The 2025 TEACH application period is now CLOSED.
Thank you to our donors, supporting local teachers & their classrooms. Since 2020, the TEACH Grants Program has awarded nearly $73,000 to area classroom teachers. Contributions to support this grant program may be made to any of the funds listed at the bottom of this page. New funds to support the TEACH Grants Program are always needed and welcomed.
2025 TEACH Grants
MARCH 2024 — Marion Community Foundation’s TEACH Grants applications are now in review. Awards will be announced in May.
Marion Community Foundation’s successful TEACH Grants Program, started in 2020, is an acronym for “Teaching, Educating And Classroom Help” and awards grants to support local teachers. The grants are designed to encourage teachers, or small teams of classroom teachers, to develop programs, projects, events, or lessons for kindergarten through 12th grade that are interesting, innovative, stimulating, and impactful for students. Grants are intended to fund classroom programs not supported by regular school budgets.
Any public or private school teacher who instructs children kindergarten through high school in Marion and Morrow counties (Ohio) is eligible to apply.
“Classroom teachers have great ideas and creative solutions to meet their students’ needs,” said Cheryl Wickersham of Marion Community Foundation. “The TEACH Grant program can help teachers launch innovative and motivational ideas that may go unfunded because of a school’s tight budget.”
Over the past five years, the program has awarded grants for projects as diverse as the purchase of multicultural literature to language translation equipment to a drum set. TEACH Grants are made possible by funding from the Pillar Credit Union Teachers Fund, Brown Family Teachers Fund, Marion Education Fund, Pillar Credit Union Morrow County Teach Fund, River Valley Teachers Fund, and Ray & Charlotte Baldauf Fund.
“The Board of Pillar Credit Union was instrumental in starting the TEACH Grants Program by providing the financial support,” said Julie Prettyman, president and CEO of Marion Community Foundation. “As the concept has caught on, other donors created additional funds, like the Marion Education Foundation Fund, to support specific schools. This is our way to affirm the value of our local educators and their creative ideas.”
According to Wickersham, the TEACH Grants program can make awards of up to $2,500 in Marion County and $500 in Morrow County. The decisions on how much and to whom to award grants will be made by a volunteer committee of Marion Community Foundation and its Board of Directors.
The 2025 TEACH Grants awards will be announced in May for the 2025-26 academic year. Updates will be available on the Foundation’s social media channels—Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Additional information is available by contacting cherylwickersham@marioncommunityfoundation.org or calling 740-387-9704. Marion Community Foundation is located at 504 S. State Street. Its offices are open weekdays 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
The TEACH Grants program supports local education and is made possible by the following endowment funds at Marion Community Foundation:
Supporting all schools:
Pillar Credit Union Teachers’ Fund
Pillar Credit Union Morrow County Teachers’ Fund
Ray & Charlotte Baldauf Fund
Stephen J. & Mary “Sally” Byrnes Memorial Fund
Supporting specific schools:
River Valley Teachers Fund
Marion Education Foundation Fund
Brown Family Teachers Fund
Joan Zucker Milner Memorial Teachers’ Fund
Growing funds:
David K. Miller Teachers’ Fund
Phil & Sonia Haas Teachers’ Fund
Steven Family Education Fund
and numerous individual donors.
Additional support is always encouraged, and donations may be made to any of the funds by clicking on the links above.
It is our hope to have a TEACH Grant fund for every school district in our community. Click HERE to learn more about creating a fund.
