Best Buy Canada is offering tech grants to Canadian public schools for students within any grade range from kindergarten to grade 12. These grants are designed to provide students with the latest in technology (and assistive technology), encouraging and empowering them to reach their maximum potential during the primary, secondary and even post-secondary years.

The application must be approved and submitted with permission of the school’s principal and the knowledge that the donation would be in compliance with the regulations and guidelines of their school board or district. A complete overview of the grant process, as well as FAQs related to the grant process can be found here.

The grants are broken down into two categories and are available at different times of the year:

Grants for Elementary schools: Help introduce or improve the technology available to all students in the school from Kindergarten to Grade 8. Grant submissions for elementary schools will open in the spring of 2019.

Grants for Secondary schools: Upgrade the technology of a specific program or classroom primarily used by students in Grades 9-12. Grant submissions for secondary schools will open in the fall of 2019.

To receive email notifications when these grants open, you can sign up with Best Buy’s Educator Database using the form here.

During each submission period, a school can apply for one of the two following types of grants:

General School Tech Grants: offered as a way for schools to improve or integrate technology in their classrooms to advance student learning. This could include new technologies for areas including libraries, special needs classrooms, literacy programs, etc.

STEM School Tech Grants: available for schools looking to add technology to programs with a focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM) to enhance offerings such as robotics clubs, math programs, coding, makerspaces and digital media courses.

Schools may only submit one application per submission period.

*The maximum value of each grant is $10,000. Schools are required to fill out a budget as part of the application indicating how much funding they’re applying for. The value of the grant is based on this individual school information. Applications that exceed the maximum grant value won’t be considered.

Tags: apps, assistive technology, AT HelpDesk, education