Good Idea Grants

FISEF Good Idea Grants support federally impacted PreK-12 teachers and schools in their efforts to address students’ academic needs and social/emotional wellness. Grants of up to $5,000 are awarded to NAFIS-member school district applicants that strive to increase outcomes in these areas. These grants typically go to teachers with great ideas whose projects would otherwise go unfunded due to budgetary restraints in the district.

Eligible projects:

• Provide students the opportunity to grow and become creative, innovative and critical thinkers.
• Are sustainable – they can be replicated in other classrooms, schools and school districts.
• Allow students to apply classroom knowledge to real-life applications.

FISEF Good Idea Grants have funded a wide range of projects, including preschool preparedness, robotics, after school reading programs, outdoor classrooms, a digital history of a Native American tribe, efforts to strengthen community relations between military members and citizens and more.

The grant application opens at the NAFIS Fall Conference and runs through December 15. Grantees are announced at the NAFIS Spring Conference.

The 2023-2024 grant application is now available! Download the application here.

To help spread the word about this opportunity, we have prepared a teacher’s lounge flyer, which can be posted at schools, attached to emails to staff or used for other promotional purposes.

As part of grant reporting, recipients are required to submit a video on their project, which is shown at the NAFIS Spring Conference.

See how a Good Idea Grant supports an project on food sovereignty for alternate education students at the School District of Bayfield (Wisconsin) high school.

See how a Good Idea Grant supports “Brewing Independence” for students with disabilities in Lemont Township High School District 210 (Illinois).

Questions about Good Idea Grants? Contact Anne O’Brien, FISEF Activities Director and NAFIS Director of Communications, at anne@nafisdc.org.