Bright Ideas Facts and Figures

The Bright Ideas education grant program, sponsored by North Carolina’s electric cooperatives, strives to improve education in North Carolina classrooms by awarding grants to Tar Heel teachers in grades K-12 for innovative, classroom-based projects that would not otherwise be funded.

Bright Ideas has funded more than 8,300 projects and awarded more than $8.5 million in grant money to North Carolina’s teachers over the past 19 school years. Last year, North Carolina’s electric cooperatives collectively distributed more than nearly $600,000 to fund 530 projects. More than 100,000 students participated in Bright Ideas-funded projects last year, and since 1994 well over 1.5 million students have benefited from Bright Ideas grants financed by North Carolina’s electric cooperatives.