Surpassing the $160,000 mark in grants awarded through the fall grant cycle this month is the payoff of a strong, multi-year push by the Community Foundation of Jackson County to increase our community endowments and our impact across the community.
We are now reaping the dividends of a decision made by the foundation’s board of directors in 2015 to focus on growing our community funds, also known as unrestricted funds. That year, the board approved fall grants totaling $32,536. We granted $103,000 in fall grants last year – our first time to pass the $100,000 mark — and had more than $130,000 available this year.
Grants from several of our donor-advised funds and our Impact Grant funds pushed the total to just past $163,000 in total fall grant awards. Those grants were approved last week.
That growth has come through conversations with potential donors and long-time donors, explaining the importance, value and versatility of community funds, enabling the foundation to respond to emerging needs. And we must add that our effort certainly found a boost from three Lilly Endowment Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow initiatives that provided match-dollar incentives for establishing new or supporting existing community funds.
As those conversations continue, the foundation hopes to see the amount available for the fall grant cycle grow even more in 2025, grant committee chairman Donald Schnitker said. That is because of six new community funds established in late 2023 that will pay their first grant dollars in 2025.
Those new funds Schnitker mentioned include: Brownstown-Ewing Main Street Community Endowment, the Brent and Sandra Kilgas Community Fund, the Lasater Family Community Fund, the Todd Schleibaum Community Fund, the Ralph and Carol Sweany Community Fund and the Johnny Walter Memorial Fund.
“We are grateful that donors are listening and responding to the stories about the difference and the impact that grants from community funds make to help improve life all across Jackson County,” foundation board of directors chairwoman Ann Windley added.
Community funds are not the only funds to generate grant dollars for the fall grant cycle, however. Earnings from most of the foundation’s field-of-interest funds also feed into that pot of grant dollars. As noted earlier, the foundation is also seeing advisors of some donor-advised funds recommend grants to help extend what is available for fall grants. The Orville and Mary Schnitker Memorial Endowment is one of those.
“As the advisor of my parents’ donor-advised fund, I like to look at the grant applications to see which ones would fit the criteria of what my sisters and I have set to use these funds for,” Schnitker said. “By doing this it extends the funds available for the community grants hopefully to make a greater impact within our community.”
The number of endowed community funds has increased in recent years. Entering 2015, the year the foundation decided to focus on such funds, we had 13. At the end of 2023, the number had grown to 35.
“They really are making an impact, and we appreciate that our donors are seeing their importance and versatility in responding to community needs,” Windley said.
You, too, can help make a difference through the varied programs and initiatives that the fall grant cycle helps fund every year. You can make a gift into one of our 35 community funds or our field-of-interest funds. Or of course you could create for own family legacy fund as a community fund. Give me a call and let’s talk. It could be a great way for you to give back.
President CEO Dan Davis of the Community Foundation of Jackson County may be reached by phone at 812-523-4483 or by email at [email protected] .