Grant Seekers
The Community Foundation has helped to distribute more than $2.4 million in grants and scholarships since its inception in 1995.
The Community Foundation builds and manages permanent endowment funds from a wide variety of donors to provide grants that help meet the economic and social needs of our communities.
Various types of permanent endowment funds are entrusted to the Community Foundation by donors throughout the Southern Tier. The Community Foundation invests and manages these funds with the goal of increasing their principle and returning part of the earnings to the community through grant making.
Donors establish designated funds for a wide variety of purposes, such as providing scholarships, benefiting specific charities, or supporting a particular purpose. Grants from designated funds are awarded considering input from the donor(s) or a committee which advises the fund. Discretionary funds are earmarked for an area of philanthropic interest (e.g., the arts, human services, or environment), or created for unrestricted grant making purposes. In the case of area of interest and unrestricted funds, the donor entrusts the Community Foundation with the task of awarding grants that address current or emerging community needs.
