January 27, 2012

TO: NEISD Educators

FROM: North East Educational Foundation

SUBJECT: Request for Project/Program Grant Requests

The North East Educational Foundation (“NEEF”) is a non-profit organization created to develop and expand educational opportunities for students of the North East Independent School District.  One of its principal goals is to identify and fund worthy projects and programs whose costs exceed the limitations of the district’s regular, tax- supported budget. 

As in past years, NEEF will direct its funding to district-wide, single campus and single classroom projects.  General project qualification guidelines;

1. Projects must enhance and support the instructional program;

2. Campus projects must be approved by both the CIC and principal;

3. District-wide projects must be approved by both the DEIC and the Associate Superintendent of Instruction; and

4. Project grant requests must be submitted on time

NEEF has elected to limit the number of grant requests that will be accepted from a given campus to three (3).  Please see the broad definition of campus below. Priority will be given to grade-level or subject-wide campus projects over individual classroom projects.

Please follow the instructions below in order to apply for funding consideration. The process requires that all grant requests be electronically submitted to NEEF by March 4, 2012 via our website: projects@northeastfoundation.org

The following items will not be funded by the foundation:

1. Personnel stipends/salaries and staff development costs
2. Capital outlay items (fixtures, furnishings, and equipment) such as computer hardware, cameras, and bookshelves
3. Travel costs and lodging (field trips)
4. Food, candy, drinks or any promotional items (stickers, pencils, pads, erasers, etc.)

Grant Request Submittal Instructions

1. Please fill out the online NEEF Project Grant Request Form.   This will be considered as the “official version” of your grant request and submittal.

2. Please do not modify the document formatting or try to substitute an “equivalent” document.

3. Upon completion of the Project Grant Request, please print a hard copy for signature(s) and submittal in steps 6 and 7 below.

4. When you press the “submit” button at the bottom of the third (last) page of the grant request form a specially formatted file will be automatically created and submitted to NEEF:

o Please note: this part of the process must be done from a computer with both email and Internet access.

o Your email system will submit your grant request (via an Adobe .pdf file) to projects@northeastfoundation.org

5. Please do not submit any pamphlets, brochures, price lists, photos, or other material with either the electronic submittal or the properly signed hard copy of your electronic submittal.

6. Secure the required approval signatures. Failure to secure the required signatures will be cause for the submittal to be rejected.

7. Send (via PONY) a hard copy of the grant request form with the signature page to:

North East Educational Foundation (NEEF)

2nd Floor

Faxed transmissions will not be accepted.

8. We suggest you keep a copy of the grant request and signature page for your records.

Time Table

We will begin accepting project grant requests beginning Thursday, January 27, 2012.

1. Deadline for the online grant request submission no later than 10:00pm (Central Time), Sunday, March 4, 2012.

2. Deadline to send a hardcopy of the application form and signed signature page to the NEEF office before 4:00 PM (Central Time) Thursday, March 8, 2012.

Extensions of the deadlines will not be considered except in the event of a major district-wide catastrophic event (covering several days). Don’t take a chance – please submit early.

If you have questions, please email info@northeastfoundation.org. 

Click here for the project grant request form: NEEF Project Grant Request Form

Miscellaneous Items

The term “campus” is currently not meant to be narrowly defined; for example, NEEF presently considers Lee High School and ISA as individual campuses for the purpose of reviewing grant requests even though they share the same site and buildings. 

Funding will be awarded on an annual basis.  Subsequent funding will require re-application with emphasis on the prior year’s results as well as consideration of other current requests.