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Community Foundation awards more than $86,000 to nonprofits
The Putnam County Community Foundation awarded grants totaling $86,020 at its semi-annual Grant Awards Breakfast in the Community Room at Area 30 Career Center.
The event was sponsored Friday morning by Robert Hardwick of Edward Jones Investments and Old National Bank and included breakfast catered by Almost Home.
Executive Director Elaine Peck greeted the 60 attendees and announced that the grants being awarded were made possible by forward-thinking donors to the Community Foundation's unrestricted and field-of-interest endowments, which allow the Foundation to respond to changing needs and aspirations in Putnam County.
Peck updated the crowd on the $500,000 GIFT VI initiative funded by Lilly Endowment. The funds are to be used to match dollar for dollar any donations to new or existing unrestricted endowments at the Community Foundation.
"As of now," she said, "we are four-fifths of the way to meeting the $500,000 challenge. When successful, the Putnam County Community Foundation will have up to an additional $45,000 per year for unrestricted grantmaking for the benefit of Putnam County, a 23 percent increase from 2014."
Susan Price, who chairs the Grants Committee, thanked donors to the unrestricted endowments, noting that it is due to their generosity that the Community Foundation is able to award Community Grants Youth Philanthropy Grants and Endowment Builder Grants.
Dean Gambill, director of Community Development, invited representatives of unrestricted endowments to present checks to the Putnam County organizations receiving awards. Three different types of grants were awarded: Community Grants, Endowment Builder Grants and Youth Philanthropy Grants. Each has its own application and requirements.
Community Grants awarded totaled $78,374. The Spring 2015 Community Grants recipients are:
* The Fillmore Community Volunteer Fire Department to install a kitchen in the new fire station, $24,374.
* Greencastle/PC Development Center to support operations of center, $20,000.
| * Beyond Homeless Inc.to provide services for homeless persons, $10,000. |
* Gobin Memorial UMC Transformers Program to support increase dscope of Transformer (Anti-poverty) Program, $8,000.
| * Area 30 Career Center to provide supplies for the new welding program, $5,000. |
| * Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana to provide weekend nutrition for at-risk children in Putnam County, $5,000. |
| * Friends of the Putnam County Public Library to support the Imagination Library Program, $3,000. |
| * Putnam Coiunty Comprehensive Services to provide cooking utensils for use in training clients with special needs, $2,500. |
| * Putnam County Public Library to transfer rare, historic film about Putnam County to digital media, $500. |
Endowment Builder Grants awarded this spring totaled $6,666. To qualify for an Endowment Builder Grant an organization must establish or have an existing endowment with the Community Foundation and submit a fundraising plan for growing the endowment. The Foundation matches one dollar for every two dollars that the organization raises.
The Endowment Builder Grant approved this fall is:
* Putnam County Museum, $6,666.
Youth Philanthropy Grants awarded totaled $980 for youth-led community service projects. The Spring 2015 Youth Philanthropy Grant recipients are:
* PC Youth Soccer to construct a net to capture errant kicks, $500.
| * Social Promise for interactive educational fair on a child's life in Uganda, $480. |
The Putnam County Community Foundation is a nonprofit public charity established in 1985 to serve donors, award grants, and provide leadership, enriching the quality of life and strengthening community in Putnam County forever. To double the impact of your charitable giving here at home, contact Elaine Peck, Executive Director, 653-4978 or epeck@pcfoundation.org.