At the same time, $340,000 in grant requests were not funded due to a lack of available resources. During first and second quarters, a total of $1.2 million in grant requests could not be met.
"We struggle with not having the resources to fund all of the requests we receive," says Suprotik Stotz-Ghosh, vice president for Community Investment. "Even with the additional resources we will have available through the W.E. Upjohn Prizes Trust announced this past summer, our quarterly grant making will not meet the ever-increasing needs of our community."
Responsive grants -- given in response to a request for funds -- totaled $436,080. They support the Community Foundation’s community investment priorities: early childhood learning and school readiness, economic and community development, individuals and families, and youth development. Those who received grants include:
• Ministry with Community: $55,000 for operational support.
• Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra: $50,000 for Kalamazoo Kids in Tune.
• Northside Association for Community Development: $50,000 for NACD Campus/HEAL Program.
• Interfaith Strategy for Advocacy & Action in the Community (ISAAC): $48,500 for operating expenses for Effective Community Building.
• MRC Industries, Inc.: $40,000 for operational support.
• Kalamazoo Center for Youth & Community: $37,580 for quality youth development and neighborhood collective impact.
• Planned Parenthood Mid and South Michigan: $30,000 for Healthy Outcomes project.
• Fair Food Matter: $30,000 for Fall 2013 Program and Organization Capacity-Building Initiative.
• Kalamazoo Drop-In Child Care Center: $25,000 for free childcare for low-income families.
• Open Doors Kalamazoo: $25,000 for Residence Community for Working People.
• Prevention Works, Inc.: $25,000 for JumpStart project for health and life skills education at four county middle schools.
• Open Roads Bike Program: $20,000 for Open Roads program manager grant.
Grant distributions through Advised Funds -- established by those who want to personally suggest grant awards from the fund they have established at the Community Foundation -- totaled almost $500,000.
Grants from Field-of-Interest Funds -- funds created by donors who want to support a community need that is particularly important to them -- totaled more than $650,000.
Distributions from funds established for nonprofit agencies totaled more than $700,000.
Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave Media
Source: Tom Vance, Kalamazoo Community Foundation