To begin the grant-seeking process, you should have a project idea in mind that is more specific than “I need a grant for technology.” Typing “grants for education” into a search engine will return a glut of web sites that you’d then need to pore through until you find opportunities you’re eligible for and that match the project you want to implement. Instead of looking for grants using general search terms, try using more specific terms, such as “grants for math programs for elementary students” or “grants for reading programs for elementary students.”
Where can you look for grant opportunities from public funders in particular? The most obvious place to start is ED’s web site, www.ed.gov. On the department’s home page, you’ll find a “Funding” tab; click there, and you’ll find numerous programs listed under a link called “Discretionary grant opportunities.”
This page lists all of the grant competitions from ED that are currently open. One challenge is that these competitions generally are announced only four to eight weeks before the deadline, so you’ll need to check back frequently for new opportunities.
To help you plan your grant-seeking efforts more effectively, you can also go to ED’s Funding Forecast page to look for anticipated grant competitions organized by specific offices within the department. This page gives grant seekers a “heads up” as to when competitions are expected to be announced during the next three to six months, and it offers a variety of information about each program.
Don’t forget to explore grant opportunities from other federal agencies, too. The National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Commerce Department, and Agriculture Department all offer grants for education technology, such as the Agriculture Department’s Distance Learning and Telemedicine grants and loans.
Grant seekers also can follow the latest federal funding opportunities in the Federal Register, where the details for each grant program are outlined as competitions are announced. And if you have the Catalog of Federal and Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number for a particular grant program you’re interested in—it’s typically five digits long, and all of the grants for education begin with “84”—you can go to the CFDA web site, www.cfda.gov, type in the number, and receive details about the program in question.
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