Now my kids are in school and we are all done with travel for a while, I’m ready to swing my visiting author visit activities into high gear! I’m actively looking for schools to visit over the next couple of months – this is only day 2 of school back in session in our lovely state of NC and I’m already missing the kids. Since quitting the Day Job I don’t miss a lot of things about school, but I sure miss the children! And reading out loud. I really miss reading out loud!
That said, I have been meaning to write up a list of grants that North Carolina teachers, media specialists, and PTSA folks can apply for to get visiting authors, illustrators, and storytellers to come to their schools. I worked for 15 years in public schools in NC and elsewhere and I had a number of folks visit – all of which I paid using grant money. I literally cringe when people tell me they can’t afford to have an author visit their school. It simply isn’t true. A couple of years ago I was working at a Title 1 school and I wrote grants for visitors that was roughly 2x my total library budget for the year.
Really, there’s no excuse.
Here are several grants that NC educators can apply for which should cover author visits. My particular visits are on the less-expensive side, so for sure you can afford me! But if you are looking to get someone uber-famous come you may have to combine grant-giving possiblities.
- Target Arts Grants. If you don’t have a Target in your town, contact them to make sure you’re in their giving area. I wrote a successful grant application to Target from a school about 50 miles from an actual store, so I’m confident they use pretty broad guidelines to determine geographical area. This is a very easy grant application to fill out and it’s for $2000. You have to do it in the spring, however, so put it on your calendar.
- Walmart Store Grants. At our local Walmart all you have to do to apply for this grant is to talk to the manager. Easy. The actual $ guidelines aren’t on the website but I know that a couple of years ago it was around $500.
- Donorschoose is an excellent source for grants for teachers/schools. If a teacher has already written and received several grants through Donorschoose he/she can write a grant proposal for something outside of the Donorschoose stores.
- Kiwanis clubs have literacy and reading for children as part of their mission. It’s possible that the local Kiwanis Club would sponsor an author visit.
- Bright Ideas Grants. You can’t be a teacher in North Carolina and not know about the Bright Ideas grants, sponsored through the local electric cooperatives. Every Bright Ideas Grant I applied for, I got. Not saying it’s an automatic thing, but they really want to give the money to worthwhile projects. Plus, they have a nice reception if you get the grant!
- NCETA Classroom Project Grants. I don’t know very much about this grant or if it could reasonably include author visits, but it seems as though an author visit would qualify as long as it was embedded in a larger project. Which actually is how it should be – authors are val
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