Help me identify potential grant sources for rebuilding an elementary school's IT network

September 19, 2009 9:42 AM

I have been tasked with rebuilding the computer lab and administrative systems for an elementary school. One of my tasks will be to seek out and apply for grants of funds or equipment for an upgrade. What organizations should I approach?

The primarily African-American Christian school located on the south side of Chicago has approximately 20 lab machines and 8 administrative machines, though the majority of the machines are out-of-date. I would be looking to obtain network hardware (firewall, switches), complete desktop systems, printers, 2 small servers, client licenses for Office and Windows, antivirus and content-filtering solutions, and (potentially off-site) backup.

I've found this ask question about how to approach a foundation and there's plenty of information about how to write a grant request but there seems to be vast volumes of potential sources and I'm not sure how to identify who would be an ideal partner.

Is this report worth the money? Who else would you recommend I/we approach?

Much obliged!

posted by Imhotep is Invisible to technology (4 comments total)

Write to Oprah. Seriously.
posted by hermitosis at 9:46 AM on September 19 [1 favorite]

you might want to subscribe to this directory to identify foundations and their priorities nationally and in your area. Targeting appropriate foundations whose priorities match your mission is essential in saving you a lot of time and wasted effort.

Times are tough right now for fundraising in corporate, governmental, and private donations... And it is harder to get money for "things" (equipment, buildings, etc) as opposed to direct service provision. ...

Also, look at how you can save some money in terms of your purchase... could you use Open Office instead, etc.

I just set up a 10 computer lab for my non-profit by going to the local university's property disposal warehouse and picking up 10 PC's and Monitors for $1 each...they are probably about 4 years old, but do what we need them to do...

get creative!

good luck!
posted by HuronBob at 9:55 AM on September 19

There might be grants offered through the state dept. of education. I live in CT and our state does.
posted by archimago at 6:35 PM on September 19

I used to work for EDS and they had an education grant program, but now they have merged with HP and it looks like it's only for secondary education. I am putting the link here in case someone else reading this can use it:
HP Education grants
posted by CathyG at 6:57 PM on September 19