Overview

The Bright Ideas education grant program, sponsored by North Carolina’s Touchstone Energy 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. Certified North Carolina teachers from participating schools are eligible to apply for grants of up to $2,000. Interested educators must complete a formal application, which will thoroughly outline their project, and are selected based on a competitive evaluation process done by each local electric cooperative.

Each year, more than 2,000 applications are accepted from teachers in a variety of disciplines including music, art, history, reading, science, career-planning and information technology. Since the Bright Ideas program began in 1994, North Carolina’s Touchstone Energy cooperatives have awarded more than $6.5 million to sponsor more than 5,900 projects reaching more than 1 million students.

The program offers a convenient and simple online application process.