The U.S. Department of Education publishes a Forecast of Funding Opportunities, currently last updated April 29, 2005. ISVs and developers may work with school district and other educators to submit proposals for funding.
Clearly, many of the software packages available on TabletPCPost and elsewhere would benefit students for whom these grant programs are intended. It can be a cumberson process to have your software included in a proposal, but it’s possible, it’s doable and will provide you with data about strengths and weaknesses of your software.
This Forecast of Funding Opportunities site lists all of the discretionary U.S. Federal education grant programs for the current fiscal year (that ends September 30).
1. Monitor this site for grant programs and submission deadlines.
2. Read grant program descriptions and select one, then two grant programs you think your software fits most readily.
3. Start early to describe ways your software will fulfill objectives educators propose to meet with grant funding. This is a crucial step. I remember talking with people who had wonderful software, but who had no ideas about how their product would fit into my grant applications. I needed to know from them about their product, before I could include it in a proposal. The earlier I knew about their product, the easier it was to figure out how to include it.
4. Set up a system to assemble information you can include about your software in a proposal. Include summaries of the software content and data that indicate its effectiveness and efficiency with various demographic cohorts. These summaries should include countables, that is, the number of transactions, presentations, responses, etc. your software makes available for a student to use.
5. Identify local educators or higher education faculty members who plan to submit proposals that might include your software. If you want your software used in schools, you must make the software available to school people. Meet and talk with them about their plans, then tailor your pitch to fit their plans. Show how your software will save the school district money while increasing student performance.
6. Keep trying. Likely, you will not succeed on your first attempts to join a grant program. These are highly competitive programs. Keep refining your marketing plan to educators. Refine your software evaluation data. Whether you succeed or not, save and use the information you collected for the funding cycle next year.
Tablet PC ISVs and software developers have valuable educational products that can make learning more effective and efficient in schools. Some Federal education grant programs can help fund the use of these programs in schools. Give it a try. Maybe you’ll like grant work.