PreK through 12th Grade Attendance
The Background
School attendance is a necessary ingredient for educational attainment. When students of any age are chronically absent – missing approximately 10% or more of school days – they may have difficulty learning to read, transitioning between grades, or graduating high school. Chronic absenteeism can be related to truancy, which only accounts for unexcused absences. In Pennsylvania, a student is deemed truant when the student has three or more unexcused absences in a single year. When a school determines that a student is truant, the school is required to take action, which may include referral to a community-based intervention or filing a citation with the magistrate’s court.
Factors such as mental and physical health concerns, economic hardship, and bullying or other issues associated with school climate can contribute to a student’s becoming chronically absent or truant. According to Attendance Works, “Children living in poverty are two to three times more likely to be chronically absent— and face the most harm because their community lacks the resources to make up for the lost learning in school. Students from communities of color as well as those with disabilities are disproportionately affected” (Attendance Works).
Submission Examples
Examples of ideas that may be considered include, but are not limited to, the items noted in Table 1. These are
solely illustrative and not proscriptive. Applications may include a variety of services, products, or technologies. The Foundation welcomes a range of ideas and encourages thoughtful experimentation.
Kindergarten Readiness
- reciprocal family engagement programs that are responsive to families’ values, beliefs, and culture
- pre-K to kindergarten or pre-K to third grade transition and alignment initiatives
K-12 Academic Performance
- use of data and analytics to identify students at-risk of chronic absenteeism and provide supports personalized to the child’s needs
- wrap-around or community-school initiatives that address underlying factors contributing to absenteeism
- positive behavioral interventions and supports
- initiatives to create conditions resulting in increased student engagement
- initiatives to provide alternatives to exclusionary discipline practices
Eligibility Criteria
The Foundation’s general eligibility criteria apply to the RFP. Please review the Funding Policies on the Apply page of the Foundation’s website and the General FAQs found on the Foundation’s Nonprofit and Public Sector Partners webpage.
For the purposes of this RFP, the Foundation offers additional guidance about proposals from public sector and nonprofit organizations.
Public sector organizations:
- may serve as the lead agency submitting a proposal for Planning and Innovation grants. Public sector organizations may also participate as collaborating partners on both Planning and Innovation and Scalability grants submitted by nonprofit organizations
- include entities such as school districts, courts, or departments of health or human services
Nonprofit organizations:
- may serve as the lead agency submitting a proposal for Planning and Innovation grants or for Scalability grants. Nonprofit organizations may
Funding Guidelines
The Foundation expects to provide two types of support through this RFP.
Planning and Innovation grants:
- focus on experimentation and the development of new ideas. Recipients might describe activities such as piloting services or completing a feasibility study. Any evaluation activities should focus on understanding successes, challenges, and future possibilities resulting from the grant
- will provide up to $250,000 and funded activities should be completed within 12 to 18 months after the grant award
Scalability grants:
- sustain and expand promising, evidence-informed initiatives. Recipients might describe activities, projects, and ideas that have been tested within one population group or in one geographic area with promising success and require an infusion of funds to expand the reach of the program to other population groups or geographic areas
- will provide up to $400,000 and funded activities should be completed within 18 to 24 months after the grant award
Grant funds awarded through this RFP may be used for a variety of expenses such as program and service delivery, consultant fees, evaluation, or “overhead” or administrative expenses. A limited amount of capital expenditures that are essential to accomplish the outcomes of the proposal may be included.
If an application is truly exceptional, the Foundation may consider providing more than $250,000 for Planning and Innovation grants or $400,000 for Scalability grants. Successful grants may be invited to apply for follow-on funding or additional capacity-building funding opportunities at the conclusion of the grant.
What the Foundation Will Not Fund
The Foundation will not fund the following items through this RFP:
- Endowments
- Advocacy, political causes or events
- Existing deficits or retroactive funding
- Event sponsorships
Timeline
- Applications submitted. – Friday, September 9, 2022 Noon (12:00 PM) EST.
- Funding Status Notification – Wednesday, December 21, 2022
- Funds Issued for Awarded Grants – Friday, December 23, 2022
FAQ: Request For Proposals
We encourage you to prioritize carefully with your organization, and we recommend that an organization submit one proposal to each RFP. However, the logic model describing the proposed initiative may contain several types of activities that are critical for the project’s success.
If you are submitting a proposal as part of a large regional research, university, or healthcare institution, we will consider ideas from multiple divisions within the institution. You should coordinate with your institution’s development office before responding to an RFP or completing the General Application to the Foundation.
It is unlikely that you can meet with a program officer before submitting. In general, program officers are not available for a discussion until after a proposal has been submitted. You can also email [email protected] with questions.
You will immediately receive an email confirming that your application was successfully submitted. There are not specific timelines associated with the review of a funding application.
The Foundation normally has Board meetings in the Spring, Summer and Winter.
Questions about a declined application may be submitted via email to [email protected]. The Foundation aspires to reply to all inquiries but, given the volume of applications the Foundation receives, we cannot commit to answering every such inquiry.
The Foundation is generally not providing multi-year grants at this time. The majority of our grants are twelve to eighteen months.
Yes, the Foundation provides general operating support for organizations that are not postsecondary institutions or research institutions.
In the application, you will encounter a question about the type of support that you are seeking. You can select from the following options: Capital Support; General Operating Support; Land Acquisition; Project Support.
Yes, you can include indirect expenses in your proposed budget if your organization is not a postsecondary or research institution.
We define indirect expenses as those expenses categorized as “Management and General;” “Administrative and Management;” or “Fundraising” according to the IRS and FASB functional expense allocation guidelines.
For organizations that are eligible to receive support for indirect expenses, we do not have a recommended ratio.
The Foundation will not fund ideas that include regranting to individuals. The Foundation may fund applications that include regranting from a lead agency to other agencies who are identified in the submission as participants in a collaboration. In this case, the regranted funds are solely to support the collaborative activities described in the submission. We will consider ideas in which organizations provide technical assistance in areas where they have expertise or are working with pre-identified partners, who will then assist with the implementation of the proposed project.
Yes, we consider applications from organizations that are not based in Allegheny or Westmoreland counties. In your application, you should be clear about why and in what ways the project will serve economic development in these counties.
The primary goal of a PRI is to achieve charitable benefit. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service allows a foundation to provide a PRI if the investment fulfills all three of the following criteria:
- The primary purpose is to accomplish one or more of the foundation’s exempt purposes
- Production of income or appreciation of property is not a significant purpose, and
- Influencing legislation or taking part in political campaigns on behalf of candidates is not a purpose.
The IRS provides additional guidance that further clarifies each of these criterion. We encourage you to consult with your legal counsel and review the IRS guidance and other resources about philanthropic PRIs before you submit an application.
Yes. You may submit an application if your company is based anywhere in the United States. Unfortunately, we are not able to entertain applications from companies not incorporated in the United States. For ideas focused on Economic Mobility, Economic Development, or Health & Well-Being, if your company is located outside the Pittsburgh region, please be sure to address within the application how your idea will positively impact Allegheny and/or Westmoreland counties. If your proposal is related to our Conservation program area, the positive impact you seek to generate can be anywhere in the United States.
Any questions about the application may be submitted via email to [email protected]. We will be responsive to all thoughtful inquiries.
Nonprofit and public sector applicants can submit different proposals to any of the RFPs at the same time.
For-profit companies and entrepreneurs are only able to submit a proposal to the Employment in the New Economy: Supporting Disconnected and Gig Economy Workers RFP
Have a Question?
Please contact [email protected] at the Foundation to discuss questions regarding this RFP.