The Chaffee County Community Foundation (CCCF) today announced it has awarded 30 local nonprofit organizations with $49,000 in funding from the Fall grant cycle, which was open from July 1 through July 31, 2023. These grants are made possible through a partnership with the Sangre de Cristo Electric Association (SDCEA) and the Chaffee County Community Foundation.
The grants are divided into two categories. In the first, the Sangre de Cristo Electric Association Grant Fund distributes a total of $35,000 to organizations that serve the communities of Chaffee, Custer, Fremont and/or Lake Counties. These nonprofits must either focus on community-based health programs; provide support for food, shelter, and human services; offer disaster preparedness and relief services; or support animal protection and welfare.
“We are pleased to partner with SDCEA to increase our local nonprofit capacity through administering the grant process,” states Betsy Dittenber, Executive Director of the CCCF. “Our local nonprofits are addressing some of the most challenging issues in our community. Grantmaking is one way we can support their work as change makers. We are grateful to SDCEA for their investment in our community and trusting CCCF with its grantmaking.”
The second category is the CCCF Community Grants Fund which has $14,000 available for organizations that serve communities in Chaffee County and that focus on community health, community vitality, and community capacity. This funding is made possible by local donors.
The Fall grant cycle’s average grant award is $1,600 and funds are expected to be distributed the week of Oct. 2. To be qualified, applicants must be registered as 501(c)(3), 501(c)4), or 501(c)(6) – or under the fiscal sponsorship of an eligible organization – and in good standing with the IRS and the State of Colorado.
A total of 35 organizations applied for the highly competitive funding; 86 percent were awarded grants. Award decisions were based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative review criteria including the grant rubric and follow-up questions to applicants.
The recipients were determined by the CCCF 2023 Fall Grant Review Committee, which consisted of 10 volunteers who contributed at least 25 hours each to review applicants and make funding recommendations.
Dittenber added, “Through each grant cycle, I’m amazed by the time, energy, and dedication of our review committee volunteers. We are beyond appreciative to these community members who help us provide a fair and balanced community review process to steward available funding to high-impact initiatives and organizations.”
The organizations receiving funding from the 2023 Fall grant cycle are:
Sangres Art Guild
Wet Mountain Fire Protection District
CASA of the Continental Divide
Custer 2020 / Altitude Community Fitness
Fremont County Crimestoppers
Colorado Theater in Non-Traditional Spaces
High Country Fine Arts Association
Arkansas Valley Advocates for Dyslexia
Peak to Peak Pickleball Club
Foodshed Alliance
Salida Aspen Concerts
Advocates of Lake County
Wet Mountain Valley Rotary Community Service
KHEN 106.9fm Community Radio
Salida Council for the Arts
Boys & Girls Clubs of Chaffee County
Buena Vista Public Library (Northern Chaffee County Library District)
Salida Circus Outreach Foundation
Friends of Colorado Avalanche Information Center
Colorado Farm To Table
Greater Arkansas River Nature Association
Guidestone Colorado
Salida Pregnancy Resource Center
Achieve, Inc.
Shining Mountains Montessori School
JJs Helping Paws
The Alliance dba The Alliance Against Domestic Abuse
Ark-Valley Humane Society
Chaffee Childcare Initiative
elevateHER
CCCF’s grantmaking review process includes management of the grant application portal, eligibility review of applications, technical support to applicants, convening an independent review committee reflecting the communities impacted by the grants, and facilitating the scoring, follow-up and review process.
In all of the grantmaking CCCF undertakes with its partners, it is committed to a transparent, non-biased grant process that is focused on high-impact grant-making that increases the capacity of our hard-working local nonprofit organizations.
The process includes sharing the grant application questions and evaluation rubric with the applicants while they are developing their applications, incorporating follow-up interviews to clarify aspects of the application, and a combined scoring and discussion approach to ensure good projects, not just good grant writers, are recommended for funding. In recognizing that Chaffee County is a very interconnected community, a recusal process is used to ensure there are no conflicts of interest in the review process.
Founded in 2018, Chaffee County Community Foundation is a public, nonprofit organization established to promote and facilitate philanthropy in Chaffee County, created by and for the people in that area. CCCF acts as a catalyst to inspire positive change through the power of philanthropy to enrich the lives of all people within the county.
Its goals are to make informed philanthropy accessible to all, build local nonprofit capacity, and enable community conversations. Since 2018, CCCF has actively supported nonprofit organizations for the betterment of Chaffee County and the local communities. To learn more, visit www.chaffeecommunity.org.
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