Welcome
Application Guidelines
Welcome West Sonoma County Teachers!
The Rotary Club of Sebastopol knows how important your work is and how hard you work to provide the best education to our West Sonoma County students. We are excited to support you in your efforts through the Mark Sell Rotary Teacher Grants. Please read the Application Guidelines and submit your application by Wednesday, March 26th 2025 at 11:59 PM. We wish you a wonderful school year and thank you so much for your service.
Application Guidelines
1. Grant applications are accepted from public and tax-exempt private schools located within the boundaries of the West Sonoma County Union High School District.
2. Private schools who have never submitted a grant application to Sebastopol Rotary must submit a copy of an IRS determination letter documenting tax-exempt status with the grant application.
3. Applications must be submitted using the online application form posted on the Rotary Club of Sebastopol website. You will receive an email confirming receipt of your Application once it has been successfully submitted.
4. Please be sure to complete the entire form.
5. Keep your description short and concise regarding what you are requesting. Tell us what you want, the cost, and how it will impact and enrich the students’ learning. Be sure to specify the number of students that will benefit from the grant. Please specify the item(s) that you as an applicant wish to purchase, the exact price, and note where it will be bought. Applications that simply ask for the maximum amount without any further detail of costs and how it will impact the students’ learning will not be funded.
For example, an application for a carefully described item that costs $435.17 (including tax and shipping) from a specific retailer will be viewed more favorably than an application requesting $500 to purchase unspecified supplies.
Be sure to include shipping charges, taxes, and other anticipated charges. (You may wish to attach a picture and price from a catalog/website to help the Rotary Grants Committee better visualize what you are requesting.)
6. If our grant doesn’t cover the full amount of your project or item, tell us how you will cover the remaining costs.
7. Please use your school’s mailing address, not your home address. We send a single check to each school for the total amount awarded to all the teachers at a particular school. Funds are then disbursed by the school administration.
8. It takes time for us to review the applications, make funding decisions, and issue the checks. Please don't apply for a grant to attend an educational event that occurs within two months of the application period closing date.
9. Don’t give up! If your grant is not funded this year, please try again another year. We do keep track of how the awards are distributed, who has submitted an application, and what each teacher has requested.
10. Support the Sebastopol Rotary Crab Feed held each year in February. All of our Mark Sell Rotary Teacher Grant funds are generated from this fundraiser, which, since its inception in 2002, has raised close to $389,000 for West County education. For more information about the Crab Feed visit SebastopolRotary.com.
We Are MORE Likely to Fund:
• Requests that focus on basic core skills including reading, writing, math, science, history/social studies, as well as physical education, vocational careers, technical education, the Arts, field trips, guest presenters that enrich the students’ learning and educational experiences, equipment that will benefit students over multiple years will be considered.
• Examples of past funded requests have included books for classroom libraries, art supplies, musical instruments, garden boxes and gardening tools, weather stations, soccer nets, math games, sensory-motor blocks, etc. Funding will not be provided for religious education.
• When the request is to fund part of an item or activity that costs more than the individual Teacher Grant maximum, and the remainder of the funding has already been obtained.
• Requests that benefit a large number of students.
• Requests for equipment that will benefit students over multiple school years.
• Applications that specify a specific item or items that an applicant wishes to purchase and note where it will be bought and an exact price, including tax and shipping.
• Requests for items that are purchased locally.
We Are LESS Likely to Fund:
• Requests that benefit only a few students.
• When the request is to fund part of an item or activity that costs more than the individual Teacher Grant maximum, and the remainder of the funding has not already been obtained.
• Requests from multiple teachers at the same school to fund a single large item or project. Such requests should be directed to the Sebastopol Rotary Community Grants Program.
• Applications that simply ask for the maximum amount without evidence that the applicant knows what the item will cost.
• Requests for funding field trips for individuals.
Other Requirements:
• The maximum amount funded per grant is $500.
• Grants for field trips, supplies, special programs, and other non-capital expenditures must be used within one year of funding.
• The Rotary Club of Sebastopol requires that teachers applying for Mark Sell Rotary Teacher Grants share their grant application and funding request with their school principal or director to keep him or her informed of their needs and plans for their classrooms.
• An individual teacher can apply for and receive a maximum of one Mark Sell Rotary Teacher Grant per funding cycle and a maximum of two Mark Sell Rotary Teacher Grants per school year.
• Funding will not be provided for religious education.
• The Rotary Club of Sebastopol requests that any teacher who receives an award submit evidence that their project was completed successfully. Photos or newspaper articles submitted by teachers may be used to promote the Mark Sell Rotary Teacher Grant program.
• These procedures, funding cycles, and grant amounts are subject to change without notice by the Rotary Club of Sebastopol. All decisions regarding grant applications by the Board of Directors of the Rotary Club of Sebastopol shall be final.
Examples of a successful grant submission
Amount Requested: $200
In fifth grade it is important for students to develop their sense of self, their moral code, and their understanding of the world. Reading books together as a whole class allows our students to develop their reading comprehension and thinking skills through high-quality literature. It lets them practice and refine their skills related to the standards in a much more engaging format than the typical reading for a textbook. I would love to provide two new classroom sets of novel studies as an opportunity to build a love of reading. Both fifth grade classes will share the books throughout the school year which will affect 52 students just this year.
We will continue to read these books for many years to come as well.
The novel studies I would like to purchase with this Rotary grant are:
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson and Hoot by Carl
Hiaasen. Hoot by Hiaasen, Carl $8.59
Qty: 30
Sold by: Amazon.com
Items (30): $257.70
Shipping & handling: $0.00
Estimated tax to be collected: $23.70
Order total: $281.40
Bridge to Terabithia by Paterson, Katherine $7.20
Qty:30
Sold by: Amazon.com
Shipping & handling: $0.00
Estimated tax to be collected: $20.10
Order total: $236.10
While the total is $517.50, I will pay for the remainder out of pocket.
In this grant request, the applicant supplied plentiful information. They stated the purpose of the grant request and how it would benefit students. They provided specific details about what would be purchased. They spelled out the costs. Since the cost surpasses $500, they described how the remainder of the purchase would be paid. The committee has sufficient information about the grant. This grant was funded.
Example of an unsuccessful grant submission
Amount Requested: $200
I am a second grade teacher and I would like to buy books for my classroom library. I have 25 students. Thank you.
While this is a worthy request, it is not specific enough. First, the applicant should state the purpose of the grant request. Why does the applicant need the books? Are they replacements or additions to the classroom library? Are they covering a specific topic? Second, the applicant should supply additional information about the books being purchased. What books are being purchased? How much do they cost? Where are they purchased from? What are the shipping costs and taxes? If the committee had additional details, they would be more inclined to possibly support this request.
If you have any questions, please reach out to the committee at: sebastopolrotaryteachergrants@gmail.com.
Interested in being a sponsor?
Download the website sponsorship guide
Download the website sponsorship guide