MARION, OHIO – Marion Community Foundation is awarding $548,200 this year from its 2018 Community Grants Program. These funds will help support 36 programs at Marion area nonprofit organizations.
“For the past 20 years, Marion Community Foundation has supported Marion’s nonprofit organizations with grants from its charitable funds,” said Dean Jacob, Foundation president and CEO. “Cumulatively, we have returned $15 million in grants and scholarships—which is more than the Foundation’s original endowment in 1998.”
Jacob noted the anniversary year is a natural time to reflect on the organization’s history and progress.
“In the last five years alone, more than 110 new funds were established with Marion Community Foundation and our assets grew by $5 million,” said Jacob. “Since 2013, the amount we have been able to give back to the community, in both grants and scholarships, has doubled. And, through prudent investing and spending, it gets better each year.”
“We are now solidly awarding in excess of $1 million annually from our grant funds,” said Director of Program Julie Prettyman. “Of the more than 275 funds at the Foundation, approximately 60 percent have been created to award grants, including field of interest, unrestricted, donor advised, designated, and agency funds.”
It is this vast array of funds that not only enables Marion Community Foundation to offer its annual Community Grants Program, but to award grants year-round. According to Prettyman, outside of the Community Grants Program, grants are awarded throughout the year from designated, donor advised, and agency funds.
The 2018 Community Grants Program’s awards and the programs supported include:
Black Heritage Council of Marion County—It Takes A Village, $4,500
Support the annual awards banquet and provide emergency aid to college students
Boys & Girls Club of Marion County—Formula for Impact, $40,000
Support talent development and staff training
Buckeye Ridge Habitat for Humanity—Habitat Marion ReStore PickUps, $30,000
—Support Habitat Marion’s weekly pickup of usable construction, appliances, furniture and
household items, divert those items from landfills, and offer those items at ReStore
Center Street Community Health Clinic
—Food Desert Oasis & Restoration of an Iconic Marion landmark, $100,000
Acquire, restore, and open a Healthy Food Market in downtown Marion;
—Health Services: Fund individual requests for health services, $4,887
Cents for Shoes, $2,500
—Provide shoes for Marion County children ages 3-18
Downtown Marion, Inc.—Marketing the Heart of the Marion Community, $20,000
—Market and promote the continued revitalization efforts of Downtown Marion, Inc.
Emanuel Child Care & Preschool—Early Education Outreach, $1,210
—Purchase a faith-based curriculum for all classrooms
Eye-to-Eye Low Vision Educational Support Group, $2,975
—Purchase a wide format printer and supplies for the sight impaired
Harding Home Presidential Site
—Harding 2020, $31,250
For the restoration of the Harding Home, grounds, and Presidential Center, $31,250
—Restoration, $20,000
For the restoration of Harding’s AB Chase reproducing piano and Warren Harding’s desk and chair while he was editor of The Marion Star
Let’s Read 20—Marketing and Activities, $15,000
—Build on the momentum of the Let’s Read 20 reading and literacy program
Love INC—Marion: United for Transformational Change, $6,250
—Support collaboration, simulation, education, and transformational relationships for lasting
holistic change and well-being for the under-resourced population in Marion County
Marca Industries, $25,000
—Initiate a sustainable Workforce Development Program for Individuals with Developmental
Disabilities
Marion Adolescent Pregnancy Program—Changes & Choices, $5,268
—Support education program for middle and high school students in Marion County
Marion Area Counseling Center
—SOS: Signs of Suicide, $16,000
Raise awareness of suicide and its related issues at all Marion area high and middle schools
—Self Defense Classes, $925
Educate and empower our community through self-defense education
Marion Concert Band, $3,000
—Provide a variety of live music to the Marion community
Marion County Children Services—Child Protection Electronic Document Management System, $4,695
—Connect to a state-wide electronic document management system
Marion County Special Olympics, $3,070
—Send 25 athletes to the 2019 Special Olympics Ohio State Summer Games
Marion Family YMCA—We’re Here For Good Capital Campaign, $43,750
Assist with debt reduction, immediate capital improvements, and campaign costs,
—Delay the Disease, $3,649
Exercise program for individuals with Parkinson’s Disease,
—Arthritis Programs, $1,982
Programs for individuals with arthritis and related joint problems
Marion Matters—Getting Ahead and Money & Me classes, $42,000
—Equip participants with the tools they need to stabilize themselves and their families, leading to self-sufficiency
Marion Mentors 21, $40,000
—Support a mentoring program at Elgin, Marion City & Ridgedale schools
Marion Shelter Program, $8,000
—Provide housing services for Marion County residents in need of emergency shelter
Mid Ohio Fine Art Society—Youth Outreach Program, $3,000
—Provide art activities and shows for Marion youth in grades K-12
Ohio Coalition for the Education of Children with Disabilities—Jump Start in Reading, $5,000
—Provide tools and resources (All About Reading Mentoring Trainings) to Marion County
families to guide their children with disabilities into literacy
Ohio Heartland Community Action Commission—United Community Prescription Program, $2,500
—Provide affordable physician-prescribed medication to those without prescription insurance
Palace Cultural Arts Association—Stage Equipment, $42,942
—Replacement of mics, stage lights, and hearing assistance devices which are failing or obsolete
Peace and Freedom Committee, $4,500
—Support for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast and Central Ohio Regional Oratorical, Art, Poetry & Essay Contest
Resource Foundation—MUDE, $4,350
Improve the quality of healthcare for people living with HIV/AIDS in the Dominican Republic
Royal Family Kids, $3,625
—Provide leader training to initiate clubs and mentoring for abused and neglected children
Salvation Army—Food Pantry & Meals, $861
—Support community food pantry and meals for poor and homeless people in Marion County
Wings of an Angel—Specialized Equipment for Special Children, $5,000
—Provide specialized support equipment for children with disabilities
The 2018 Grants Committee includes chairperson Hon. Deb Alspach, Jeremy Dunn, Kelly Garrett, Dr. Henry Heinzmann, Rev. Dan Kiger, Dr. Kim Stark, and Nicolle Wampler. The Community Grants Program draws from 23 field of interest and unrestricted funds, including: Dave & Anne Brown Family Fund, Smith-Brown Family Fund, Child Care Choices Fund, Conway Family Charitable Fund, James & Margaret Coulson Charitable Fund, Helen Cunningham Handicapped Fund, Founders’ Fund, Jerry Grubaugh Memorial Fund, Henry Heinzmann Community Fund, A. Merle Hamilton Fund, Health Care Fund, Marion Noon Lions Club Fund, C Fund, Paul & Susan Ludwig Charitable Fund, Kenny Martin Charitable Fund, Vera O. McDanel Sr. Citizens Transportation Fund, Kathleen E. O’Shea Fund, Rick & Nancie Poorman Fund, Chester & Mildred Roberts Fund, Janis & Greg Swepston Family Fund, Henry A. True Trust Non-Endowed Fund, Francis & Thelma Wise Fund, and the Robert M. & Dorothy C. Wopat Community Fund.
“We are extremely appreciative of the donors who created these funds and for the community support we are able to provide,” said Jacob. “We always welcome new donors and new funds, because new needs and new projects are part of community life.”
Community need is ever present. This year, during the Community Grants Program, the Foundation received 66 applications totaling $2.04 million in requests from 52 nonprofits.
“Our grants committee does a very thorough job of evaluating the applications,” said Prettyman. “Additional donors and funds would enable us to support even more worthy projects.”
“We know there are people in Marion with a passion to be generous,” said Jacob. “Marion Community Foundation was created by and for the people of Marion. We exist to support this community. I welcome anyone interested in supporting Marion, both now and through estate and planned giving, to contact me.”
Additional information on Marion Community Foundation is available online at www.marioncommunityfoundation.org or by calling 740-387-9704 weekdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.