There are a number of types of funders.
The Cleveland Heights-University Heights District competitive grants are primarily funded by:
The State of Ohio
Community Foundations
The Cleveland Foundation
Independent Foundations
The George Gund Foundation
The Martha Holden Jennings Foundation
The McGinty Foundation
Reaching Heights
Company-Sponsored Corporate Foundations
WalMart
TOYOTA Time
Private Trusts
The Robert L. Soltz Special Projects Fund
The Ronald and Isabelle Brown Special Fund for the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District
The State of Ohio provides a portion of funds through competitive grant processes. The best known recent state RFPs (request for funding) have been for the OhioReads literacy programs. Ohio’s competitive grants have largely moved to on-line submission through the district CCIP (Comprehensive Continuous Improvement Plan).
Community Foundations, such as the Cleveland Foundation, are publicly-sponsored organizations that raise funds from many donors. The Cleveland Foundation (TCF) focuses support in the greater Cleveland area. The Cleveland Foundation prefers to support large, substantive projects with district-wide impact.
Independent Foundations, such as the George Gund Foundation, typically originate with a large gift from an individual or family. Family members may sit on the board and direct the dispersal of funds. The Gund Foundation, like the Cleveland Foundation, seeks substantive projects that affect more than a classroom or even school.
The Martha Holden Jennings and McGinty Foundations are ardent supporters of smaller projects. Many individual teachers and/or teams have successfully received funding through these foundations.
Reaching Heights is a public school foundation created specifically to support Heights staff. Their grant deadlines occur throughout the school year for a variety of projects – from academic programs to community connection grants.
Company-Sponsored Foundations are set up as private foundations but derive funds from a profit-making corporation. These foundations are independent of their corporations although guidelines may restrict support to locations where the company has a presence. Locally, we seek funding from local corporate funders such as WalMart and Target.
Special Trusts are funds set up by school supporters and managed by the school district’s finance office. These funds can be significant in supporting new project ideas for individual teachers or small teams of staff.