Community Foundation Alliance Making Up to $1M in Emergency Funding to Regional Nonprofits
The Community Foundation Alliance announced today that it is making up to $1 million in emergency funding available to southwestern Indiana nonprofit organizations at the forefront of helping local communities impacted by COVID-19. The funding will support a variety of response activities throughout the Alliance service region, comprised of 9 affiliate Community Foundations in Daviess, Gibson, Knox, Perry, Pike, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh, and Warrick counties.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted daily life in southwestern Indiana, and while we don't yet fully understand the extent of the implications of this outbreak, we do know that it is proving particularly challenging for those who are already vulnerable," said Jill Carpenter, President and CEO of the Community Foundation Alliance.
“After input from our charitable organizations, community leaders, elected officials, school officials, and others, we have developed a rapid response plan to provide critical funding and support for our communities in the weeks and months to come.”
A portion of the funding provides for a $250,000 grant to the COVID-19 Crisis Response Fund of the Greater Evansville Region, which will support human services in Gibson, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh and Warrick counties. The United Way of Southwestern Indiana is serving as the fiscal sponsor for this fund. The remaining grant dollars will support similar collaborative COVID-19 funds in Daviess, Knox, Perry and Pike counties and allow each of the 9 Alliance Community Foundations to award rapid response grants to local charitable organizations impacted by the pandemic. To donate to the fund in our county, please visit https://swi.unitedwayepledge.org/comm/SurveyNE.jsp?SurveyKeyHex=4474512C633F40672E397E3E&SA=955773.
The rapid response grants are designed to quickly deploy flexible resources in the form of one-time grants to organizations that, in many cases, have been financially strained by the outbreak. The grants have a simple application and quick turnaround time, including a 24-hour review, with grant dollars released directly to organizations within 4 days of approval.
Another component of the Alliance plan includes measures to ensure an appropriate reaction to unknown changes that may occur in communities during the months to come. Those include extending deadlines for existing grant cycles and re-evaluation of future Community Good granting strategies.
For more information, visit the Community Foundation Alliance website at www.CommunityFoundationAlliance.org
About the Community Foundation Alliance
The Community Foundation Alliance is comprised of affiliate Community Foundations serving 9 counties throughout southwestern Indiana. Through the establishment of endowed funds created by caring donors to benefit community causes, Alliance affiliates work to improve the quality of life in their counties by distributing a portion of funds’ earnings to local non-profit organizations, in the form of annual scholarships and grants. The Alliance holds more than 1,200 named funds established by individuals, families, businesses, civic groups, and agencies to improve the quality of life in their local communities, with charitable assets over $100 million. During the last fiscal year, grants and scholarships awarded from all Alliance funds to benefit the programs, projects, and people in the nine affiliate counties totaled nearly $3.43 million.