Today's public and private schools can no longer rely on traditional sources of funding to fulfill their educational goals. Although grants have become increasingly popular alternatives for financial support, principals and their staff must face stiff competition for these limited sources. This practical, step-by-step guide is for principals who want to improve their chances of winning grants for their schools.

As administrative leaders, principals are in a pivotal position to motivate teachers, parents, and volunteers in the grantseeking process. This guide provides principals with techniques for mobilizing school staff, coordinating community support, developing winning proposals, constructing realistic plans and budgets, and successfully implementing those grants that have been awarded. David Bauer is not only an educator and former administrator but a noted expert in grantseeking and fund-raising. He draws from his extensive experience to share useful strategies as well as resources, including worksheets, forms, sample proposal formats, and checklists to measure progress. The grants marketplace can be a tremAndous resource for schools who know their way around. This guide helps empower schools and their leaders in resolving their funding problems.

As school districts struggle with decentralized management, the need to coordinate grant proposal development has grown dramatically. This indispensable resource contains all the practical tools that districts need to manage cross-curricular proposals for all their schools. It describes the key elements of a successful grants system, explains the legal, ethical, and financial requirements of grantseeking programs, and offers worksheets and checklists to help organize every aspect of grants promotion and administration. Grants expert David Bauer shares sound advice and such important instruments as:

• A planning matrix for refining goals and objectives
• A systems analysis spreadsheet for reviewing budget and staff resources
• A step-by-step outline for developing a grants procedure manual

  This comprehensive guide also shows how to provide grantseekers with computer-based research tools. Timely and practical, Successful Grants Program Management focuses on the district's role in winning corporate, federal, and foundation grants.

Smart teachers know that increased school budgets and taxes do not always lead to better educational programs and services. Classrooms are often the last to receive any additional funding. As classroom leaders and innovators, teachers are increasingly seeking grants to help finance classroom improvements or school reform mandates. The process of winning grants, however, is a time-consuming and competitive venture. The challenge is even greater when teachers do not have their own grantseeking processes in place.

This step-by-step primer takes the guesswork out of grantseeking. It shows teachers how to select the right funding sources, organize proposal ideas, write a convincing and well-prepared proposal, identify who will evaluate the proposal and the scoring system they will use, and efficiently implement the proposal when the grant funds are won. Based on time-proven techniques and useful strategies, The Teacher's Guide to Winning Grants reveals how teachers can obtain the inside information they need to increase their chances of grant success. With this knowledge, teachers can develop effective grantseeking methods that will enable them to secure funds and move their schools in the direction they want.