The Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation will host the second installment of its Nonprofit Link and Learn Webinar series on May 24 with the session, “Grant Applications Made Easy: Tips on making your application stand out in a crowd.”
This session will be led by a panel featuring leaders from two are funders, Laura Whitford, president of the Renodin Foundation, and Ronald Sutton, Senior Vice President of KeyBank and trust officer of the Manley Trust, as well as Rich Longer, president of the Twin Tiers Disc Golf Association, who recently applied for and received two grants from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation.
The webinar, which will be held from 12-1 p.m., is free to attend. Anyone wishing to attend can register today at cattfoundation.org/nonprofit-link-and-learn-series.
The panelists will help attendees identify ways to make their grant applications stand out. Attendees will learn what makes funders excited about the best grant applications, to help them write the best possible application to secure funding for their organization’s mission and work.
Longer will discuss and provide insight from his experience with the grant application process, from attending information sessions to securing memorandums of intent to the drafting of the application itself.
The panelists will bring three unique backgrounds and approaches to the grant application process.
Laura Whitford is the president of the Dr. Lyle F. Renodin Foundation and the St. Elizabeth Mission Society, both of which are sponsored ministries of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, NY. She has been involved with the Renodin Foundation since 2006, serving as the first paid staff person to lead the Renodin Foundation.
Since 2002, the Renodin Foundation has awarded 500 small grants totaling $1.4 million to 84 worthy organizations. Foundation funding has allowed these local agencies to provide financial assistance, food, medicine and shelter to those who are experiencing poverty, among many other charitable efforts.
Ron Sutton serves as the trust officer for the Manley Trust in his position at KeyBank. Established in 1989 by F.T. and Anna C. Manley, the Manley Trust provides grants to charitable causes, organizations and educational institutions in Cattaraugus and Allegany counties. As a trust officer, Sutton is responsible for reviewing funding requests from the trust.
Rich Longer founded the volunteer-based Twin Tiers Disc Golf Association to provide opportunities for healthy, affordable, outdoor recreation to people in the Cattaraugus County region through the sport of disc golf. Longer spearheaded efforts to fundraise for and install the first-ever, 18-hole disc golf course in Cattaraugus County in Olean’s Gargoyle Park. Since, the Twin Tiers Disc Golf Association has moved to install a new youth-friendly course in Franchot Park in Olean.
The Twin Tiers Disc Golf Association, working with the Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation as its fiscal sponsor, recently received two grants from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation to support the installation of the Franchot Park youth course and to provide more clinics and educational opportunities to youth in the area.
“When we surveyed area nonprofits, help with writing better grant applications was among the most demanded topics to cover,” said CRCF Executive Director Karen Niemic Buchheit. “We are so pleased to be able to cover this topic with exceptional speakers from diverse backgrounds in grantmaking and grant seeking to provide valuable education to attendees.
The third and final session of this year’s Nonprofit Link and Learn series, “Cattaraugus Gives by the Numbers,” will be held on September 19, via Zoom from 12-1 p.m. Details will be announced at a later date.
The Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation is the area’s supportive, responsive and trusted community foundation. Established in 1994, CRCF is growing good by connecting donors to the causes they care about most in the region. Grants from the foundation support many areas, including education, scholarships, health care, the arts, community development, human service, and youth development. To learn more, call (716) 301-CRCF (2723), email [email protected], or visit online at www.cattfoundation.org. CRCF is also on Facebook (facebook.com/cattfoundation) and Twitter (@CattFoundation).
