Group expects to allocate $440K from Packard by end of June
The Community Foundation of San Benito County is mulling over a
list of 54 applicants remaining for $440,000 in grant awards from
the Packard Foundation that it will allocate this summer.
Group expects to allocate $440K from Packard by end of June
The Community Foundation of San Benito County is mulling over a list of 54 applicants remaining for $440,000 in grant awards from the Packard Foundation that it will allocate this summer.
The number of interested nonprofit groups skyrocketed this year after the Los Altos-based philanthropist group decided to give $570,000 to the local foundation. It will re-disperse most of the money while using the remaining $130,000 for its own enhancements such as offering education programs for area groups.
Foundation Executive Director Gary Byrne noted how the nonprofit normally receives about 20 applicants for between $30,000 and $50,000 in annual, total allocations.
After the Packard Foundation award this year, Community Foundation garnered 98 applicants, including 85 nonprofit groups.
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” he said.
It has narrowed that list to 54 applicants, who received letters last week requesting a full grant proposal. Byrne said the sum of requests for those remaining applicants is $800,000 and must be lowered to the $440,000 figure.
The range of dollar requests is $4,000 to $250,000, Byrne said, while the average is about $25,000.
For whomever receives the awards, they are one-time grants to align with the Packard allocation. Nonprofit leaders hope the relationship continues into the future.
“We hope this will be the norm from now on,” Byrne said.
The requests fall into five separate categories, he explained. They include arts, youth and education, health and social services, community enhancement and agriculture and environment.
With the remainder of the Packard award, Community Foundation is organizing such events as an education forum for nonprofits that was held May 6 at San Juan Oaks Golf Club.
Byrne noted that 115 people from 29 nonprofit groups took part in the forum from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. It included three workshops and was put on by a Bay Area facilitating firm, Compass Point. Topics included board development, proper reporting and fundraising. Community Foundation also handed out a series of “mini-grants” at the end of the day.
