Whitefish Community Foundation sets record for giving
The Whitefish Community Foundation set a new record in philanthropic giving on Thursday, awarding more than $257,000 through its 2014 Community Grant Program to 74 nonprofit organizations.
This is over $60,000 more than the foundation gave last year during the annual awards ceremony.
More than half of the nonprofit grant requests received 100 percent of the requested amount. Awards ranged from $500 to $6,000. Funding for the Foundation’s grant programs comes from The Circle of Giving, the annual Whitefish Duck Derby, the Summer Art Social and interest from the foundation’s growing permanent endowment fund.
In addition to the foundation’s Community Grant Program awards, it also presented grants totaling $493,000 from nine of its donor-advised Funds to local nonprofits, bringing the total for the evening to more than $750,000 in grant awards.
Whitefish Mountain Resort awarded grants to 15 organizations from its Whitefish Mountain Resort Fund.
The Iron Horse Foundation held by the Community Foundation presented a check for $250,000 to the Whitefish School Board for the high school’s new arts and technology wing, called the Center for Applied Media Arts and Sciences. With this contribution, along with the major grant award from the Community Foundation of $25,000 and other recent private donations, the school fundraising campaign of $2.3 million is nearing completion.
Many organizations were awarded several grants from both the Community Grants Program and the donor-advised funds.
North Valley Food Bank received six grants totaling over $23,000; Shepherd’s Hand Free Clinic received over $27,000 and North Valley Hospital Foundation was awarded $26,000.
Programs that benefit the Whitefish school district received more than $40,000 from the Whitefish Community Foundation to help fund projects in music, science, wellness, mental health counseling, meals and more. In all, almost 200 grants were awarded to 74 different nonprofit organizations or school programs.
The Great Fish Award went to the Whitefish Figure Skating Club for its work on the Stumptown Ice Den renovation.
The Doris Schumm Community Spirit Award was presented to the Flathead Nordic Backcountry Patrol for its work in keeping skiers safe as they head out of area.
A new award recognizing the major gift in memory of Russ and Mary Jane Street for community service was awarded to the Whitefish Lake Institute for its work with monitoring Whitefish Lake for invasive species through the Inspect – Clean – Dry campaign. All three awards came with an additional $1,000 grant.
The Whitefish Community Foundation, formed in 2000, is dedicated to fostering philanthropy, building endowment and helping donors and nonprofits benefit the community. For more information go to www.whitefishcommunityfoundation.org or call 863-1781.