Impact Teaching Grants

The Hood River County Education Foundation (HRCEF) administers the Impact Teaching Grants program to support educators within the Hood River County School District in Oregon. With a mission rooted in fostering educational excellence, HRCEF has directed over $500,000 in funding through 445 individual awards since the inception of the program. The goal of the Impact Teaching Grants is to empower educators by enabling them to realize innovative teaching ideas that would otherwise fall outside the regular district budget. HRCEF is a community-based foundation focused on enhancing learning outcomes and equity for students across the county’s schools. The Impact Teaching Grants program is designed specifically for teachers and staff within the Hood River County School District. Eligible applicants include personnel from all district schools including elementary, middle, high school, and alternative education programs. The grant program welcomes both individual and collaborative applications; if multiple educators co-apply for a shared project, each may be eligible for up to $2,000 in funding, enabling broader initiatives to be realized. Funding can be used for a wide array of classroom innovations—past grants have supported projects such as keyboard-based music instruction, bilingual literacy, environmental science initiatives, and inclusive communication resources. However, the program enforces specific restrictions on fund usage. It does not allow grant money to be used for curriculum purchases (unless they are approved supplemental materials), projects already covered by school budgets, or fee-based programs such as preschools and after-school care. Other ineligible expenses include salaries, facilities upgrades, field trips, food, professional development travel, and student prizes. These restrictions ensure that funding is directed toward impactful classroom and instructional innovations rather than operational or infrastructural expenses. To ensure alignment with district priorities and avoid the need for post-submission revisions, the 2026 cycle introduced a new requirement: applicants must complete a Principal Approval Form jointly with their school principal prior to submission. This form serves as a preliminary validation step and must be uploaded with the grant application. Applications are submitted via the Kaleidoscope platform, and questions from previous cycles have been streamlined to reduce redundancy. Applications for the 2026 Impact Teaching Grants cycle are now closed, with the next round anticipated in the fall of 2026. The program follows an annual cycle, and educators are encouraged to revisit the foundation’s website for updates on the upcoming application period. All grant-related purchases must be completed by November 30 of the award year, and reimbursement documentation—including receipts and invoices—must be submitted to the school district’s budget office by December 1. HRCEF does not directly process reimbursements; instead, these are managed internally through school bookkeepers and the district’s accounts payable office using assigned budget codes. The grant’s administrative contact is Alex Fleming, who can be reached for queries related to the Principal Approval Form or the grant cycle. HRCEF's physical address is 1011 Eugene St., Hood River, OR 97031, and they can be contacted by phone at (541) 387-5713 or by email at [email protected]. While photos are not required, educators are encouraged to include them in final reports to help communicate project impact to the wider community.