The Green River Area Community Foundation is seeking needs assessments from area nonprofit organizations as part of its 2024 grant process.
Early next year, the organization will award $50,000 in grants to nonprofit groups in Daviess, McLean, Hancock, Ohio, Union and Webster counties. As part of the process, the Foundation grant-making committee wants to hear from nonprofit organizations about their needs.
Amy Silvert, executive director of the foundation, said 10 grants were awarded in 2023.
“We will plan to give out $50,000 in grants again, but the amounts do vary, depending on the project,” Silvert said.
The foundation was formed in 1993 as the Community Foundation of Owensboro-Daviess County, after a community survey sponsored by the Messenger-Inquirer found the city needed a community foundation to increase philanthropy. The organization is an affiliate of the Community Foundation of Louisville.
In 2009, the organization expanded outside Daviess County to cover the entire Green River region.
The foundation works with people who want to make charitable contributions either thorough a set pool of money or through permanent endowments, where the funds are invested and returns are donated to nonprofit groups.
The foundation works with over 90 funds, set up by businesses and individuals. The foundation averages support of $1 million to $1.5 million in investments to nonprofit groups annually, officials said previously.
“It’s an online response from the nonprofits, asking what their greatest needs are,” Silvert said.
The assessments will be shared with other grant-awarding organizations that could also provide financial assistance to nonprofits, Silvert said.
“We also hope to use this information to inform the public and other grant-makers (about) what the needs are,” she said. “We’re asking the nonprofits, when they submit those, for permission to share them with the public and donors.”
The deadline for nonprofit groups to submit needs assessments is 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15.
