“Many of the nonprofits, especially the smaller ones, lack the staff or the expertise to pursue competitive state and national grants, and there are so many foundations out there,” said Tricia Porter, the Community Grant Finder with Butler County Grant Link. “They tend to continually to write to the smaller community foundations. Those funds are limited.”
Year-over-year, the organic grant growth into a community is around 6%, and Porter said the goal for Grant Link is to try to double, or get close to doubling, that amount with centralized expertise and access to a curated funding database. This is free for any Butler County nonprofit, so “more Butler County organizations can compete for larger pools of funding.”
Middletown Community Foundation Executive Director Sara Nathan called Grant Link “free capacity building for our nonprofits” with professional advice and growth, as well as access to funding, they likely would not get on their own.
“All nonprofit organizations have funding challenges and while we do what we can at our community foundation, and it’s the same at the Hamilton Community Foundation, we want to help nonprofits bring in resources from outside of Butler County,” said Nathan. “And we can do this by using the knowledge and expertise of our Grant Link professional, leveraging that to bring in more resources at a time when it’s going to be more challenging for a nonprofit.”
This opportunity could raise a lesser-known organization’s profile by amplifying a local nonprofit’s impact, Porter said.
“Whether a nonprofit is looking to learn the grant writing process, needs help crafting a successful proposal, or needs us to handle the process and reporting from start to finish, this initiative will be offered as free support to Butler County nonprofits,” she said.
Hamilton Community Foundation President and CEO John Guidugli said Grant Link exists to help Butler County nonprofits have “a competitive edge” to secure outside grants.
“Many of our organizations do incredible work, but do not always have the resources to complete these very competitive and complex grant applications,” said Guidugli.
The kickoff event on Wednesday is from 8:30 to 10 a.m. at Community First Solutions, 230 Ludlow St.
DATES TO KNOW
Butler County Grant Link kickoff event is from 8:30 to 10 a.m. on Wednesday at Community First Solutions, 230 Ludlow St.
In subsequent weeks, Butler County Grant Link will have small informational sessions throughout the county:
9:30 to 10:30 a.m., Sept. 16. Fairfield Lane Library (Fairfield Meeting Room), 1485 Corydale Dr., Fairfield
8:30 to 10 a.m., Sept. 18, Butler County United Way (Board Room), 323 N. Third St., Hamilton
4 to 5:30 p.m., Sept. 23, Oxford Lane Library (Oxford Helen Weinberger Activity Room), 441 S. Locust St., Oxford
4 to 5 p.m., Sept. 24, Middletown Community Foundation, 300 N. Main St., Middletown
11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Sept. 25, Midpointe Library West Chester (Liberty Board Room), 9363 Centre Pointe Dr., West Chester Twp.
3:30 to 5 p.m., Sept. 30, Butler County United Way (Board Room), 323 N. Third St., Hamilton
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