Traverse City, Mich. - Rotary Charities of Traverse City announces the recipients of their fall cycle grants, totaling $982,625. A grantmaker since 1982, Rotary Charities has now granted $60,330,746 to 1,361 projects.
In recent years Rotary Charities has shifted away from a traditional charity model to support changemaking initiatives, prioritizing projects that model inclusivity, collaboration, adaptation and resourcefulness in their design. Two new grant categories emerged to distinguish high quality projects designed to have the broadest impact in our community. Special consideration was given to projects designed by and for those most affected by the outcome.
The Assets for Thriving Communities grant supports the development of community assets that support all to thrive. This year’s grantees include:
Arts for All, awarded $65,000 to expand arts programming for special education classrooms.
Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes, awarded $10,000 to construct the wheelchair-accessible portion of the Kettles Trail.
Glen Lake Community Library, awarded $10,000 to renovate and expand the library.
Food Rescue, Goodwill Industries of Northern Michigan, awarded $100,000 to increase access to and education about healthy food.
Grand Traverse Pavilions Foundation, awarded $25,000 to establish the Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly.
Inland Seas Education Association, awarded $75,000 to renovate their facility to accommodate dorm rooms for students, interns, teachers and researchers.
Northwestern Michigan College Foundation, awarded $50,000 to construct West Hall Innovation Center and Library.
Paddle Antrim, awarded $35,000 to launch the Chain of Lakes Water Trail.
Parallel 45, Inc, awarded $50,000 to construct the Grand Traverse County Civic Center amphitheater.
Peninsula Community Library, awarded $10,000 to construct the new library facility.
SEEDS, awarded $50,000 to convene and support institutions working toward clean energy goals.
The Systems Change Accelerator grant supports the development of community innovations targeting the root causes of complex community problems. This year’s grantees are:
Great Lakes Naturalist Initiative, Cerulean Center, awarded $140,000 to mobilize citizen scientists to address invasive species in Grand Traverse Bay.
Food & Farming Network, awarded $82,625 to addressing unprecedented challenges in farmland and farming.
Traverse Bay Children’s Advocacy Center, awarded $140,000 toward building public will for A World Without Abuse.
The Homeless Youth Initiative, awarded $140,000 to engage community to prevent and end youth homelessness.
Rotary Charities has awarded additional grants outside of the cycle to support learning and planning this year.
The Changemaker Fellowship supports community thought leaders to learn new ways of working and share these innovations locally. Grants awarded to date include:
Josh Stoltz
Grow Benzie: $17,000
Participation in Forum for the Future’s Basecamp#5 UK School of Systems Change. Josh will work with colleagues to translate internationally-renowned systems change frameworks into a context responsive to local needs.
Seeds Grants provide a small investment that will go a long way toward a larger impact. Grants awarded to date include:
El Grupo Norte: $10,000
Safe Routes to School Systems Planning
Health Department of NW Michigan: $10,000
Central Lake School Health Exploratory Needs Assessment
Village of Bellaire Downtown Development Authority: $10,000
Planning for the renovation of Bellaire Community Hall
ABOUT ROTARY CHARITIES
Since its inception in the mid-70s, Rotary Charities has distributed more than $58 million in the form of 1,310 grants to organizations and non-profits in Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Benzie, Kalkaska and Antrim counties. The public foundation was formed following the 1976 discovery of oil and natural gas reserves on property owned by the Traverse City Rotary Club. Its purpose over the years has been to distribute interest income generated from the oil and gas royalties to organizations throughout the five-county region of northwest Michigan. More information is available at
www.traversecityrotary.org/charities/ .
