DCSF has $50,000 to award in classroom grants

The Demopolis City Schools Foundation is pleased to announce it has $50,000 to award through the Classroom Grants program for the 2014-15 school year. Educators in the Demopolis City School System should check their school email accounts for a link to the online Fall 2014 Grant Application. If you did not receive an email and wish to apply for a grant this fall — or you have any questions — please contact Amanda Barnes at 289-2226 or dcsf@westal.net.

Applications must be received by 5 p.m. on Monday, August 25. Grants will be announced in late September 2014.

Applications are evaluated by the seven member Grants Committee and approved by the Demopolis City Schools Foundation’s Board of Directors. The committee uses a set of standards in its evaluation process that reviews and ranks:

• The clarity of the grant request and its goals;

• The objectives of the grant request to ensure they are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely;

• The fulfillment of the mission of the Foundation; and

• The potential impact to fulfill a critical need or issue.

Amanda Barnes, Executive Director of the Foundation, oversees the process. “We look forward to reading grant applications every fall. The creativity of our educators is always exciting to see.” Aliquippa Allen, Grants Committee Chair, said, “The process is an interesting one. It is ‘blind’, meaning we are evaluating the applications without ever knowing the teachers who have applied. This allows the committee to focus solely on the projects being proposed.”

Last year, the Foundation received requests in excess of $120,000, and were able to fund 22 grants totaling $50,000. Barnes said, “The Committee is called on to make some difficult decisions about what to fund. It isn’t an easy task, but they are excellent stewards of the funds our donors entrust us with.”

The Demopolis City Schools Foundation is an independent nonprofit established in 1993 to encourage private philanthropic support of the Demopolis public school system. Governed by a 32-member Board of Directors, the Foundation has provided over $950,000 in classroom grants since its inception, including over $50,000 in 2013. The Foundation also holds over $930,000 in reserve and endowment funds to ensure continued support in the future.