Great teachers have great ideas. Together with you, the Hilliard Education Foundation wants to bring those ideas to life and help teachers and students do more! Each year, the Foundation will choose the best ideas and award grants to make them happen.

TEACHERS and STAFF
Keep reading to find out more information about applying for a grant.

PARENTS and COMMUNITY SUPPORTERS
Give now to support creativity and passion in our teachers and students!

We WILL fund:

  • New, innovative or unique learning opportunities for students
  • Projects not supported through traditional funding sources
  • Requests of $10,000 or less (this is an increase from previous years)
  • Opportunities with clear linkages to district-approved curriculum

We WON’T fund:

  • Author Visits
  • Transportation costs
  • Staff salaries, stipends or substitute costs
  • Consumable supplies (i.e. t-shirts, food)
  • Purchase of equipment to simply expand a current program with no new element
  • Continuation or repeat of an existing program (artist-in-residence excluded)
  • Individual Professional Development

Special Grant Opportunities
The following grants are provided by donors who have designated additional specific criteria. You must meet all the criteria above and the following to be eligible for these grants.

  • The Jessica Grové Fund for the Performing Arts. This grant will support High School performing arts programs.

 

APPLICATION PROCESS/TIMELINE

  • Summary Page (aka Letter of Intent) – Last Friday in January  
    • Review our 2025 Grant Guidelines to make sure your idea is eligible.
    • Submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) – a one page summary of your idea – anytime throughout the year but no later than the last Friday in January.
      Your LOI will be reviewed and feedback given the first week of the following month.       Letter of Intent Form
  • Grant Application – February 28, 2025
    • The LOI isn’t a prerequisite to applying for a grant but is intended to provide feedback to applicants while preparing the grant application.
    • All grant applications must be received no later than February 28th. HEF Grant Application.
  • Notification of Award – April 30th
    • Applicants will be be notified of funding decisions by April 30th.
  • Next Steps after receiving a Grant
    • Applicants who are awarded a grant should submit a completed  Payment Request Form in order to receive funding.
    • Applicants should not pay for grants and then seek reimbursement from the Hilliard Education Foundation. Doing so will lead to forfeiture of the awarded grant.
    • Funds must be requested within one year of a grant award.

Congratulations 2024 Grant Winners

In 2024 the Hilliard Education Foundation awarded six grants with a total of almost $40,000 awarded and impacting thousands of students in Hilliard schools.

Future Forward Lunch and Learn
Darby Creek Campus
Students can learn from professionals and work on interests each week in the Innovation and Discovery Center during their recess to explore a new career option. This program will also allow the students the opportunity to apply learned concepts about career options and paths to be explored through hands-on experiences by funding the equipment needed for the experts to teach the students the skills and trades they use everyday.

 

 

Constructing Calculating Minds
Darby High School
Funds the purchase and installation of coordinate plane whiteboards in all math classrooms. This initiative aligns with the district’s
commitment to vertical learning, inspired by Peter Liljedahl’s “Building Thinking Classrooms.” Vertical learning fosters a collaborative learning environment, promoting deep thinking and excitement about math among students.

 

 

Visual and Verbal Literacy: Creating Graphic Novels and Manifesting Positivity
JW Reason Elementary School
This grant will fund lessons on reading, writing, word acquisition and comprehension using graphic novels in varied interests and genres  Lessons will be supplemented by bringing in an artist/graphic novelist and an artist who uses text to inspire. The project will culminate in a school wide group mural and a collection of graphic stories, written and illustrated by students, compiled into a volume for all students.

 

Creating Safe Spaces
Darby High School
Will bring yoga and the practice of mindfulness into the Freshmen Focus groups to help to assuage any anxiety and/or trauma so that students can focus on the essential job of learning in the classroom. Historically, it has been a challenging transition for students as they move on from middle school to high school as they adjust to new schedules, a variety of teaching styles and the impending anxiety that can be associated with graduation. By targeting the incoming freshmen class, this will set the foundation for success as they continue through the years towards graduation.

 

Jag Den Podcasting Studio
Bradley High School
Will create a sound studio within the Media Center to provide students with the opportunity to create and produce podcasts and other digital media for both general education and elective courses. Students will gain the expertise to create a legacy and digital footprint that they can take with them after they graduate as well as keeping them on the cutting edge of the broadcasting field.

 

Increasing Literacy in Spanish for Spanish Speakers
Davidson High School
The objective of this project is to increase literacy and boost interest in literacy in the target langauge. Providing choice books (fiction and non-fiction) that include topics of interest will help increase literacy in Spanish.