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Preparing Grant Requests and Funding Proposals  Charter schools often seek grants to support facilities planning, development, and operations in addition to using grants to launch and sustain programming, teacher development, and other needs. This area of the NISN Resource Hub includes content on planning, writing, and submitting proposals.  Capital requests are often complex funding applications. […]

Improving Funding Readiness and Fundability The resources below help schools improve their “Funding Readiness.” The concept of funding readiness includes: Qualities that are typically desired by funders because they are viewed as indicators of strong organizations that are capable of managing funding and programming well (fundability), and An organization’s ability to select, apply for, and

Screening Funding Opportunities There are countless grants and other funding opportunities available through federal, state, local, and tribal governments; public and private foundations; and corporations.  To give a sense of scale, the subscription database, Foundation Directory Online, includes information on more than 240,000 grant-making foundations and has records of 4,000,000 awards in 2020 alone. The

Conventional public schools secure nearly all funding for developing facilities from dedicated government sources. Nationally, about 82% of capital costs for facilities comes from local governments, such as school districts, and 18% comes from state governments (USDE, NCSRC, 2020). Conversely, public charter schools typically lack adequate state and local funding for facilities capital costs. Filling

This searchable Facilities Funding Directory includes foundations, federal programs, and community development financial institutions (CDFIs) that offer support for facilities-related needs. Support types include grants, loans, loan guarantees, tax credits, rebates, in-kind donations, and technical support. These funders operate nationally or serve multiple states; school leaders should also search the State Charter School Regulations and

Directory of Facilities Assistance Providers This tool allows users to search for technical assistance providers that may be relevant to their school and facilities project. Technical assistance is non-financial help provided by local or international specialists. It can take the form of sharing information and expertise, instruction, skills training, transmission of working knowledge, and consulting

Facilities Construction: Process and Detailed Planning This area of the NISN Resource Hub focuses on construction of school buildings. Tools support the detailed planning and budgeting of larger renovation and construction projects and the renovation of modular buildings. These resources build upon the early planning tools in Assessing Facilities Needs.  In the video below, Brian

Assessing Facilities Needs This section focuses on recommended steps for facilities planning, site selection, scoping school space needs, and assessing existing buildings and sites for potential school use. Also included are tools and information on local charter school regulations and resources and introductory information about locating schools on Tribal land. Whether planning a new school,

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NISN has created a video series on key facilities topics for school leaders, facilities teams, governing councils, and other stakeholders involved in visioning, planning, and building facilities. Also included are case studies of two schools representing different facilities journeys, settings, and points in growth. Facilities 101 Video Series Video #1: Introduction: Video #2: Funding Video