Grant Opportunities

Grant opportunities for teachers and school personnel

Albany Fund for Education grants allow teachers and school personnel to try innovative projects and collaborations, expose their students to new places, people, and ideas, and enhance opportunities for students to learn, grow, and succeed.

Grant proposals may serve a classroom, a school, or multiple schools. They can fund field trips, supplies for hands-on projects and classroom needs, STEM and literacy nights, artist and writer residencies, social and emotional learning supports, and more. AFE offers two different kinds of grants – Resource Grants and Partnership Grants. Scroll down to learn more about the difference between these grants and see which one is best suited to your project. Examples of past grants are also described below.

To apply for a grant, please fill out the ONLINE APPLICATION. If you are logged into a personal or school google account, your answers will be saved as you work.

We recommend using this word version of the application to prepare your answers to the questions and then cutting and pasting your responses into the online form. We have found that grants prepared in these way tend to be more carefully thought out than grants typed directly into the google form, since it is difficult to refer back to your previous answers when filling out the form.

You will also need to fill out the GRANT BUDGET FORM and get administrator sign-off on the SIGNATURE FORM before submitting your grant application. Once you have completed these documents, please scan and email them to info@albanyfundforeducation.org. Your application is not complete until these forms have been received.

A few things to remember:

• • Before you apply, please make sure you have consulted your building or content area administrator to find out if funding is available. Sometimes we see grants submitted that could be funded by District resources, but the grant author did not know where to ask! Feel free to call AFE and ask for help if you are not sure whom to ask.

• • If grant funds are paid to the District, all District purchasing regulations must be followed. Having a check cut to your PTA, or to a community partner directly will allow you more flexibility in terms of timing and vendors.

• • Receiving an AFE grant does not exempt you from district policies regarding timing of field trips, etc.

• • AFE rarely funds grants for technology. Our budget is not large enough to allow for substantial technology purchases, and we also want to ensure that any technology purchased can be supported by District IT. Please check with us before submitting a grant for a technology purchase

• • AFE is no longer able to fund school or grade wide PBIS programming. If you think your request may fall under this category, contact us before filling out the grant application

• • A grant evaluation form must be completed and returned to AFE within a month of project completion.

• • If you change buildings, you may bring resources purchased with AFE funds to your new building. If you leave the district, your grant resources should remain in the building.

• • Any unspent funds must be returned to AFE.

Grants are reviewed monthly- if you have a particularly time-sensitive project please let us know when you submit your application. In order to make sure that the Grants Committee has time to review your application, follow this schedule for submission dates:

Resource Grants

Resource grants allow teachers/school staff to purchase materials for a specific project in their classroom or building.  Resource Grant funding can amounts range from $50 – $999.

Examples include: student magazine subscriptions, field trip admission or busing costs, plants and soil for a class garden, materials for a classroom calming corner or flexible seating, math manipulatives, etc. Before you fill out this application, please check with your building principal and with the instructional supervisor for the content area in which you are seeking a resource to make sure that there are not already materials or funding available.

Resource Grant Example: Teacher wants to replace the classroom incubator used for her annual chick hatching project.

To apply for a Resource Grant, please fill out the ONLINE APPLICATION. If you are logged into a personal or school google account, your answers will be saved as you work. You can preview the questions and prepare your answers in this word version of the application, but please note that you must then copy and paste into the online application. You will also need to fill out the BUDGET FORM and get administrator sign-off on the SIGNATURE FORM before submitting your grant application – these documents will need to be uploaded to the application.

Partnership Grants

The Albany Fund for Education believes that school-community partnerships improve student learning and achievement and establish greater community responsibility in positively influencing the educational experiences of students. As such, partnership grants, which are AFE’s primary vehicle for awarding funds of $1,000 or more, incentivize these relationships by requiring that all projects engage schools with community members, businesses and/or not-for-profit groups.

Before you fill out this application, please check with your building principal and with the instructional supervisor for the content area in which you are applying to make sure that there are not already materials or funding available.

A community partner is an external organization that will help make this project successful by contributing their time and/or resources. They are not vendors receiving payment unless significant in-kind contributions are involved. You will need to provide contact information for all partners involved in your application.

Partnership grants generally range from $1,000 to a maximum of $3,000. Not sure who would make a good community partner? Contact us – AFE can help line up community partners and flesh out initial ideas for your grant proposal.

Partnership Grant Example: Teacher wants to replace the classroom incubator used for her annual chick hatching project and take her students on a field trip to a farm to release the baby chicks and see actual chickens and eggs. The farm is the community partner.

To apply for a Partnership Grant, please fill out the ONLINE APPLICATION. If you are logged into a personal or school google account, your answers will be saved as you work. You can preview the questions and prepare your answers in this word version of the application, but please note that you must then copy and paste into the online application. You will also need to fill out the GRANT BUDGET FORM and get administrator sign-off on the SIGNATURE FORM before submitting your grant application – these documents will need to be uploaded to the application.

Innovation Grants

In limited circumstances, significant multi-school, multi-year, or large-scale projects that introduce new ideas and resources to the District, with budgets exceeding $3,000, may be pursued through an Innovation Grant, which must be developed in coordination with AFE. If you are seeking more than $3,000, please do not complete the online application and instead contact AFE for more information.  Innovation Grants may also support pilot programs with a plan for later expansion. The participation of a community partner in Innovation Grants is highly recommended, but is not required.

Innovation Grant Example: Elementary Science Curriculum leader and teachers want to introduce a chick hatching unit in all district schools. One incubator per school is purchased along with relevant grade level fiction and non-fiction books, the partnership with the farm is expanded, and a professional development workshop on integrating chicks across the curriculum is offered.

A Few of Our Recent Grants

• Albany High School/Abrookin Career and Technical Center – “Black Girl in Summer Surrounded by Butterflies + Student Written Works.” Albany High is putting on a play written by a former Albany High student. Throughout the experience, AHS is building ties between the community at large and student body to help seniors with networking for their future- as well as foster community within their own environment. This play will be open from May 30th to June 1st!
• Albany High School – “SkillsUSA Competition.” AFE support helped winning students from the Culinary Arts and Construction Technology programs at Albany High to attend the SkillsUSA State Competition in Syracuse April 23 – 25. Students competed with other CTE students throughout NYS in their content areas.
• Albany High School/Abrookin Career and Technical Center – “A Winning Combination: Authors and Comics.” Steven Sheinkin, a nationally-award winning author of non-fiction visited Albany High School students and discussed his recent fiction book, as well as his style of writing to turn history lessons into fast-paced, engaging stories. With AFE’s grant, more than 300 copies of Sheinkin’s books were able to be purchased for the students to have free of charge. This grant also supported Albany High’s free comic book day event!
• Albany International Academy – “Library Lab – STEM Enrichment.” The library at AIA hosted a variety of hands-on STEM learning opportunities for students to experiment with during study halls or lunch periods. Activities included (1) Paired book readings and challenges; (2) Stations where students created experiments based on their own curiosity and interests; (3) ‘Make and take’ activities like making paper circuit cards using LED lights/copper tape/batteries. This grant has prompted interest in creating a building-wide science kit lending library. 
• Delaware Community School – “STEM Night.” At the Delaware Community School, the gym was transformed into an “under the sea” themed STEM night, complete with virtual reality scanners, robots, crafts, games, prizes all utilizing different aspects of STEM. A pizza dinner was also provided for all that attended! 
• Giffen Memorial Elementary School – “Giffen Garden Party.” Giffen Memorial Elementary School participated in a day of service honoring Arbor Day & National Youth Service month. With support from many community partners, students engaged in school-day, science-based enrichment programming and community service activities, like raking, weeding, and planting around school grounds. The event culminated with a community celebration of service. 
• Montessori Magnet School – “Lunar New Year.” In partnership with the Glens Falls’ World Awareness Cultural Museum, pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students were introduced to the Lunar New Year Festival. Students learned through hands-on stations with authentic objects, clothing, and a make and take project that brought the celebration to life. 
• New Scotland Elementary School – “The Black Arts Experience.” The 2025 Black History Month theme at New Scotland Elementary School was the Black Arts Experiences. Students explored the contributions of prominent Black artists and how their work reflected cultural identity, social justice, and resilience. Each grade level, from Pre-K to 5th grade, chose an art form —visual arts, music, photography, or dance—and created a project that demonstrated their understanding of the historical context and significance of the art. Community artists came to NSES on February 27th and 28th to share their talents with students.
• Stephen and Harriet Myers Middle School – “Breakout EDU.” Breakout EDU digital and physical games challenged students to collaborate with their classmates to solve puzzles, decipher clues, and unlock a series of virtual or physical locks before time ran out. Students used their critical thinking skills while collaborating with classmates to achieve a common goal- a perfect combination of standards based learning and general life skills!
• Tony Clement Center for Education/William S. Hackett Middle School – “Valleycats Education Day” and “A Day of Science at the Valleycats!” This May, two of our schools will venture to the Valleycats stadium for a day of STEM, social-emotional learning, and baseball! Students will learn how STEM and other academic subjects intersect with baseball while also discussing anti-bullying and character development. 

Any questions applying for grants?

Proposals are accepted, reviewed, and awarded throughout the year. See the grant application for monthly consideration deadlines and address questions to Mari Shopsis, AFE Executive Director, at 518-417-2107, (execdir@albanyfundforeducation.org); or Sean Fitzsimons, Grant Committee Chair, at sfitzsimons@albany.k12.ny.us.  We encourage you to discuss your idea with us prior to submitting the proposal. In addition, we ask that you complete and submit the grant evaluation form within one month of completing your project.