The search for funding is a never-ending process for most local nonprofits.
The City of Evansville Endowment Fund put a dent in that need by awarding grants totaling $285,000 to 20 local nonprofits.
Grants ranging from $2,550 to $30,000 were awarded based on a list of criteria focusing on need for capital improvements, namely building and grounds repair, which CEEF board members began reviewing back in May.
According to CEEF secretary Susan Harp, its focus on keeping local organizations’ infrastructure in working order sets it apart from other grant-awarding organizations in the city.
“In the past, there has been a lot of competition for these grants,” Harp said, “since many of these not-for-profits are struggling day by day just to stay alive.”
Funding for the CEEF began in 1994 when former Mayor Frank McDonald II pushed for $5 million in revenue generated by Casino Aztar to be set aside and managed in such a way that it could be used to support the city of Evansville indefinitely.
The fund’s charter requires that at least 60 percent of funding be distributed for capital projects that will support or benefit the city’s 4th and 6th wards.
Twenty years later, that initial investment has grown to $8 million, and since 2001 the CEEF has awarded more than 200 grants totaling $2,286,357 to local nonprofits.
“Termite damage, nobody’s going see that, and we’re not going put a plaque on the wall when they’re gone, but those are the kinds of things that we want to fix,” Harp said. “Those improvements aren’t visible to a person walking by on the street, but they’re so very necessary to keep a facility going.”
The Nov. 5 grant ceremony was hosted by the YWCA, which received a grant of $16,000 to pay for tuckpointing and roof coating along the northeast wall.
According to YWCA CEO Erika Taylor, the repairs will help prevent water leakage in women’s bedrooms and warping of interior walls.
“When you have a building as old as ours, those are the kinds of repairs that are needed,” Taylor said, “and unfortunately, we’re never in a position to just write a $20,000 check for capital improvement.”
The Evansville YWCA has inhabited the same building since 1924, and according to Taylor, the CEEF has paid for exterior repairs at every corner of the building over the years.
“What makes (CEEF) grants so unique is we can use them on capital improvements,” Taylor said. “A lot of times, grant organizations want you to apply for a grant to fund a new project or program, but then they expect you to be able to sustain it; when sometimes, we just need money to keep our doors open.”
The list of grant recipients changes every year, but for organizations such as ARC of Evansville, which focuses on the advancement of Evansville residents with disabilities, CEEF grants play an integral role in annual infrastructure management.
“I believe since 2001 we have been funded by them nine times,” said ARC Director of Development Denise Seibert. “Their grants are one of the many reasons we’ve been successful in Evansville.”
For ARC, this year’s $12,622 grant will help replace 40-year-old concrete and hopefully finish the ongoing construction of a semicircular drive.
“(The CEEF) like to fund the non-glamorous projects, the ones that are so integral to the day-to-day operations of organizations like us,” Seibert said. “Every year we hope we get funded, and some years we do, some years we don’t, but when we do, we feel very fortunate.”