The Green River Area Community Foundation (GRACF) is awarding just more than $60,000 in grants to 12 nonprofits in the greater Owensboro area.
The grant process began with a needs survey asking for area nonprofits to submit their current and greatest financial needs. The majority of responses included general operating expenses or capital improvements, as these expenses continue to be the most difficult for the agencies to fund.
“We decided several years ago to allow our applicants to request operational expenses,” said Greg Longtine, GRACF grantmaking committee chair. “Our local nonprofits work diligently to provide direct services, and often struggle to find grant opportunities for operational costs, which are essential for their existence.”
Responses were utilized in selecting nonprofits to submit a full grant application to the Community Foundation. Utilizing funds from the Owensboro-Daviess County Community Fund, the Green River Area Community Foundation Endowment Fund, and the Field-Weller Endowment Fund, the 12 charitable organizations receiving funds are:
- Owensboro’s Bakhita Empowerment Initiative
- Care Net Owensboro
- Community Dental Clinic
- CrossRoads, Inc. Shelter
- Girls, Inc.
- Goodfellows Club
- Green River Community Food Warehouse
- Help Office of Hancock County
- OASIS
- The Foundation for Excellence at Owensboro Public Schools
- Union County Happy Pack Weekend Feeding Program
- Wendell Foster Campus
One goal of the Community Foundation is to improve the community by advancing the work of area nonprofits.
“We love to support our wonderful nonprofits who work year-round to serve our community in so many ways,” said GRACF Executive Director Amy Silvert. “Since their financial needs continue to exceed our dollars available to grant, we work to find other potential funders.”
Frank Hagan, GRACF grantmaking committee member, encouraged the community to give back to support the nonprofits’ efforts.
“With additional donations to our endowed community funds, we could award more grants,” he said. “There is a lot of great work being done by our local nonprofits that we could support if more community members chose to donate to the Community Foundation endowments.”
The Owensboro Daviess County Endowment Fund was one of the first funds established 30 years ago when the local Community Foundation began. The Green River Area Community Foundation Endowment was created less than 5 years ago and helps fund nonprofits in Daviess, Hancock, McLean, Ohio, Union, and Webster counties.
The Green River Area Community Foundation is an affiliate foundation of the Community Foundation of Louisville (CFL).
