As local, state and federal funds have dried up around the country, teachers have had to dig more and more into their own pockets to fund supplies and programs for their students.

In a 2013 survey by insurance firm Horace Mann, 30% of teachers said they use between $201 and $400 of their own money for supplies and projects. That was the median; nearly everyone surveyed paid for school projects with at least some of their own personal money. Only 2% said they didn’t, and another 2% said all their projects were paid for.

The news gets worse when looking at STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects. Forty percent of teachers said they planned math and science projects that weren’t covered by their schools’ budgets. Reading and language followed close behind, at 39%.

The statistics paint a bleak picture, one in which some teachers basically get a pay cut if they need new equipment or want to try a new program. Last year, Continental Resources Inc., a Top 10 independent oil producer active in the Bakken play in North Dakota and Montana and the Scoop play in Oklahoma, set out to make the future a little brighter for students and teachers.

Continental Resources has a passion for improving the education of America’s future leaders. Since 2008, the company has donated backpacks stocked with supplies to schools in their operating areas each year. But over the years, the needs of the communities shifted. Continental’s donations committee started to look for ways to create a more long-term, sustainable impact, and created its Continental Cares: Funding the Future grant program, with the intention to award grants to schools to institute or sustain educational programs for STEM and reading subjects.

“We know they need basic school supplies, but we also know they need much more,” said Lesley Martin, Continental’s director of community relations and events. “So that’s where we felt we could take the same amount that we were going to spend on backpacks and move that into an area where this could be a sustainable giving plan.”

The 2013 to 2014 school year was the grant program’s pilot year. After promoting the Funding the Future grant program through its employees and schools in the company’s operating areas, Continental received 76 applications. Twenty-three schools in Montana, the Dakotas and Oklahoma were selected to each receive a $5,000 grant.

The schools selected exhibited a strong interest in improving specific learning opportunities for their students. Some of the requests were simple, like a rural school in Montana that needed microscopes because it was still utilizing ones dating back to 1960.

Others were more complex, including a charter school in Oklahoma City that asked for a grant to purchase supplies relating to health professions. One school in Edmond, Okla., used its grant to fund a robotics lab. Continental also gave a grant to an elementary school that wanted to buy classic literature to help students learn to read.

“One of the main reasons for focusing on reading in addition to STEM, was to enhance the learning of science, technology, engineering and math,” Martin said.

For its commitment to further the education of children in its operating areas, as well as to better the teaching experience of their educators, Oil and Gas Investor has named Continental Resources Best Corporate Citizen in its annual Excellence Awards.

Continental estimates the grant program affected the education of up to 4,500 students last year, and expects those numbers to increase over time as more students access the equipment and programs made possible by the Funding the Future grant program.

“When you purchase science equipment, that’s not for just one year, that’s for the lifetime of the equipment,” Martin said. “When you purchase literature, those books can be passed down through generations and be read by countless children.”

The grants could put students at a great advantage in the future. A Brookings Institution report published in July found that the median duration of advertising for a STEM job vacancy takes more than twice as long for a non-STEM vacancy. In fact, professional STEM job vacancies take longer to fill now than before the recession, while lower-skilled vacancies are easier to fill. “These indicators signal that STEM skills are in short supply in the labor market, relative to demand,” according to the report. Meanwhile, those without STEM knowledge or higher education face what Brookings calls “extraordinary” levels of competition for a small number of jobs.

The oil and gas industry, which is naturally one of the industries in great need of STEM skills, also stands to benefit from the grant program. Martin said one robotics student in Edmond told her he was already planning on studying engineering and going to work for Continental.

Teachers who no longer have to rely on their own wallets to fund classroom projects are also impacted by the grants, as are their administrators and schools as a whole.

“It gives teachers that extra money to become a better teacher because they are creating or enhancing a program they feel is needed in their classroom, which not only keeps money in teachers’ pockets, but also saves money for schools and districts,” Martin said.

One superintendent in Duncan, Okla., told Continental the grant had turned a nonfunctioning science lab into a place where students are getting excited about hands-on learning. A principal in Williston, N. D., said the science equipment his school bought with the grant will help the students become better problem-solvers and more in-depth thinkers.

When a typical grant program is created, it will target classrooms looking to build up a long-running program, or those that wish to bring in a new program. Continental’s Funding the Future program is different because it welcomes applicants from both situations.

“We wanted to help teachers strengthen a program they already had in place, and we also wanted to inspire them to start a program they’ve been dreaming about,” Martin said.

Another unique aspect of the Funding the Future grant program is schools that receive a grant can reapply after a year.

“We want to make a real difference in these schools,” she said. “If there is a program that needs to be sustained, or if they need help launching a new one, we’re ready to help them.”

Applications for the upcoming school year are open until September, and winners will be chosen in October. The application process is simple, and Martin expects an increase in both applicants and grants for the 2014-2015 school year. Visit clr.com/community to learn more and apply.

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