Seeking Grants and Philanthropic Support for Education – Session #1
School districts nationwide face declining budgets. Expanding school choice funding, declining student enrollments, and changes in state and local tax policies are making it harder for districts to anticipate revenues, leading some to cut programs, reduce staff, and even close schools. A 2025 survey by EdWeek Research Center found that more than 75% of education leaders also expect decreased federal funding for education, and 23% are planning to ask for support from philanthropic foundations and local organizations. Although they cannot fully compensate for the loss of revenues, education-focused philanthropies offer grants and other forms of investments that can help mitigate the effects. During this hands-on workshop, you will learn how to identify potential funders, how to apply for grants, and how to engage with philanthropies as partners in education. You will practice developing and presenting a concept paper for funding and receive helpful feedback from your colleagues. Bring your ideas to this session, and come away with an outline of your grant-funded project and a plan to find the resources to make it a reality.
Dr. Merewyn Lyons
Dr. Merewyn Lyons is a Senior Research Analyst with Instructional Empowerment’s Applied Research Center. Her primary research interest is educational psychology, with focus on understanding the effect of motivation on teaching, learning, and educational leadership. She is co-author of peer reviewed articles Frontiers in Education, Quality Education for All, and Sage Open.
Dr. Lyons has over 40 years of experience in organizational leadership, management, and education. She is a retired officer of the United States Navy where she held high level leadership positions on major Navy staffs and as a commanding officer. She is also a retired K-12 educator who served as a classroom teacher, school administrator, and district executive director of large federally funded grant projects.
Dr. Lindsey Basileo
Dr. Lindsey Devers Basileo is the Director of Research at the Applied Research Center of Instructional Empowerment. She earned her doctorate from Florida State University in 2010 and is a nationally certified reviewer for the What Works Clearinghouse, specializing in Group Design Standards (Version 4.0 and 4.1). Her research interests include school improvement, educational innovations, self-determination theory, Diffusion of Innovation theory, Group Design standards, survey design and collection, and both quantitative and qualitative methods.
Dr. Basileo’s dedication to conducting thorough and impartial research in the field of education has not only tremendously helped our organization, but the many students and educators that we collaborate with through our efforts to improve educational outcomes in schools.
Session Details
Audience: ALL
Difficulty Level: ALL