The 2018 recipients of the Green River Area Community Foundation Capacity Building Grants were announced Thursday morning during the annual State of the Community Rooster Booster breakfast.
Utilizing funds from their Owensboro-Daviess County Community Endowment Fund, the Green River Area Community Foundation (GRACF) conducted a grant application process that resulted in twenty local nonprofits submitting applications for capacity building projects totaling $147,632 in requests. With only $20,000 available to award in grants this year, the top three 2018 applicants were awarded funds. The grantees announced were:
Hospice of Western Kentucky – $8,609 for their Palliative Care Program to execute an educational plan that includes the certification of their healthcare professionals in palliative care; along with a marketing strategy for their new Palliative Care Program.
Girls, Inc. of Owensboro-Daviess County – $6,603 for donor management software to more efficiently utilize staff time while building a strong, sustainable fund development program.
St. Joseph Peace Mission – $4,788 for a cloud-based fundraising and donor relationship management software, which also includes training to learn how to integrate and use the software effectively.
Greg Longtine, chair of the Community Foundation’s Grant-Making Committee, stated, “All the applicants submitted great capacity building projects. It was very tough to only award three grants. Our committee wished we were able to fund all the submitted projects.”
“Being our first year to focus on capacity building, we weren’t sure what to expect. The applicants did an excellent job of presenting projects that would strengthen their organizations as a whole and improve their efficiency and effectiveness, which could really leave a lasting impact beyond the grant year,” added Amy Silvert, GRACF Executive Director.
The fall application process was open only to nonprofits in Daviess County, since this particular fund was established in 1995 as a permanent endowment fund to meet the charitable needs identified by the then Community Foundation of Owensboro-Daviess County. Since that time, the Foundation has grown to a regional focus and has been renamed the Green River Area Community Foundation. “The Advisory Board would like to work with donors to establish funds that could respond to the needs of charitable organizations serving all of our counties – Hancock, McLean, Ohio, Union, and Webster,” Longtine said.
The Green River Area Community Foundation is an affiliate foundation of the Community Foundation of Louisville (CFL). CFL has been offering Capacity Building Grants for several years with excellent outcomes. It is their grant process from which the GRACF Grant-Making Committee modeled their approach.
The local Community Foundation was established in 1993 by community leaders who foresaw the Foundation as a vehicle to expand local philanthropy and to support charitable organizations. Because of their initiative to create the Foundation, over the past 24 years, nonprofits have received over $10 million in grants from Community Foundation funds. Silvert says their fiscal year ending June 2017 saw growth with $3,648,000 generously contributed to new and existing funds, and $1,327,000 distributed in grants to nonprofits. The endowments are nearing a combined total of $15 million. “The Community Foundation has grown because of the generosity and tremendous vision of its founders, donors and volunteers, and we welcome more to join this legacy.” If you would like to learn more about the Green River Area Community Foundation, you can contact Amy Silvert at Amy@GreenRiverCF.org.
Grantee Contacts:
Hospice of Western Kentucky
Janie Mahoney j.mahoney@hospiceofwky.org or (270) 926-7565
Girls Incorporated of Owensboro Daviess County
Tish Correa Osborne tcogirlsinc@bellsouth.net or (270) 684-7833
St Joseph Peace Mission for Children
Paula Yevincy paulayevincy@gmail.com or (270) 577-3758
