OVERVIEW: The Community Foundation of Wabash County supports education, community development and human services, arts and culture, and nonprofit capacity building in Indiana.
IP TAKE: The Community Foundation of Wabash County strives “to engender trust, and to be warm-heartedly charitable” as it supports the Wabash community. CFWC grants are typically $5,000 or less, unrestricted, and address urgent needs, boost nonprofit capacity or fill service gaps. This is a transparent funder that maintains access to annual reports and financial information on its website. The foundation encourages local grantseekers with questions to stop in and introduce themselves at its office or to reach out at 260-982-4824 or via the online inquiry form.
PROFILE: Established in 1954, the Community Foundation of Wabash County (CFWC) is a community foundation based in North Manchester, Indiana. CFWC launched after a local couple, Charles and Bernice Minear, wanted to build a cabin for the Boy Scouts of North Manchester to memorialize the death of their son who was killed in World War II. The foundation aims to “serve the citizens of Wabash County by implementing their charitable aspirations, making grants, investing and safeguarding charitable assets, providing information regarding charitable endeavors and convening citizens and linking resources to address issues confronting our shared lives.” It has 387 funds and supports local organizations primarily in education, community development, and human services.
Grants for Early Childhood Education
Education is a big area of focus for CFWC because the funder has found that so many other local issues are linked to poor education. Specific interests under the education banner include preschool for young children and school readiness as well as career training and adult education.
Most of the foundation’s education grantmaking happens through the Strategic Initiative Grants program.
Strategic Initiative Grants support programs and initiative that help learners from early childhood through adulthood break the cycle of poverty through educational opportunities. These grants have helped fund everything from “curriculum and classroom modifications for early child care centers [and] summer learning loss prevention” to “dual credit courses for adult learning, workforce investment training, and entrepreneurship training.” Apply to these grants here.
Previous education grantees include Manchester Community Child Care, LA Fontaine Learning Center, Warsaw Christian School, Manchester University, Clarks Summit University, Huntington University, and the Learn More Center to support adult literacy and education.
CFWC also has around 70 different scholarship endowments to both traditional and non-traditional college students, as well as graduate students.
Grants for Community Development
As a community funder, CFWC supports a wide variety of local causes in the region. It lists grants for community development programs and human services organizations as one of its priority funding areas. The Community Foundation of Wabash County two primary grant opportunities in this space:
Good Deeds Grants provide modest grants of $5,000 or less to help citizens of Wabash County meet their basic needs “and provide enrichment experiences for those with limited resources and opportunities.” These grants are available biannually in February and September. Grantseekers can apply here.
Field-of-Interest Funds are made available when foundation donors look to support a specific interest, region, or population group. The full list of current interests is available here. Grantseekers will need to reach out to Judi Orr at judi@cfwabash.org to apply.
In addition to Good Deeds and Field-of-Interest grant recipients, the foundation has also supported Wabash Recovery Services, which has received over $500,000, and Wabash County YMCA, which has received almost $350,000. Other human services and community development grantees include Honeywell Center for Arts & Entertainment, White’s Residential & Family Services, North Manchester Public Library, Oaklawn Cemetery Association, Daniel’s Place, and F I S H of Wabash.
The foundation also hosts a catalog of community organizations that need funding and support beyond what CFWC can provide. Local groups can apply to be included on the crowdfunding list by reaching out to Sam McFadden at (260) 982-4824 or sam@cfwabash.org.
Arts and Culture
While it is not listed as one of the foundation’s priority funding areas, CFWC has supported several arts and culture organizations. It considers “the arts to be a basic need” for any healthy community, and it will only support organizations and programs that serve community members with the least access to the arts.
Most of its past grantees are museums and historical or cultural heritage centers; whoever, the foundation has given to performing arts groups in the past. Grant recipients include North Manchester Historical Society, Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, Wabash County Historical Museum, and North Manchester Civic Symphony Society.
Important Grant Details
Grants typically range between about $1,000 and $10,000, but they have gone as high as $500,000. The most common amount is $10,000. The foundation has awarded more than 427 million in grants since 2010 and currently holds over $90 million in assets.
Grantmaking focuses on Wabash County, Indiana.
This foundation accepts unsolicited grant applications for Good Deed and Strategic Initiative Grants from nonprofits through its online platform.
Good Deeds grants are awarded twice a year, in February and September.
View a sample Good Deeds grant application here.
Direct general questions to the staff at info@cfwabash.org or 260-982-4824.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS:
