Home  About  Donor FAQ  Teacher FAQ

About Donate Now

DonateNow is an online grant program that provides an exciting opportunity for parents, grandparents, community members and organizations to help meet the educational needs of students in the Blue Valley School District. Using DonateNow, any Blue Valley teacher can write a grant proposal that describes a project that will substantially improve or enhance the educational experience of their students through innovative and creative teaching and learning techniques, lists the materials needed to implement the project, and outlines how students will benefit from the project. Grant proposals may be for basic or complex projects, but must be for projects for which no other school or parent group funds are available.

Potential donors can browse through approved proposals, select a project that interests them, and make an online donation. Contributions are potentially tax-deductible, but donors should consult with their tax advisors regarding deductibility.

To view the guidelines for a DonateNow grant and the grant application questions, please visit the Staff Application page.

How Donate Now Works

The opportunity to take advantage of innovative learning resources has never been greater. Unfortunately, funding for public education is continually stressed and does not go as far as needed in equipping classrooms with resources and tools for learning. DonateNow gives teachers a unique funding opportunity, where they describe a student project, list the materials needed to make it possible, and give donors a chance to help make it a reality. The project may be very basic, like providing funds for paint in the art class, or for a complex project that requires more significant funding.

DonateNow is not a bulletin board where teachers can directly post their proposals. Before a proposal is posted online, the Foundation and school district staff must approve the request. If anything is unclear, the BVEF staff will contact the teacher with follow up questions.

Next, the project request will be posted on BVEF's Web site. Civic-minded individuals, foundations and corporations can browse teachers' submissions and make a potentially tax-deductible contribution that fully or partially funds any grants in which they are interested. (Donors should consult with their tax advisor for tax deductibility questions). Potential donors can also specify areas of interest and be directed to grant requests that fit their interests.

When a proposal is funded, donations will be placed in an account at the Blue Valley School District. Teachers will draw from that fund for their budgeted items. The teacher will also complete a project review stating how the project impacted students. This review will be emailed to all project donors.