The Chilkat Valley Community Foundation celebrated more than $12,000 in grants for 2010 during a Nov. 18 dessert reception at Haines Assisted Living.
“It’s really wonderful to be able to support local nonprofits that are such an integral part of our community,” said Ann Myren, chair of the foundation’s board.
Awards for a combined $12,282 were announced for 11 recipients.
The foundation has awarded grants for two years. This year’s total topped the 2009 amount of $10,568 for 11 recipients.
“Projects funded in 2009 ranged from educational materials and a reading loft for preschoolers at the Chilkat Valley Preschool, to native culture education programs through Jilkaat Kwaan Heritage Center, to recycling of a backlog of more than 6,000 fluorescent bulbs, to bear-proof trash containers at Tlingit Park and the school track,” Myren said. “Each of the projects provides unique benefits to the residents of the Chilkat Valley.”
The Jilkaat Kwaan Heritage Center received the biggest grant this year, at $2,500.
“The amounts don’t necessarily reflect full funding of a request,” Myren said. “In some cases, organizations were fully funded, and in other cases they were not. More money was requested than we had to give out, for sure.”
Lani Hotch said the money awarded to the heritage center will be used for a mobile at the Klukwan Hospitality House. She has helped lead the fundraising effort for the project.
“It will be some carved salmon with a Tlingit style, and they will be suspended from the rafters in the Hospitality House,” Hotch said. “They will be not just decorative, but also a teaching tool to explain to visitors what Chilkat means; it’s a storage container for salmon. It adds to the attraction of the building and makes it more of a destination.”
She said the goal is to complete the mobile by May.
“That makes my job easier,” Hotch said of funding from the foundation. “I don’t have to find so much money to do that project now. That frees money up for other needs.”
At the reception, grantees from 2009 gave updates on the progress of their projects.
“For me, listening to each of the nonprofits from last year get up and speak about their project, the staff and the board members from those nonprofits that spoke had such passion and they were so excited about what they were doing and the services they were offering to the community, that it really just made it real how important it is that we try to support our nonprofits, because they really are improving the quality of life in our community,” Myren said.
Applications for the 2010 funding cycle were distributed in July and due by the end of September.
Operating support grant amounts can be for no more than 10 percent of the applicant organization’s budget, Myren said. “New program and special project awards are 2:1 challenge grants that require the grantee to raise $2 for every $1 the foundation awards. Capital grants may be awarded as the local match to another source to help an organization leverage funds.”
The Chilkat Valley Community Foundation, the Ashley and Heather Call Family Fund, Haines Borough and the Rasmuson Foundation, through the Community Asset Building Initiative, provided grant funds.
Earlier this year, a $600 grant from the Ashley and Heather Call Family Fund was distributed to the Haines Dolphins swim team for scholarships for the upcoming swim season, Myren said.
Money from that fund also went toward a $750 grant for a Haines Venturer Scouts trip to Ecuador.
Kimberley Strong chaired a committee of seven CVCF board members and community members Greg Goodman, Iris Kemp and Joanne Elsie Spud that evaluated the grant applications.
“Each proposal was independently reviewed by at least five committee members and discussed by the grantmaking committee and the CVCF board,” said Myren, who served on the committee.
She said the foundation is looking for growth in 2011.
“Our goal for the not too distant future would be to double our funds, so that our granting would also increase,” Myren said.
2010 Grant Recipients were:
Alaska Chilkoot Bear Foundation, $1,650 for recycling container at Chilkoot State Park; Haines Venturer Scouts, $750 for international high adventure trip to Ecuador; Friends of the Library, $1,765, totem pole area beautification; Haines Animal Rescue Kennel, $250 for dog-training DVDs; Haines Dolphins swim team, $600 for swimmer scholarships; Haines School fifth-grade class, $250 for class trip to Juneau; Haines Friends of Recycling, $746 for moveable recycling stations for community events; Jilkaat Kwaan Heritage Center, $2,500 for a mobile featuring hand-carved salmon to be installed at the Klukwan Hospitality House; Lynn Canal Broadcasting, $800 for staff training on the digital audio delivery system; Sheldon Museum and Cultural Center, $1,971 for historical photo documentation and digitization; Southeast Alaska Independent Living, $1,000 for Haines Consumer Service Fund for assistive technologies.