A crowd of almost 100 donors, Foundation board members, and representatives from regional nonprofit organization’s gathered at the Little Bar at Lumiere on February 11 to celebrate having received a Community Grant, mingle, and build relationships. The Telluride Foundation hosts a celebration each year for its grantees to celebrate their good works, as well as to create an opportunity for networking with other nonprofits and donors. The Telluride Foundation Board of Directors recently awarded $949,750 to 79 nonprofit organizations serving the region. The Board made its decision at its December 29th board meeting, bringing the total grants given in 2014 by the Foundation to over $2.8 million.
“The Community Grants program is one of the fundamental programs of the Telluride Foundation, supporting the vibrancy of our community as well as core safety net programs,” said Davis Fansler, Chair of the Grants Committee. “The community is fortunate to have such committed and generous donors that build and support our local hardworking nonprofits.”
In its 2014 annual Community Granting cycle, the Foundation received 91 applications seeking almost $1.3 million. The Foundation awarded grants to the majority of applicants that applied, and awards ranged from $1,900 to $55,000, with 30 percent going to human services; 24 percent funding arts and culture; 19 percent to early childhood development; 17 percent to education; 6 percent to athletic groups; and 4 percent to the environment/animals. Local groups receiving grant awards included organizations serving Telluride, Rico, Ouray, Ridgway, Norwood, Nucla, Naturita, and Paradox. The Telluride Foundation supports regional organizations that serve San Miguel, Ouray, west Montrose and portions of Dolores counties.
“The Grants Committee continues to improve its decision- making process each year, comparing and discussing program outcomes, evaluating financials, and examining a number of key metrics, which measure financial sustainability, growth, and program effectiveness,” said Paul Major, President & CEO of the Telluride Foundation. “By ensuring Community Grant dollars support high-performing nonprofits and effective programs, the Foundation remains accountable to our donors, the Board, and the community.”
“New this year, we allowed organizations to submit capital requests, including equipment or building purchases.” said April Montgomery, Programs Director at the Telluride Foundation. “While the Grants Committee didn’t choose to fund any capital requests this year, we anticipate that there will be many more capital requests in the future.”
The Telluride Foundation’s Community Grant award recommendations are drafted by the seven-member Grants Committee, all of whom sit on the Foundation’s Board of Directors. The committee evaluates the grant requests against a rigorous set of criteria and forwards their slate of recommendations to the full Board for review and final approval. The Grants Committee is comprised of Chairman Davis Fansler, Ann Andrews, Richard Betts, Allan Gerstle, Kevin Holbrook, Megan McManemin, Joanne Brown, and Dan Tishman. Their recommendations were reviewed and approved by the Board of Directors at its meeting on December 29th. The Foundation’s next round of local grant applications will be due in October, 2015, and announced at the end of December, 2015.
In addition to its annual Community Grant awards, the Foundation has continued to expand its funding and the reach of its impact initiative-based granting programs such as the Telluride Venture Accelerator, the Tri-County Health Network, Bright Futures Early Childhood Development Fund, the family emergency Good Neighbor Fund, and the Paradox Community Development Initiative.
| Organization | 2014 Grant Recom. | Grant Award For |
| Ah Haa School For The Arts | $18,500 | for general operating support. |
| Angel Baskets, Inc | $5,000 | to provide direct and basic assistance to low-income families. |
| Bright Futures for Early Childhood and Families | $20,000 | to support the Parents as Teachers program. |
| CASA of the Seventh Judicial District Inc., DBAVoices for Children | $5,000 | to fund case tracking software and expanding the volunteer program in San Miguel County. |
| Center for Independence, Inc. | $5,000 | to support people with disabilities in San Miguel and west Montrose counties. |
| Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) | $4,000 | for the Telluride area avalanche forecasting program. |
| Dolores County School District RE-2J (Rico Preschool) | $3,000 | for general operating expenses associated with the Rico preschool program. |
| EcoAction Partners | $5,000 | to fund the GreenLights Program and Energy Efficiency Outreach. |
| Friends of the Wright Opera House | $6,000 | to fund programs and infrastructure. |
| Haven House of Montrose, Inc (dba Haven House) | $2,000 | to support the Transitional Housing and Child Development programs for residents of Ouray, San Miguel or west Montrose counties. |
| Hilltop Health Services Corporation | $7,500 | to increase advocacy, shelter and safe-house services for victims of domestic violence and/or sexual assault in Ouray and San Miguel counties. |
| Lone Cone Library District | $4,000 | to help start a GED training program and other adult education programs. |
| Midwestern Colorado Mental Health Center | $18,000 | to support 24-hour crises services and the sliding fee scale for mental health services. |
| Montrose Regional Library District (Naturita Library) | $9,000 | to provide after school, Friday, and summer educational programming at the Naturita Library. |
| Montrose West Recreation, Inc. | $4,500 | to provide matching funds to complete the studies necessary for the Paradox Trail Reroute Project. |
| Mountain Munchkins Child Care and Preschool | $30,000 | to help support infant care, continuing education, and scholarships. |
| Mountain Sprouts Preschool | $10,000 | for general operating support to provide an environment driven by high quality and engaging children’s programming. |
| Mountain Studies Institute | $5,000 | for local scholarships for a 21st Century Mountain Science Internship Program for high school students. |
| Mountainfilm, Ltd. | $20,000 | to help underwrite free and subsidized community events. |
| National Film Preserve, Ltd., DBA Film Festival | $20,000 | to help underwrite the Nugget Theater. |
| Norwood Chamber of Commerce | $3,000 | to support the Main Street Beautification Initiative. |
| Norwood Fire Protection District, EMS Service | $4,000 | to offset revenue lost by treating and transporting the underinsured within the Norwood Fire District. |
| Norwood School District | $14,000 | to purchase video production equipment and software for a video production after-school program. |
| One to One San Miguel Mentoring | $40,000 | for general operating support to support One to One programs. |
| Ouray and San Miguel County WIC Program | $2,500 | for the 2015 Farmer’s Market Nutrition Program. |
| Ouray County Food Pantry, Inc. | $4,000 | to provide food and job assistance to those in need. |
| Ouray County Neighbor To Neighbor, Inc. | $6,000 | for general operating funds to support senior and disabled residents in Ouray County. |
| Ouray County Performing Arts Guild | $3,000 | to help fund three family oriented music programs. |
| Ouray County Public Health/Homemaker Program | $3,000 | to support Ouray County senior or disabled residents. |
| Ouray County Schools Community Resource Consortium, Inc., DBA Voyager | $13,500 | for general operating support to increase capacity to deliver enrichment and prevention programs to local youth. |
| Palm Arts Inc. | $10,000 | to support youth and family programming and tuition scholarships. |
| Paradox Valley Charter School | $9,500 | for arts and academic focused after-school programs. |
| Pinhead Institute | $13,000 | to fund the Internship, Coding, Robotics, Punk Science and Scholars in the Schools Programs. |
| Powerhouse Science Center | $8,000 | to fund robotics/engineering teams in local school districts. |
| Rainbow School and Daycare Center Inc. | $30,000 | for tuition assistance and funding for enrichment programs. |
| Reach Out And Read Colorado | $1,900 | to support the Reach Out and Read program in San Miguel and west Montrose counties. |
| Region 10 Economic Assistance and Planning | $55,000 | to support an integrated partnership of nonprofits to provide community services to support seniors and disabled adults in the West End of San Miguel and Montrose counties. |
| Ridgway School District R2 | $6,000 | to fund the “Learn to Ski’ program for students in 3rd-7th grade. |
| San Juan Field School | $6,000 | to provide avalanche education. |
| San Miguel and Ouray Counties Juvenile Diversion Program | $10,000 | for general operating support. |
| San Miguel Educational Fund, DBA KOTO | $25,100 | to enhance daily news coverage, radio programing and public affairs programming. |
| San Miguel Resource Center (SMRC) | $44,000 | for general operating support to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. |
| San Miguel Watershed Coalition | $5,000 | for the water quality monitoring program. |
| Second Chance Humane Society | $8,000 | to fund programs to reduce pet overpopulation. |
| Seventh Judicial District Child Advocacy Center, DBA Dolphin House | $12,000 | to support victims of child abuse in the San Miguel watershed area. |
| Sheridan Arts Foundation | $18,500 | for nonprofit rental subsidies, scholarship funds for Young People’s Theater, and for West End students attending Wild West Fest. |
| Southwestern Colorado Area Health Education Center | $2,500 | to fund scholarships for students from San Miguel, Ouray and west Montrose counties to attend the Health Careers Camp. |
| Sparky Productions Inc | $2,000 | for programming and community workshops. |
| Telluride Academy | $25,000 | for tuition assistance for summer and after-school programs and operating support for after-school programming. |
| Telluride Adaptive Sports Program | $22,500 | to train adaptive instructors and volunteers, provide scholarships and transportation for low-income residents and to offer Disability Awareness to local youth. |
| Telluride Aids Benefit | $4,500 | for the regional HIV free testing and student education programs. |
| Telluride Chamber Music Association | $6,000 | for general operating expenses to make programs more accessible and meaningful to the regional community. |
| Telluride Choral Society | $6,000 | For general operating expenses, including scholarships, director salary, music purchase, accompanist and arranger fees, venue rentals and marketing expenses. |
| Telluride Community Television | $5,000 | for general operating support. |
| Telluride Council for the Arts and Humanities, DBA Telluride Arts | $25,000 | to elevate, expand and promote a culture of the arts for community and economic vitality. |
| Telluride Early Childhood Center | $20,000 | to provide scholarships to at-risk children and to support parent education classes. |
| Telluride Education Foundation, DBA We R-1 | $13,500 | for the Classroom Grants Program. |
| Telluride Historical Museum | $12,500 | for high-quality educational/community programming, connecting classrooms, residents, and visitors to Telluride’s rich history and culture. |
| Telluride Mountain Club | $10,000 | for the Regional Trials inventory and mapping Initiative. |
| Telluride Mountain School | $8,000 | to provide financial assistance to low-income families. |
| Telluride Nordic Association, Inc. | $5,000 | for trail and equipment maintenance. |
| Telluride Preschool | $12,000 | for general operating support and scholarship. |
| Telluride R-1 School District | $10,000 | to provide English language classes for non-native English speaking adults. |
| Telluride Ski and Snowboard Club | $20,000 | for financial assistance, programming and operations. |
| Telluride Society For Jazz | $12,500 | for general operating, including the 39th Telluride Jazz Festival and its Music Educational Programming. |
| Telluride Theatre | $18,000 | to advance professional theatre programming and education throughout Telluride Theatre’s 2015 season. |
| Telluride Volunteer Fire Department | $4,000 | to help fund the annual Chief’s Banquet. |
| Telluride Youth Soccer Club | $7,500 | for operational costs for fall and spring programs. |
| The Trust for Public Land | $5,000 | to help secure a conservation easement on Sawtooth Ranch. |
| The Watershed Education Program (WEP) | $7,500 | to support watershed experiential programs in the R-1, R-2, and West End schools. |
| Toddler Town of Telluride | $10,000 | for general operating support to be used for staff raises, scholarships and quality improvements. |
| Tri-County Health Network | $20,000 | for general operating support. |
| Uncompahgre Medical Center | $20,000 | to support the dental program. |
| Uncompahgre Volunteer Legal Aid | $4,000 | to support probono legal representation for low-income people in San Miguel, Ouray or west Montrose counties. |
| Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership | $2,000 | to support the San Juan Mining Conference. |
| Weehawken Creative Arts & Ridgway Chautauqua Society (Jointly) | $22,500 | for general operating and programing support to strengthen and stabilize Weehawken’s and the Chautauqua Society’s shared management arrangement. |
| West End Family Link Center | $10,000 | For general operating funds for salaries, utilities, travel, equipment, insurance, office, materials, dues, emergency funds, and contract services. |
| Western Regional EMS Council, Inc. | $750 | to help pay for community CPR courses in Norwood. |
| Wright Stuff Foundation, DBA Prime Time Early Learning Center | $40,000 | for general operating support to fund early childhood programming. |
