FIELD TRIP GRANTS

By Courtney Lind

Field trips can be influential and inspirational, offering students transformational academic and cultural opportunities. However, like many extracurricular events, they can come with a big price tag. In an effort to seek creative funding for these trips, here are some resources around field trip grants to get you started. Remember to carefully read the requirements and guidelines for each grant to ensure that you are eligible and that your field trip fits within the parameters of the grant.

Foundations across the country offer support for educators, and new opportunities continue to arise year after year. There are also a wide variety of more localized grants specific to states or even cities that can help fund field trips, transportation and project supplies. Here are some current field trip grants offered on a national scale.

• The NEA Foundation Student Success Grants support educators engaging students in projectbased and deeper learning to support the development of skills and dispositions contributing to success and fulfillment in a changing world. Grants between $1,500 and $5,000 are available.

• The Beacon and Verizon: Teacher Technology Grant are field trip grants that fund projects, allowing students to engage with educational content through the interactive learning experiences of Virtual Reality (VR) headsets.

• Voya Unsung Heroes program has helped thousands of K-12 educators fund innovative classroom and out-of-classroom projects such as field trips.

• NASA Title 1 School Discount Program helps subsidize the price of a field trip ticket.

• Civil Air Patrol includes two grant opportunities and resources for several different programs to bolster K-12 experiences related to flight and aerospace through the partnering Air Force Auxiliary.

• The Road Scholarship Program offered by the SYTA Youth Foundation helps cover travel costs related to field trips and learning.

• Sol Hirsch NWAF Education Fund Grants for K-12 Teachers/ Educators is intended for teachers, program directors, school district supervisors and other individuals proposing to improve the education of K-12 students in meteorology through projects or field trips.

• State Farm® Community Grants are yearly grants that help educators who are committed to helping build safer, stronger and better-educated communities.

• Toshiba America Foundation grants support teacher-designed projects across a variety of grades to those in the fields of science and math.

• Melinda Gray Ardia Environmental Foundation’s grant program is for educators looking to enhance their environmental curriculum, providing support for integrated field activities, classroom teaching and problem solving.

Many states and local corporations offer field trip funding and grants for local schools. Check with local businesses, non-profits and community organizations to see if there are any grants available. This can also include places of interest such as museums, zoos and cultural institutions. You can also branch out and check with associations that are relevant to your subject area, such as the National Science Teachers Association or the National Council for the Social Studies. In addition, check with your school’s PTA or similar organizations, as they often have fundraising efforts.

There are many websites that list grants available for field trips. One example is Grants.gov, which is a comprehensive database of federal grants. You can also try websites such as GrantsAlert.com, GetEdFunding.com, GrantWatch. com, DonorsChoose.org or AdoptAClassroom.org, which allow you to create a fundraising campaign for your classroom to put toward field trips. You can also search for grants on Google by using terms such as “field trip grants for students” or “education grants for field trips.” Also look for corporate grants, as many large corporations such as Costco, Walmart and Target provide grants to support education, including field trips.

Another more general funding source is to look for admission discounts or admission-specific programs for student groups. This may cover a portion or all the admission price and is a great way to help offset costs.

Be sure to check out special offers for student groups as well as any “free days” happening near you. For local national parks, monuments or museums, take advantage of National Parks Free Days. And under the Every Kid Outdoors program, all fourth graders get a yearly pass for free admission into national parks, including student family members.

There are countless field trip grants and assistance programs available for educators, ranging from broad in scope to highly specialized. If you plan well in advance and spend a bit of time researching the opportunities that are available, it can reap great rewards for both you and your students. ■