The application deadline for Department of Education Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund grants has passed (it was August 2 this year). But here’s a helpful website for organizations seeking matching foundation funds for their grants: the Foundation Registry i3, at http://foundationregistryi3.org/. This website was created as a resource for organizations pursuing i3 funding.  It was set up by a group of leading foundations to simplify the process for organizations seeking the private matching funds required in i3.

Here’s a bit of background the Foundation Registry folks have provided:

An i3 applicant must secure between a 5% and 15% private match depending on the i3 grant award. Registering your proposal with the Foundation Registry i3 will help broaden the reach of your proposal to participating foundations for potential matching funds. For last year’s 2010 i3 competition, over 750 applicants registered their i3 proposal on the Foundation Registry and the majority of the 49 winners of the i3 competition were funded by a Foundation Registry member.

There is currently no specific deadline for the Foundation Registry i3 submission, but due to the short timelines around the i3 program, we recommend completing your registration for matching funds as soon as possible. All Department of Education i3 funds will be committed by December 31, 2011 and all winners will be announced in December before this date. This will maximize the visibility of your registration to foundations, and help ensure that foundations have the most time available to review your proposal.

You can email your questions to: [email protected].