organization that has invested over $7.1 million funding nearly 4,500 grants to public school teachers aimed at enhancing teaching and learning. It is supported through educator contributions, corporate and foundation sponsorship, and other sources. More than $11 million in grants have also been made directly to unions and school districts through the Foundation’s Closing the Achievement Gaps Initiative.

Awesome Without Borders – A global community advancing the interest of awesome in the universe, $1000 at a time. Each fully autonomous chapter supports awesome projects through micro-grants, usually given out monthly. These micro-grants, $1000 or the local equivalent, come out of pockets of the chapter’s “trustees” and are given on a no-strings-attached basis to people and groups working on awesome projects.

Did you know?

Research suggests as little as 5 minutes of Yoga Ed. daily can improve mental health.

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