Grants and Donations for a Summer Computer Camp?

Camp CAEN asks: "I work for a computer camp at the local university and I was wondering: how one goes about getting grants? We currently are funded by attendees but I thought it would be ideal to offer scholarships or assistance to those in need. Students who come to camp are middle school and high school students, we teach programming (C++, Java, DirectX), web technologies (HTML, PHP, MySQL), and other technology related topics (system administration, digital video production). The camp lasts two weeks and it can be quite pricey. I know there are plenty of people who would like to attend but can't afford it. Does anyone know of state (in Michigan) or Federal programs that give out money for technology instruction? Or any companies willing to donate equipment/software/books to our camp? Finally, are there any people in education or social work who have done grant writing before and have any good resources (either online or paper)? Anyone else have good ideas or suggestions? Thanks!"

Comments

Local knowledge will help you better than /.

[EnlightenmentFan]

There are people who really know how to do this--the university you're connected to will have a "development office" of people who work full-time raising money. Talk to them first because 1) they know how to do it, 2) you will need to coordinate with them so you don't step on each others' toes, and 3) you might be able to convince them that a camp-scholarship program will give them good publicity too.

My amateur experience: many little local groups (Rotary or whatever) will give you $100 for a good cause if you ask them nicely and thank them publicly--more if you get somebody who is in the group to ask them for you. We had a local women's college club that liked to interview high school seniors each year and give a $500 scholarship to the most creative and entrepreneurial. HTH--Good luck!

Re:Local knowledge will help you better than /.

[Fritzed]

I totally agree with EF here, your university has people who work close to full time obtaining various grants. My only other suggestion is to also talk to teachers. Lots of tech teacher seem to have good relations with medium/large computer companies who give them their older computers. They need these computers for dissection by their students. Being that these companies already have a relationship with education they may be willing to talk to you about grants.

Good Luck,
-> Fritz

UK/ British / England Courses

[jago25_98]

What about this in Britian (UK/England):

- The issue of grants overhere for anyone trying to do what you do
- are courses like this available here? any good? cost? where to find more info?
- entry requirements

Re:UK/ British / England Courses

[WIAKywbfatw]

Jeez. You're online, so why not try looking at www.open.gov.uk/?

The government might have gone a bit quiet about life-long learning recently (they seem to be distracted by the prospect of bombing oil-rich states, firemen striking, university fees, immigration, etc at the moment) but there should be something on the official government portal that should help you.

If nothing else, it'll have links to your local education authority, the Department of Education (or whatever they're calling it today), your local Job Centre, etc who will all be able to help you out.

(I'll let you find the links - you're a big boy now, so let's call it your first lesson.)

Also, contact local further education colleges and perhaps even local universities. The colleges will run night classes, the universities may run residential courses. And let's not forget the Open University.

And if all those don't help (in which case, you might be shit out of luck) then look in your local Yellow Pages/Thomson Local/whatever.

Re:UK/ British / England Courses

[pbhj]

> - are courses like this available here? any good? cost? where to find more info?

I think it was a reasonable question .. the only info on open.gov.uk appears to relate to computer camps for the blind. I think you've missed the point of asking the online community .. it makes hard to find information easy to find (though its at a large overall time cost which is partially out-weighed by the entertainment value).

Your right - there should be something - but it seems there isn't.

As for OU, they don't do anything (I'm one of their students), as far as I know, where you get hands-on practice with a network (for example), or repairing PC's (although some courses like T223 have hardware components, a serial port temperature measurement module in this instance, that they post out).

Anyone got anything useful to add. I'm interested in this topic too as I'm currently wanting to set up a community computer project.

Google.co.uk list a few "computer camps", for example the ICC (have to be blind) and one in Ottawa (have to live in Canada or be prepared to travel!) and I think theres one about someone who went on a camp in 1998. The only useful doc notes that:

Although often expensive in practice, the idea of the computer camp offers another community-based initiative little seen in the UK. In the USA this provides children from 7-18 with hands on training in a wide range of computer and Internet skills. Given the frequency with which British children - admittedly many of them middle-class - attend swimming, dancing or sports clubs after school and at the weekend, the expectation of attending a local extra-curricular club is already present in most families. Hence there is considerable potential here for further development, particularly if public funding were available.

pbhj

Go to the companies.

[ArsonPerBuilding]

Be it a large software company or a local PC shop/chain; businesses will be willing to help if what you are doing could benefit them. If it is donated equipment or software licsences[SP], businesses often will donate something. At my highschool, our IT department is run by a commitee of local businessmen/women who help finance programs out of their personal/buisness's pockets.

Small Business donations

[crazymennonite]

You could also try getting small businesses to donate old hardware. This is less effective if you are not a non-profit (so they can't get a tax deduction). Since you're asking for freebies, take whatever you can get.

I'm replacing 2 or 3 pc's a month at a small business (35 employees), and having a hard time finding anyone who wants 200mhz to 500mhz machines! It probably doesn't help me find a home for them when the charities find out they are e-machines........

There are lots!

[smoke'n'mirrors]

Most large corporations have grant programs. Usually these programs, including application guidelines, are explained near the "about us" or "corporate info" pages with the other "boring" information.

Also, the government publishes a list every so often of all the new government grants offered, their requirements and deadlines. It takes some pretty dedicated hunting to find it online, but you can also write for it (snail mail).

I spent many hours researching grants for a charity last year. I don't have all this information with me right now, but if you want these addresses, just drop me an email. After all the effort, it would be nice to be able to help somebody.

Not the same, is it?

[sharkey]

"And this one time, at computer camp, I stuck a degaussing wand in my pussy!"

Grant Opportunity

[Anonymous Coward]

The Beaumont Foundation is giving away $350 million worth of computer equipment (mostly Toshiba, lots of laptops - but some other decent stuff too) to non-profits all around the US. They are giving away half of the grants this year, and half next year, and which year you can apply is determined by what state you're in. Your organization must be a 501(c)3 non-profit or government agency, serving individuals at or below the poverty line.

I don't know if this particular grant will work for you, but it might be worth looking into.

More info at http://www.bmtfoundation.com/grants.

Grant writing

[ferretgirlgeek]

Well, I discovered a grant writing (actually, a grant request writing) seminar a few years back. There are people that get paid to do nothing but ask for money (they work for museums and other non-profits). And there are people at large corps. and non-profits that have money to give that do nothing but sit and decide who gets it. Those with money to give want very specific information from you. What is the purpose? What have you done to raise money on your own? And tons of other goodies. They want to know their money isn't going to be given to an organization (or for all they know, some yahoo) that will blow it all or not use it for the purpose they gave it for. Apparently there is proper wording for formal grant requests should you approach a business or other entity for money.

I'd take a look at grant seminars or, like someone else suggested, check with the university. At the least, they ought to be able to point you in the right direction. If they don't have someone on staff that can do it, they may know someone that can. Good luck!