OVERVIEW: The Welborn Baptist Foundation supports early learning, healthy eating, active living, Christ-centered living and nonprofit excellence in Indiana.
IP TAKE: The Welborn Baptist Foundation is a funder that encourages collaboration, both between itself and its grantees and between organizations working together on a project. It is a transparent funder that provides detailed data reports and survey results for many of its focus areas. Welborn has an accessible application process and encourages grantseekers to reach out with questions. Christian organizations will definitely have an advantage here.
PROFILE: Established in 1999, the Welborn Baptist Foundation (WBF) is a health legacy foundation based in Evansville, Indiana. The foundation formed upon the sale of Wellborn Memorial Baptist Hospital to St. Mary’s Medical Center. The foundation aims to “demonstrate Christ’s love through cultivating stronger communities.” WBF funds local efforts for early learning, healthy eating, active living, Christ-centered living and nonprofit excellence.
Grants for Early Childhood Development and K-12 Education
The Welborn Baptist Foundation’s Early Learning grants address kindergarten readiness and third-grade reading level benchmarks. Its priorities are family engagement, provider effectiveness, affordable high-quality enrollment and academic supports. It has given tens of thousands to dozens of public and religious schools in the area, as well as to tutoring and education service organizations. Community Coordinated Child Care of Southern Indiana received over $500,000 in a recent year. Other past grantees include St. Vincent Early Learning Center, Francisco Elementary PTO, Holy Redeemer Church and School, Lutheran School Association of Evansville Indiana, Evansville Christian School, Holy Trinity Catholic School, Pine Ridge Elementary School, Ferdinand Elementary School PTO, and Southridge Middle School PTO, among many others.
Grants for Public Health and Access
WBF’s Healthy Eating & Active Living grants help residents of all ages eat healthier and be more physically active to have reduced weight-related chronic disease risks. Previous grant recipients include over $500,000 to the Evansville Area Trails Coalition, as well as support for St Mary’s Health, Evansville Parks Foundation, Southwestern Indiana Regional Council on Aging, Rivertown Pickleball of Southern Indiana, and Urban Seeds, a community garden project.
Grants for Community Development
Christ-Centered Living grants go towards helping residents hear and embrace the word of Christ and transform communities through Christ-centered programs and collaborative efforts. WBF also awards Nonprofit Excellence grants to improve leadership skills and help nonprofit leaders be advocates in the community.
Support for religious organizations is the foundation’s largest area of funding. Grantees include over $1 million each to Community One Crossroads Christian Church and Evansville Christian Life Center. Recipients of other significant grants include Evansville Christian School, The Potters Wheel, Isaiah 117 Project, Borrowed Hearts Foundation, Encountering Hope Ministries, Weekday Christian Education, and United Methodist Youth Home.
Important Grant Details
Grants typically range between about $100 and $25,000, but they have reached over $500,000. The most common amount is $800. This foundation gave out over $3 million in grants in a recent year and held more than $123 million in assets.
Grantmaking focuses on fourteen counties in the Tri-State region of Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. In Indiana, the counties in focus are Dubois, Gibson, Perry, Pike, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh and Warrick. In Illinois, the counties are Gallatin, Saline, Wabash, Wayne and White. Henderson County is in focus in Kentucky.
This foundation accepts unsolicited letters of inquiry from nonprofits.
WBF structures its grant cycles to occur in a staggered fashion every two years.
The application window runs from the first week of January to the end of January.
Successful applicants are notified in May.
It posts open opportunities on its website.
Direct general questions to the staff at info@welbornfdn.org or 812-437-8260.
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