Whippletree
Whippletree helps New York schools plan what students should learn next, from AI and computer science to music and art, and then finds the grants to pay for it.
A lot of grant help in education comes from companies that sell furniture and classroom supplies. Whippletree doesn't sell products. Every plan starts with what your students need to learn, and then we find the funding that fits it.
Four changes are reshaping classrooms across the state. Each one needs a plan, teachers who are ready, and money to pay for both.
In effect since Sept 2024
New York's K–12 computer science and digital fluency standards are now fully in place. Schools are expected to teach computing at every grade, from digital literacy and cybersecurity to computational thinking.
Rules still taking shape
Statewide rules for AI in schools are still being written. New York City public schools are keeping AI chatbots away from younger students while teaching older ones how AI works and where it goes wrong. Every district needs a plan that fits its own policy.
Required at every level
State rules set time for dance, music, theater and visual arts: 20% of the school week in grades 1–3 and 10% in grades 4–6, a half unit each of art and music in middle school, and one unit of the arts to graduate.
Regents exams phasing out
The Board of Regents named six qualities every graduate should show: academically prepared, creative innovators, critical thinkers, effective communicators, global citizens, and reflective and future focused. As Regents exams stop being a graduation requirement, students will need projects, research and internships that prove those skills.
Pick what you'd like to build. These are the places New York schools usually look first.
What would you like to build?
Title IV, Part A
Can fund a well-rounded education and better use of technology, including computer science.
Smart Schools Bond Act
Districts with money left in their allocation can put it toward classroom technology.
Title II, Part A
Pays for the training teachers need before they teach something new.
Computer science funders
National and regional foundations that fund computing education and teacher training.
Every school's eligibility is different. A free funding check tells you which of these fit yours.
We look at your goals, your classrooms and the state requirements you need to meet, then agree on what to build first.
We match your plan to federal, state and foundation grants, then write a clear case for why your students need it.
We build the curriculum with your teachers, support the rollout, and help with the reports funders ask for.
I started Whippletree to help school leaders do two hard things at once: decide what students should learn next, and find the money to make it happen.
I stay with you from the first conversation to the final grant report, so nothing gets lost between the funding and the classroom.
Based in Katonah, New York.
A whippletree is the wooden crossbar that lets a team of horses pull one load together, evenly. That's the job here: schools, teachers and funders pulling in the same direction.
Tell us what you'd like to build. We'll set up a call to talk through where the funding could come from.
Prefer to talk first?