Chaffee Community Foundation awards 34 nonprofits with Community Municipal Grants Funding

Posted By: Dan R April 12, 2022

The Chaffee County Community Foundation recently awarded 34 local nonprofits with $135,563 in funding from the Town of Buena Vista and the City of Salida Community Grants Funds.

The average award size for each nonprofit was $2,078. In 2021, the grant process awarded 32 nonprofits with a total of $80,000 in funding.

The CCCF Grant Review Committee consisted of 8 volunteers who contributed at least 25 hours of their time to review applicants and make funding recommendations. Betsy Dittenber, CCCF Executive Director, said, “CCCF is incredibly grateful for these dedicated volunteers who made it possible to have a balanced and in-depth review of the applicants.”

Beginning in 2020, CCCF formed a partnership with The Town of Buena Vista Trustees and the Salida City Council to bring more consistency, transparency, and impartiality to their community grants processes. CCCF then designed and administered a separate online application process for each municipality to which organizations could quickly and consistently request grant support from Buena Vista and Salida.

Dittenber said the 2022 grant process shifted from project-based funding to operating funding, which helps the nonprofit sector cover hard to pay for expenses that are inherently necessary for their program to exist.

“Organizations were evaluated on their total impact – not on the impact of a particular project,” Dittenber said.

CCCF Grants Chair Rachele Vierthaler said, “We value our partnership with The City of Salida and the Town of Buena Vista and are honored to bring together a variety of volunteer community members to review grant applications and determine how the municipal grant funds will impact their local communities.”

Congratulations to the following recipients of the 2022 Municipal Community Grants:

  • Buena Vista Pregnancy Center
  • Bringing Everyone Together through the Crisis of Housing (BETCH)
  • Articipate
  • Mini-Blessings
  • Shining Mountains Montessori
  • Salida-area Parks
  • Open-space and Trails (SPOT)
  • KHEN
  • Salida Seed Library
  • Ark-Valley Humane Society
  • Salida Circus Outreach Foundation
  • Chaffee County Childcare Initiative
  • Salida Concerts, Inc.
  • Chaffee Housing Trust
  • Truth Has a Voice Foundation
  • Salida Mountain Trails
  • Achieve, Inc.
  • Foodshed Alliance
  • Southwest Conservation Corps
  • Chaffee County Council for the Arts
  • Ark Valley High Rollers
  • Neighbor to Neighbor
  • Colorado Theater in Non-Traditional Spaces
  • Chaffee County Hospitality, Inc.
  • Chaffee County Early Childhood Council
  • Colorado Farm to Table, Inc.
  • Full Circle Restorative Justice
  • Greater Arkansas River Nature Area (GARNA)
  • Guidestone Colorado
  • Ark Valley Helping Hands
  • The Alliance
  • Boys and Girls Clubs of Chaffee County
  • elevateHER
  • Central Colorado Conservancy
  • Caring and Sharing

CCCF will host two Grant Readiness Workshops in May for nonprofits looking to strengthen their grant writing skills for future CCCF opportunities or other funders. Session 1 will be held May 10th from 2-3:30 p.m. at Salida Regional Library and will cover grant application basics. Session 2 will be held May 24th from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at Salida Regional Library and will cover how to tell the nonprofit story through a compelling grant narrative. To learn more and register for these events visit https://www.chaffeecommunity.org/events-workshops-1.

For questions or more information, contact Betsy Dittenber at betsy@chaffeecommunity.org or at 719-204-5071.

For more information on CCCF’s mission, impact and programs, visit chaffeecommunity.org.

Dan R
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