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26 Jul

Posted at 20:06h in Home Featured, News
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(Marion, IN – July 26, 2021) The Community Foundation of Grant County is excited to announce both crowdfunding campaign goals launched back in May of 2021 exceeded their goals. Habitat for Humanity of Grant County (Habitat) and Community School of the Arts (CSA) launched their campaigns on May 17th. Crowdfunding is when a large group of people pool their resources together to support a worthy charitable cause. Every donation helped in meeting these crowdfunding goals. And all donations raised will be awarded to these projects to support their missions. Habitat exceeded its crowdfunding goal of $20,000 by raising $25,660 from community contributions. Combined with $20,000 in matching dollars from the Foundation this makes a total of $45,660 to support the construction of a new Habitat home in Grant County. CSA exceeded its crowdfunding goal of $15,000 by raising $23,460 from community contributions. Combined with $15,000 in matching dollars from the Foundation this makes a total of $38,460 to save community theatre in Grant County through the acquisition of the Marion Civic Theatre. Together, in just two months, Grant County donors contributed $49,120 to these two crowdfunding campaigns. With matching dollars from the Foundation, this makes a total of $84,120 raised to support the betterment...

27 May

Posted at 18:27h in News
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(Marion, IN – May 27, 2021) The Community Foundation of Grant County is excited to announce two crowdfunding campaign goals. Habitat for Humanity of Grant County (Habitat) and Community School of the Arts (CSA) launched their campaigns on May 17th. Habitat aims to crowdfund $20,000 to support the construction of a new Habitat home in Grant County. CSA aims to crowdfund $15,000 to expand programming and include community theatre outside of current programming offered at CSA. The Foundation will track all charitable contributions made by donors for each project. If the organizations meet their fundraising goals, the Foundation will award them a dollar-for-dollar matching grant to complete their projects for a total of $40,000 for Habitat and $30,000 for CSA. Any amount raised over these goals will also be awarded to the organizations. If either organization does not meet their goal by the deadline, they will not receive the matching grant. However, all donations raised will be awarded to the projects. Both campaign’s end on July 16, 2021 at midnight.   Habitat for Humanity of Grant County: The main goal of the Habitat campaign is to raise funds to be used for Habitat’s Homeownership Program, and specifically the 55th home build in Grant County. Habitat...

24 May

Posted at 15:07h in Home Featured, News
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The Community Foundation of Grant County is excited to announce the recipients of the Give to Grant Collaborative Grant Cycle. A total of $77,011 was disbursed in grants this month to nine organizations for programs and projects supporting positive impact for the betterment of Grant County. The Foundation is home to a variety of 400+ charitable funds established by generous donors with a passion for supporting worthwhile charitable causes. The Give to Grant Collaborative uniquely consists of endowment funds established to provide support for general charitable purposes identified as the most pressing needs and opportunities in the community to be selected annually at the discretion of the Foundation’s Board of Directors. “The Give to Grant Collaborative simplifies charitable giving and philanthropic impact by combining generous donations with others to pool resources and generate something strong and impactful for the community,” says Meagan Mathias, Community Investment Manager. “Every year, the Foundation awards between $1-3 Million in grants to nonprofits, community entities, and college-bound students right here in Grant County. From safety devices and meal delivery services to trail maintenance and neighborhood beautification projects, the Foundation funds a variety of causes that promote sustainable impact towards the betterment of Grant County. This is philanthropy...

09 Mar

Posted at 20:20h in News
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The Community Foundation of Grant County challenged local nonprofit organizations to co-apply with one or more organization to be included in a three-year capacity-building cohort. Organizations approved for this cohort will also receive up to a $50,000 grant annually to deepen the relationship with their co-applicant and strengthen their missions. The purpose of this implementation grant is for nonprofit organizations in Grant County to build back better following the COVID-19 crisis and deepening the relationship between two or more organizations while simultaneously increasing the capacity of Grant County nonprofit leaders. “The concept of “third path” comes from the book Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor. We’ve all experienced crises, some worse than others. Will we go back to “normal”; will we regress? Or will we use the opportunity to take the third path? One that leads from setback to resilience” said Meagan Mathias, Community Investment Manager at the Community Foundation. “We at the Community Foundation believe that “we’re all in this together” and the only way we’ll get through this time in our history is by building, and deepening relationships.” Partners receiving a grant to participate in The Third Path Cohort: Carey Services and Grant County Society for Crippled Children and Adults  Grant amount: $49,167 Grant purpose:...

23 Feb

Posted at 16:34h in News
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Happy THANKuary! JANuary and FEBRuary are months for making intentional THANK YOUs—and we couldn’t be more thankful for YOU and your commitment to investing your charitable giving in Grant County! THANK YOU! Even with the coronavirus, this has been a BIG year for us here at the Community Foundation—and it’s all because of donors like YOU! In a safe a socially-distanced manner, we were able to serve our donors, serve local nonprofits, and serve as a catalyst for positive change in Grant County once again. THANK YOU! Consider our entire 2019-2020 Punctuation Annual Report as an enormous THANK YOU from us, emphasized by the ever-faithful, ever-true Exclamation Point! There's no better symbol than this tall, dark, and handsome punctuation giant to express the gratitude we have for everyone involved in the achievements we've had this past year. On Pages 24 - 25, you can find a few of the Highlights & Milestones & Successes, Oh My! One additional milestone we are thrilled to announce is that after spending the past three years as #1 in child poverty in the state of Indiana, we have now moved down to 7th. The data shows that we graduated to 22.7% of our children living in poverty from 31% when the data was...

30 Oct

Posted at 17:08h in News
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275 people living in poverty. 100 residents. 45 influencers. 18 leaders. One word. Why? That question, asked of leaders in the for-profit, non-profit, education, and church sectors has driven every inquiry, every activity, every meeting across our community for the past year as we engage in community-led strategies for systems change. It is what has led to this day, these conclusions, and this proposal. Why? Why does Grant County have the highest state child poverty rate? Why is child poverty the most challenging and important systemic issue our community faces? Why? Our Story: Grant County, Indiana, is caught up in what it used to be. False narratives paralyze us into believing plant closings, brain drain, and the twists and turns of a changing economy preclude our county from becoming a thriving place to live, work, and raise a family. “Grant County is always looking in the rearview mirror, managing demise instead of envisioning a future,” says one frustrated resident. The Result: Community values set long ago have not shifted to today’s reality. Grant County ranks among the worst counties in: child poverty (#1); food insecure children (#1); mothers who smoke during pregnancy (#1); single parent families (#2); students passing IREAD at 3rd grade (#6),...

30 Sep

Posted at 20:44h in News
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The Community Foundation of Grant County has received a Community Leadership Grant of $150,000 as part of the seventh phase of Lilly Endowment Inc.’s Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow (GIFT VII) initiative. With the grant, the Community Foundation will grow its community leadership footprint by launching Thriving Mill Township – an initiative designed to drive systems change and solutions to alleviate child poverty. “Every day, 4,469 Mill Township residents living in poverty – or just beyond it – face a resource desert for needs such as food, childcare, and transportation,” Community Foundation President and CEO Dawn Brown said about the Grant County township, which encompasses Gas City, Jonesboro and parts of rural Marion. “This grant will allow the Community Foundation to launch Thriving Mill Township in a community well suited for scaling impact and promoting sustainable solutions.” The Community Foundation of Grant County is one of 84 foundations in Indiana receiving grants through this round of GIFT VII grantmaking. Lilly Endowment created GIFT in 1990 to help local communities in Indiana develop the philanthropic capacity to identify local needs and challenges. It launched GIFT VII in 2018 and made available a total of $125 million to help foundations strengthen their leadership capacities...

24 Sep

Posted at 14:28h in News
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Launching soon, is the Bridge the Gap Loan—a new alternative to payday lending in Grant County will provide financially vulnerable families with convenient, small-dollar, low-interest, flexible-term loans. This innovative hybrid loan program will provide families with immediate access to the cash they need to provide some much-needed financial stability—especially due to COVID-related financial strains—while also helping them build a savings account for future financial security. The alternative payday lending program is made possible through a unique partnership between Afena Federal Credit Union and the Community Foundation of Grant County. The alternative payday lending program was designed to help financially under-resourced families in three ways: 1) By providing affordable financing to assist families in getting back on their feet once they return to work following the COVID-19 pandemic, 2) By helping financially under-resourced families build an emergency savings account, and 3) By helping income-vulnerable families improve their credit scores. Using an impact investment strategy, the Community Foundation has agreed to invest $1,000,000 in the alternative payday lending program for the next  five-years. The Foundation’s commitment will be used as collateral for the loans, allowing Afena to provide payday alternative loans for as many individuals as possible until the five-year program timeline is completed...

04 Feb

Posted at 19:16h in News
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Blanket Jackson. I never understood why Michael Jackson would name his son, Blanket. Celebrities, in general, never choose ‘normal’ names like Mary or John. Gweneth Paltrow chose Apple for her daughter; yes, like the fruit. And, Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller chose the name Moxie Crimefighter. Nothing says, ‘It’s a girl!’ like Moxie Crimefighter. But, Blanket—that one’s making a bit more sense to me this winter. We just experienced a polar vortex, where boiled water thrown from a pan outside freezes in mid-air; no wonder a fuzzy blanket readily becomes your favorite accessory. With temps and wind chills, both in the negative double digits, our thermostats had a hard time keeping up…no matter where they were set. We were on a strict 68-degree limit growing up, to keep the heating bills low. Recently, we were lucky if the indoor temp stayed at 68 degrees. So, blankets were essential. I used to have a favorite blanket. It was a muted green with the softest fleece on one side. Some friends got it for me for my birthday one year—from Comforts of Home when it was still in downtown Marion. I loved that blanket. Well, technically, I still love it—although I...

31 Oct

Posted at 17:14h in News
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The pain was fierce. Not fierce like when your husband has a cold, but still awful.  😊 Although I came to work that Halloween day several years ago, I ended up urgently seeking a doctor’s attention before the day was done.  I’m obviously still here, so it wasn’t anything life-threatening.  But, he did write me a prescription which I had filled before I went home.  Once I arrived back to the Brown Bungalow, I headed straight to bed leaving it up to my husband to distribute the Halloween candy that I had already placed in a bright orange trick-or-treat container on the table next to the door.  Once I took my meds, I was down for the count and really don’t recall much until the very next day.  That was when we became ‘those neighbors’. Technically, the problem started much earlier in my life when I discovered that I liked to organize things.  And, I must admit that I do have an affinity for a good label maker.  Who doesn’t?  Yes, I’m one of those people who makes a label that says ‘label maker’ just so I can stick it on the label maker.  So, when I was organizing the pantry...