The Community Foundation of Jackson County encourages philanthropy and grants money to help programs and the people they serve in our community.
The foundation staff and our 20-member board of directors, with help from other community volunteers, do our best to prudently administer more than $15 million in assets to generate earnings that are granted for scholarships, classroom education grants, community impact grants and our fall grant cycle.
Those grants make an impact across Jackson County. Last year, for instance, fall grants were awarded in Brownstown, Crothersville, Medora, Seymour and places in between.
Work on this year’s fall grant cycle is underway with a July 31 application deadline. Over the next several weeks, foundation Vice President Sue Smith and I will answer questions, review drafts and accept applications. Forms are available online at cfjacksoncounty.org.
Once the deadline passes and Sue reviews them for compliance (all applications must involve 501(c)3 organizations or governmental units), our grant committee will conduct site visits to investigate the requests and their needs.
Two factors can play a large role in determining grants: whether a nonprofit’s board is engaged financially and whether other funding sources are being pursued for the project. We like to see board members with skin in the game, and we support the practice of bringing funding partners together to deal with community issues and needs.
Examples include how the foundation worked with Jackson County United Way to meet the needs of nonprofits during the COVID-19 pandemic last year and is working now with Child Care Network and other community partners to leverage support and assets for the opening of a community child-care center.
Once the site visits are completed, the foundation staff and grant committee convene to determine which applications will be recommended for grants. This will take place in September, and our board will consider the recommendations in October. While we’d like to say every organization that applies receives funding, we can’t.
Last year, for example, the foundation approved 18 fall grants totaling $84,676 but denied seven other applications. There weren’t enough grant dollars. Earnings from all of the foundation’s unrestricted funds, field of interest funds and grant dollars from the Orville and Mary Schnitker Memorial Endowment financed those grants last year.
This year, the board of directors approved a granting rate that will pay out more than $589,000 in grants from scholarship funds, donor advised funds, designated funds, agency funds and unrestricted funds. That’s up from $540,000 approved for 2020.
While we suspected earnings could be off last year, due in great part to the COVID-19 pandemic, we actually saw strong returns and strong giving. So we were able to again approve this year the maximum 5 percent grant rate allowed by the Internal Revenue Service. That’s two straight years of hitting the federal cap on our grant rate.
Your new gifts, of course, can help make those grant dollars grow in the future as well. If you would like to donate to any of the foundation’s endowed funds or to create your own endowed fund, call me at 812-523-4483 to set up an appointment. We can discuss your interest in helping others in the community and how to make your assistance a reality.
Your endowed gifts can, through prudent investment, generate earnings for scholarships, classroom education grants, fall grants, agency grants and community impact grants to help people across Jackson County. Over and over, year after year. Forever.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At a glance” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
How to help: You can make gifts to the community funds and field of interest funds administered by the Community Foundation of Jackson County. For information about how you can make a donation to any of the funds administered by the foundation or how you might start a new fund, call 812-523-4483 or send an email to Dan Davis at [email protected].
How to apply
The deadline to apply for a fall grant at the Community Foundation of Jackson County is July 31. Applications are online at www.cfjacksoncounty.org.
[sc:pullout-text-end]
Dan Davis is president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Jackson County. The foundation administers more than 200 funds with assets of more than $15 million. For information about how you can make a donation to any of the funds administered by the foundation or how you might start a new fund, call 812-523-4483 or send an email to Dan Davis at [email protected].