ART WORKS FOR TEACHERS PODCAST | EPISODE 117 | 22:12 MIN
Finding Funds to Fuel Creativity
Enjoy this free download of the The Funding Guide.
Hey there, friend, welcome back to another episode of Artworks for Teachers. I’m your host, Susan Riley, and today we are gonna be talking all about money. Specifically, how to get money to fund your arts integration or STEAM efforts this year. One of the biggest hurdles that almost all teachers, schools, districts, you name it, encounter is funding, right? And we all know this.
Our budgets are all tight and we feel like we can’t go to our school and ask for more money because there’s limited money to be had. But that’s actually a big myth and I want to bust it today and show you exactly where to approach your school for the money, what kind of money they have in there and how to get it in order to support your arts integration or STEAM efforts. Now.
Along with this episode, there is a funding resource guide. It’s completely free for you. We have it on the site. Be sure to go to artsintegration.com forward slash artworks and download today’s episode and grab that template or that funding source. You can also find the funding source at artsintegration.com forward slash funding. And all of the things that I’m going to share with you today are outlined in there. It even includes a little bit of research.
So if you need research in order to get the funding, all of that is included in that guide. You’re definitely going to want to go ahead and grab that as well. Now, I want to share with you just some very easy tips today in how to secure those funds, how to know where they are, and what kind of money you’re looking at in order to help you lift off your efforts in a really big way and sustain them over time. That’s another key is that when we’re talking with schools and districts and we talk with schools all the time, like literally every week we’re speaking with schools about funding the accelerator for their school or getting school certification or getting individual certifications for teachers. And the biggest question is, you know, oftentimes they’ll come to us and ask, you know, how much is it? Give me a quote. And then they’ll say, that was, that’s bigger than what was in my, my current budget. And we’ll ask them, okay, where is that?
Where is your budget coming from? it’s oftentimes it’s a principal saying it’s just what I have available. And when we tell them there’s so many other sources that you can use that are available to you and we share them with the administrator, suddenly like a huge light bulb goes off. So that’s why I wanted to create this episode today because I want you to come back to this and reference it every time you think that there’s not money for whatever it is that you want to do.
I promise you that it’s there. Even if it’s just to get yourself an individual membership to something. It’s there. So let me teach you how. So the first step is to know what your funding sources are. You gotta know the buckets that you have available as a school in order to know where to go for funding, right? So typically when schools say they have a budget,
Oftentimes that’s provided to the administrator in the building and that is their budget at their discretion to use as they will. Sometimes that budget has already essentially been done for them by central office and they get a very small piece of discretionary funds that they can use. And so when you go just to your principal or if you are a principal looking at your budget, you may think and they say, you know, it’s not in my budget. They’re just looking at that discretionary funds line.
But there are so many other buckets that school districts have available that oftentimes people don’t know about. So let’s break them apart. First are Title I funds. Title I funds are set aside for schools that qualify as a Title I school or that have students, a certain amount of students who qualify for Title I funding. So that is a specific amount of students who are living in poverty at some level.
Typically it’s around 60%, so if you are a Title I school, you’ll know you have Title I funds available. If you’re not specifically a Title I school, you may still have Title I funds available, depending on the amount of students who meet that qualification. So don’t discount Title I funds just because you’re not a Title I school, just kind of make sure that you check on that. So Title I funds can be used to support anything that will enhance or deepen learning for Title I students. So yes, you can use Title I funds to support arts integration in STEAM. Now, here’s the caveat. You have to have the research behind whatever it is that you’re trying to use the funds for to show that they do impact student achievement and student learning or student outcomes. Some of those outcomes could be social-emotional learning or supports in classroom destruction, anything like that. So
Good news, we have lots and lots of research that shows that Arts Integration and STEAM are effective methods with working with students at disadvantages and particularly with Title I students. There are actual specific studies that are based on using Arts Integration or STEAM with Title I students and seeing those outcomes. Again, in that funding guide that’s a part of this episode,
We actually list out what those research studies are. We provide them like a direct link to them and we give you the language to use in order to request the funds using the research. I’m telling you, you’re going to want that guide. It’s literally copy and paste. So that’s how you can use Title I funds. Now there are also Title II funds. Title II funds are specifically for professional development for teachers. So all schools, no matter what the socioeconomic demographics are, are provided with Title II funds. Title II funds are available for things like the accelerator or certification or school certification. Anything that’s going to impact teacher professional development or be used for teacher professional development counts to be able to use Title II funds. Then there are Title IVa funds. Title IVa funds are for extracurriculars, student, any kind of student supplements. So for example, the accelerator would be considered a student supplement as well as a PV source because of the lessons that are provided inside the accelerator. So because we provide done for you arts integration and STEAM lessons in the accelerator, you can request Title IV funds to be able to use and purchase that accelerator for yourself or for others in your school you could use Title II funds for the accelerator or for conference. So if you wanted to attend the upcoming summer conference, you could request Title II funds to support that because that’s a professional learning experience for you. See how these different buckets could be used for different purposes, but you’re still being able to access the same resources. Again, part of it is knowing what funds are available, but also the language to use. And that’s why I really want you to go download that guide because the language is already in there for you, making it really easy for you to get approved for each of these funding buckets. Now, these funding buckets come from the federal government and they are set aside by your school district depending on the schools that you have available. So for example, Title I funds are distributed based on need and whether or not you’re a Title I school, all of that stuff. Title II and Title IVA funds are given to all schools. And by the way, it doesn’t matter if you’re public, private, charter, magnet, you can all get those title funds. Okay? So those are huge. The other way that you can get funding sources is through grants. Now in the funding guide, we have a list of grants that you can apply for that are not just TPT grants. Like you can use TPT funds and crowdsource from, or not TPT, I’m sorry.
You can use Donors Choose grants for any kind of professional development. You can use them for the accelerator, things like that. But that’s crowdsourcing a fund. And it’s okay, but it’s not one of the only ways that you have available to you. There are actually several different private grants that have rolling applications, which means that you can apply for them multiple times throughout the year. And if you don’t get it one time, you can apply again.
There are others that have a deadline that you can apply for, but they’re larger in scope, like $10,000, $20,000 that you can use for a bigger initiative. again, definitely go to get that funding guide because we have them listed along with their dates for submission for application and what qualifies for each. You can use these kinds of grants for literally anything. So it could be professional development. It could be the lesson plans that you’re looking to acquire. It could be that you’re looking to get a new AI tool. We have a brand new AI tool coming out that we’re developing right now called Artisource that is gonna be available in the summer for teachers that will literally create your lessons for you and give you the just-in-time PD that you need curated right there on a single area.
So you could apply grant for a grant in order to be able to access something like that. All of those private grants are also available to teachers all around the world and some just to the US. So we have them listed for you. In addition to the grants, you need to consider your grant writing. So what specifically that grant is looking for and then some tips that you’re going to want to consider on making that grant as strong as possible. If you’re looking for that,
Definitely go to episode 19. I just had to check my note for a minute. Episode 19 has an interview with Alison Greenhouse who shares her very best tips for grant writing and securing the grants that you’re looking to get no matter how big or small. We also have those grant writing tips in the funding guide. So either check out episode 19 or in that funding guide on how to write the very best grant you possibly can. And then
Just be thinking about outside of grants or title funds, are there community funds that are available to the local community? It could be a match. It could be a donation from the local community with your school. I know our schools do this all the time with like Chipotle nights or, you know, Texas Roadhouse nights that if your school goes during a specific night, a portion of those proceeds goes back to whatever program it is that you’re looking to support. Things like that are also a great way to raise funds for your program or for your needs. So those are the three main funding sources that I want you to consider. Now that you know what they are, then you have to know your audience. And this is key when you’re writing your grants, but also when you’re approaching people who have access to the funds, right? So if you are a teacher and you’re approaching your administrator, you’re gonna need to present your funding request in a specific way in order to even be on the radar for that, right? Because there are so many competing priorities at a school. If you’re approaching a central office leader in order to sign off on something, that’s a whole other audience member that you’ve got to consider because that person has access to the funds and for that specific purpose maybe, but there might be other schools requesting it.
So you gotta know the audience that you’re speaking to and then tailor your message to meet the audience. So for example, if you’re crafting your message and you’re thinking about your audience, first, I would actually recommend that you take a look at episode 26 when it talks about the keys for arts advocacy. Because there are four main buckets that you’re gonna wanna consider when you’re thinking about asking for funds who you’re talking to, what their priorities are, how to get them to listen, all of that good stuff that’s all covered in in episode 26 in the Keys to Arts Advocacy. Take a listen to that and then tailor your message three different ways. Think about, okay, if I’m asking for funds, here’s the funds that I need. Let’s say I need $5,000 in order to purchase a certain amount of licenses to do whatever it is that I wanna do for arts integration or STEAM.
I’m going to tailor my message for asking my principal. I’m going to ask the central office member, or I might be asking PTA to help support this, right? My parent teacher association has a very different point of view on providing funds than my principal, right? And central office is definitely going to have a different response than my principal, right? So considering those three audiences, think about how you would craft the message to meet the needs or the requirements of the individuals that you’re asking. So for example, if you’re asking your principal, go to your principal and say, I need the money for this purpose. Here’s how it’s going to impact our students. Here’s how it’s going to impact our staff. Here’s how much it’s going to cost. And I’ve already thought about where we could get it. So for example, if it’s for accelerator licenses,
Part of the money can come from Title II funds because of professional development, and part of them can come from the Title IV funds that we still have for supplemental resources because of the lessons. See? You’re doing all of the work for the administrator. And so you come prepared to that table. Now, would that same message ring true for a PTA member? No, they don’t have access to the Title II funds or the Title IV funds, right? They don’t. They have access to the funds that have been donated by parents.
And so what they want to know is how much money is this going to require? When do you need it by? How is this specifically going to impact our children? And how does this contribute to the overall school community? As well as maybe how parents can be a part of it and welcoming them into the process, right? Different audiences, same request, different messages.
So when you think about your request, I want you to think about crafting it for the different audiences that you’re going to need to approach in order to diversify your efforts. And it is so important to diversify. So many teachers will tell me, I asked my principal and they won’t fund my conference registration. And I said, did you ask the PTA? And he went, didn’t even think about that. Or here’s several grants that you may want to apply for. I didn’t know that they even existed think that the money only exists in one area. Look at all of the different places that could have the funds available for you and then go and craft your message to meet that audience or that decision maker where they are. All right? And if you run into red tape, which I guarantee you that you will, head over to episode number 46 where I talk with the author of the whole book about how to overcome red tape, specifically in bureaucracies like schools. There are lots of examples that she provides. And we also have a downloadable with like 15 different things that you can do to circumvent around the red tape. It’s a great little kind of spy-ish resource, which I actually love because it sounds like a little covert and it’s really not. It’s really just helping you to get past the unnecessary red tape that gets stuck in our way oftentimes. So that again is episode number 46. Last piece about getting and securing your funding and making sure that you have it for the long term is to know your purpose and your outcome. You gotta be really, really clear on what it is that you’re hoping to achieve and accomplish and have that be your guide as you’re writing a grant or as you’re requesting funds from your principal or going to the PTA.
If you have a really strong outcome, here’s what I want to accomplish and why. And why it’s important, how it fits into everything else, but knowing the purpose and the outcome, the likelihood of you receiving that funds is so much higher because you know exactly what you’re gonna do with them. You know exactly how it’s gonna be spent, for what purpose, and the end goal that you’re trying to achieve. So it’s much less likely that you’ll get a grant if it’s just
I want to go to a conference, right? Or, I want to get this certification. Why? What about that is going to be important and a driver for the student success in your school, right? If you go to this conference, what specifically are you looking to learn so that you can bring that back for your students and benefit them long term? If you’re looking to get certified in arts integration or if you’re looking to get your school certified,
What specifically are you looking to achieve with your students? Are you looking to help them increase their academic scores? Are you looking to use arts integration or STEAM as a method to build their social emotional learning gaps? What specifically are you looking to achieve by this thing that you want somebody to pay for? Right? So having a clear outcome and purpose is crucial to getting the funds that you need. So.
Those are my very best tips in order to securing funding that’s available to you. Again, know your funding sources, know your audience, and know your purpose. If you have these three big ideas and keep them in mind as you’re approaching folks for funding, I promise you you’re gonna be more successful this year than you’ve been before. All right, make sure that you go to today’s episode as well over at artsintegration.com forward slash artworks and make sure that you find the funding guide and download that. If you want the direct link to that funding guide, again, that is artsintegration.com forward slash funding, you can download that guide for free. All right, good luck getting funds for your initiative. And again, if you need support or if you have an idea that you want to bounce around with our team, reach out, just DM us. We’re at arts int edu everywhere. And DM us and let us know and we’re happy to help and support you in any way that we
Thanks so much and I look forward to seeing you on the next episode of Artworks for Teachers.
Episode 19 – How to Write a Winning Grant
Episode 26 – 4 Keys to Arts Advocacy
Episode 46 – Cutting through Red Tape