PROGRAM OVERVIEW
At Fund for Teachers, we honor teachers as skilled professionals who know their students, schools, and communities best. We believe teachers are most effective when trusted to act as problem solvers and innovators—taking risks, learning, reflecting, and collaborating to strengthen their practice. Through transformational learning experiences, Fellows deepen these skills for themselves and their students, sparking changes that ripple through classrooms, schools, and communities. Fellowship proposals that emerge from teachers’ authentic problems of practice—defined by their own expertise and professional judgment—are most closely aligned with our grant goals. Additionally, we strongly encourage proposals that empower students to serve as changemakers in addressing challenges within their own communities.
ELIGIBILITY
Applicants must meet the following eligibility requirements:
- A full-time preK-12th grade teacher who spends at least 50% of your time directly providing instruction to students;
- Applicants must have plans to return to a classroom or teaching environment the year following their fellowship and demonstrate the ability to incorporate what they learn into their teaching; and
- Have at least three years’ experience as a preK-12th grade teacher at the end of the school year.
- Student and substitute teaching do not count towards the three-year requirement.
- If the applicant has three years’ experience by the time of their fellowship, Fund for Teachers considers them eligible.
- Previous recipients must wait for five years before reapplying.
Teaching staff that do not provide instruction to students for at least 50% of their full-time position are not eligible. One-on-one instructional time does not count toward the 50%-time requirement described above. Administrators, such as principals, may not apply, nor may they act as the partner applicant. Please contact Fund for Teachers if you have specific questions about your eligibility.
Open to US teachers who live and work in the continental United States and Hawaii.
Individuals may apply for up to $5,000 and teams may apply for up to $10,000 (while team members may be from different schools, districts or states, all members must meet the eligibility criteria). Upon award, Fellows will receive 90 percent of their grant, the remaining 10 percent to be disbursed upon completion of post-fellowship requirements. Please consider this timing when applying.
We know your time is valuable, so we discourage using it to submit proposals that do not fall within funding guidelines. In this spirit, we aim to be transparent about what our grant making does not support.
We do not make grants to support student travel, the completion of post baccalaureate degrees, university/college credit hours, courses for graduate credit, licensing, or licensure, onsite (or campus) professional development at your school or by the district, compensation for substitutes, stipends and requests that only include classroom supplies, such as books, technology, or other materials. Grants cannot be used to pay for any portion of National Board Certification. All project eligibility is at the discretion of Fund for Teachers.
Eligible teachers may submit one application per grant cycle. Fund for Teachers is interested in your ideas only. Any indication of borrowed text will disqualify your application. This includes itineraries from websites or programming copied from providers. Additionally, previously awarded proposals may not be resubmitted for consideration.
AI Use in Proposal Preparation: There is no rule preventing applicants from using generative AI or other tools (digital or otherwise) when preparing a proposal. As the applicant, you are fully responsible for ensuring that all parts of your application—including the project plan—are accurate and feasible as described. You will confirm this responsibility when you submit your application. You must also adhere to good research practices throughout the application process. This means plagiarism, falsification, or fabrication of any content is strictly prohibited.
Fellowships should begin after the last day of school in the spring and be completed by the first day of school in the fall, with all fellowship related expenditures made September 2, 2026.
