Tips for Applying for a Hipp Grant

Eligibility Rule 

Article V, Section 5 of the By-laws of the NJEA Frederick L. Hipp Foundation for Excellence in Education, the following eligibility exclusions apply:  “No member of the Board of Trustees, the Advisory Committee or the Grant Selection Committee shall have or obtain a financial interest in any contract, grant or award made by the Foundation to any person or entity.” The Hipp Board of Trustees consists of the individuals who comprise the Executive Committee of the New Jersey Education Association.

Follow Directions and Guidelines!

Many applications cannot be considered for funding because they do not follow the directions or comply with the guidelines.

Common problems include:

• Identifying in the body of the grant application; individuals, school, district, college, county, town, or specific area.
• The timeline indicates that expenditures would precede receipt of the grant funds (that is, all or part of the grant funds would be spent before it is awarded).
• The application is missing signatures of the project coordinator, local association president, and/or district superintendent/county college president. Allow time for their review and board approval as necessary to obtain all signatures.
• The project summary or body (Sections 1-6) of the grant proposal identifies individuals, school, district, college, local association, town, or county. (Since grants are judged “blindly” by a committee of NJEA members, identifying the origin of the grant would compromise the integrity of the process.)

Hints and Tips

Applying for a grant from the NJEA Frederick L. Hipp Foundation is easier than ever:

• Carefully review all the information found in the Hipp Grant Instructions and Information Sheets.
• Check out the project descriptions of previous grant recipients to get ideas at njea.org/Hipp.
• Form your project team and plan the grant program as a team, but avoid “writing by committee.” Have the best grant writer on the team draft the application for review by the other team members.
• Be sure to follow all instructions, especially the requirement that Sections 1-6 must be anonymous.
• Be sure the application clearly communicates your project in a cohesive manner – that the Objectives section address the Needs Assessment, the Project Plan leads to the objectives, the Budget section directly addresses specific costs of the Project Plan, the evaluation addresses how the project objectives were met and the detailed budget matches the Grant Amount you are requesting in Section 1.
• Complete the application online and save it to your registered account. You can save your work until you are ready to finalize your application. 
• Print your application and review. You should print a PDF of your application at any point and have a friend or colleague who is unfamiliar with your project read the draft application. Does it make sense? Does it leave unanswered questions? Is there any identifying information included? Is the grammar correct?
• After thorough review of your application save your work and finalize your application. You will receive an email with instructions to print a copy of the application to obtain the necessary signatures. Grant proposals must be finalized in the online portal and signatures must be uploaded to the application portal  as a PDF attachment in Round 2/Signatures Round prior to March 1*. 
• Grant applications are accepted through March 1* of every year. 

*If March 1 falls on a Sunday, the deadline will be move d to Monday, March 2.

Share