02 Jan Telluride Foundation: $1Million in Community Grants
72 local organizations benefit from generosity of Telluride Foundation donors.
Seventy-two regional nonprofits will end the year happy to know they will have more funding for their critical programs and projects.
The Telluride Foundation announced its Community Grant awards on December 30, following recommendations by its Board of Directors. In its 14th year of giving Community Grants, the Foundation awarded $984,650 to nonprofit organizations serving the region, bringing the total grants given in 2015 by the Foundation to just under $4 million. The Foundation has provided over $38 million in grants to the region since its inception in 2000, without an endowment.
“The Community Grants program is a fundamental program of the Telluride Foundation, which supports a vibrant community and a strong safety net,” said Davis Fansler, Chair of the Grants Committee. “Our region is fortunate to have such committed and generous donors that appreciate and support the important work of our local hardworking nonprofits.”
In its 2015 annual Community Granting cycle, the Foundation received 82 applications seeking over $1.3 million. The Foundation awarded grants ranging from $1,900 to $90,000, with 28 percent going to human services; 18 percent funding arts and culture; 18 percent to education; 16 percent to early childhood development; 15 percent to athletic groups; and 5 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.
“After two years of planning, this year the Foundation instituted a new policy having applicants take one in five years off for applying for a grant,” said Paul Major, President & CEO of the Telluride Foundation. “About 13 organizations volunteered to take this round off, providing additional funding the Grants Committee could allocate to new programs and projects as well as to capital applications. This policy’s primary intent is to reinforce nonprofit sustainability and financial health by encouraging financial reserves, diverse revenue streams, and earned income opportunities, in addition to reducing dependency on a single funder, such as the Telluride Foundation.”
“Also as a new policy, the Foundation is funding capital projects.
“This year we awarded three capital grants totaling $135,000” said April Montgomery, Programs Director. “From a commercial kitchen in Naturita, a new bus for Paradox Charter School students, to a new snow cat for grooming Nordic trails, these capital projects will be a lasting, substantial benefit to the region, helping to address critical needs for local communities.”
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, Kevin Holbrook, Megan McManemin, Joanne Brown, and George Glasier. Their recommendations were reviewed and approved by the Board of Directors at its meeting on December 30th. The Foundation’s next round of local grant applications will be due in October 2016, and announced at the end of December 2016.
In addition to its annual Community Grant awards, the Foundation has continued to expand its funding and the reach of Impact Initiatives such as its Telluride Venture Accelerator, broadband initiative, workforce housing initiative, STEM professional development initiative, family emergency Good Neighbor Fund, and Paradox Community Development Initiative.
The Telluride Foundation exists to create a stronger Telluride community through the cultivation and promotion of philanthropy. It is a nonprofit, apolitical community foundation that provides year-round support for local organizations involved in arts, education, athletics, charitable causes, land conservation, and other community-based efforts through technical assistance, education, and grant making. As a grant maker, the Foundation awards grants to qualified applicants that serve the people living and/or working in the Telluride region for the purpose of enhancing the quality of life within the region. For more information on the Telluride Foundation, visit www.telluridefoundation.org.
| Organization | 2015 Award | Grant Award For |
| 7th Judicial District Child Advocacy Center, DBA Dolphin House | $12,000 | to support victims of child abuse in the San Miguel watershed area. |
| Basin Clinic, Inc. | $12,500 | to provide sliding scale indigent care for primary and urgent care patients. |
| Bright Futures for Early Childhood and Families | $30,000 | to support Parents as Teachers (PAT) home visitation program. |
| CASA of the Seventh Judicial District Inc., d/b/a Voices for Children | $5,000 | for general operating support. |
| Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) | $5,000 | to support the San Juan avalanche education and forecasting program. |
| Colorado Mountain Club | $4,000 | to facilitate trail maintenance and restoration projects in the BLM Burn Canyon trail system. |
| Dolores County School District RE-2J | $3,000 | for general operating support for the Rico preschool program. |
| EcoAction Partners | $3,000 | to support the Energy Outreach weatherization program. |
| Friends of the Wright Opera House | $5,000 | to grow the Wright’s theater program. |
| Haven House of Montrose, Inc (dba Haven House) | $2,000 | to support Transitional Housing and Child Development programs for the homeless and their children. |
| Hilltop Health Services Corporation | $7,500 | to increase accessibility to advocacy, shelter & safe-house services for victims of domestic violence and/or sexual assault in Ouray and San Miguel counties. |
| Hispanic Affairs Project | $9,000 | to provide community education, outreach and affordable immigration legal assistance to low-income individuals and families. |
| Lone Cone Library District | $5,000 | to support GED and adult programming. |
| Many Hands Fiber Arts Festival | $2,000 | to increase advertising and support the Arts Festival. |
| Midwestern Colorado Mental Health Center | $15,000 | to support 24-hour no-cost crisis services and the income-based sliding fee scale program. |
| Montezuma Land Conservancy | $5,000 | to support the San Miguel Conservation Program that protects open space and Gunnison Sage-grouse habitat while increasing conservation easement awareness. |
| Mountain Munchkins Child Care and Preschool | $30,000 | to help support infant care operating costs, continuing education costs, and the scholarship fund. |
| Mountain Sprouts Preschool | $10,000 | for tuition assistance and program development. |
| Mountainfilm, Ltd. | $20,000 | for general operating expenses for the 2016 Mountainfilm festival. |
| Norwood Fire Protection District, EMS Service | $3,000 | to offset the revenue lost from treating indigent and uninsured patients. |
| Norwood School District | $7,000 | to purchase video and lighting equipment for the video production program. |
| One to One San Miguel Mentoring | $40,000 | to support the general operations of the organization, equipment, and contract labor. |
| Ouray and San Miguel County WIC Program | $2,500 | for the 2016 Farmer’s Market Nutrition Program. |
| Ouray County Food Pantry, Inc. | $4,000 | to purchase food to support the operation of the pantry. |
| Ouray County Performing Arts Guild | $4,000 | to partially cover the a salary for an administrative assistant. |
| Ouray County Schools Community Resource Consortium, Inc. | $15,000 | to provide enrichment and prevention programming in Ouray County. |
| Paradox Valley Charter School | $9,500 | for arts and academic focused after school programs. |
| Paradox Valley Charter School – Capital | $30,000 | to help purchase a replacement school bus. |
| Partners of Delta, Montrose and Ouray | $3,000 | to support mentoring for at-risk youth in Ouray County. |
| Rainbow School and Daycare Center | $30,000 | for tuition assistance. |
| Reach Out And Read Colorado | $1,900 | to promote literacy and school readiness in San Miguel County. |
| Region 10 Economic Assistance and Planning | $62,000 | for a partnership among 6 organizations that supports the independence of older and disabled adults in the West End of Montrose County, San Miguel and Ouray counties. |
| Ridgway Composite Mountain Bike Team | $2,000 | to pay for coaching licensing fees, team equipment, and travel costs. |
| Ridgway School District R2 | $7,000 | to support the “Learn to Ski” program, for approximately 186 students in grades 3-8. |
| Rimrocker Historical Society Of Western Montrose County Inc | $6,500 | to purchase museum collections management software, hire a collections documentation intern, and develop technologically enhanced local history programs. |
| San Miguel and Ouray Counties Juvenile Diversion Program | $10,000 | for general operating. |
| San Miguel Educational Fund KOTO | $25,000 | to enhance local radio programming and support daily news, public affairs broadcasting, and live broadcast 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 | $10,000 | for water quality monitoring and administration of environmental and recreational water use needs assessment and Stream Management Plan for the San Miguel River. |
| Sheridan Arts Foundation | $20,000 | for nonprofit rental subsidies, scholarship funds for the 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 8th-10th grade students from Ouray, San Miguel, and/or West Montrose Counties (and Rico), to attend the 2016 Health Careers Camp. |
| SPARKy Productions Inc | $3,500 | for production expenses of the Telluride Playwright Festival. |
| Telluride Academy | $25,000 | for tuition assistance for summer and after-school experiential education programs. |
| Telluride Aids Benefit | $4,500 | for local outreach and education, including promotion of free HIV testing. |
| Telluride Avalanche Dogs | $5,000 | to secure dogs’ medical costs, assist with additional training/education of dogs and handlers. |
| Telluride Choral Society | $6,000 | for generating operating support. |
| Telluride Community Television | $10,000 | for equipment ($5,000) and general operating support ($5,000) for media arts education. |
| Telluride Council for the Arts and Humanities, dba Telluride Arts | $25,000 | for implementation of the Telluride Cultural Master Plan. |
| Telluride Lizard Heads | $6,000 | for organizational support and coaching. |
| Telluride Mountain Club | $10,000 | for the Regional Trails Inventory and Mapping Initiative. |
| Telluride Mountain School | $10,000 | to support the financial assistance program. |
| Telluride Nordic Association, Inc. | $6,000 | for general operating support for trail maintenance. |
| Telluride Nordic Association, Inc. – Capital | $90,000 | to help purchase a Pisten Bully 100SCR snow cat for grooming Nordic ski trails. |
| Telluride Preschool | $12,000 | to offer scholarships, maintain teacher salaries and general operating support. |
| Telluride R-1 School District | $10,000 | to provide English language classes for non-native-English-speaking adults, including parents of Telluride R-1 students. |
| Telluride Ski and Snowboard Club | $25,000 | for financial assistance to families in need (50%) and to expand existing programming and to add new programs (50%). |
| Telluride Society For Jazz | $18,000 | for general operating support and to help promote the 40th anniversary of the Telluride Jazz Festival. |
| Telluride Theatre | $18,000 | to support theatrical performances, interactive community events, and drama education programs. |
| Telluride Youth Lacrosse Association | $4,000 | for general operating support. |
| Telluride Youth Soccer Club | $9,750 | to cover the difference between the cost of the soccer program and tuition ($8,000) and to buy an equipment storage trailer ($1,750). |
| The Pinhead Institute | $21,000 | to fund the Internship, No School Science Project, Scholars in the Schools, Punk Science, and First Lego League robotics programs. |
| The San Juan Independent | $2,500 | to fund investigative journalism and mixed-media-driven stories. |
| The Trust for Public Land | $10,000 | to preserve scenic vistas along the San Juan Skyway and conserve water resources and wildlife habitat by securing a conservation easement on Sawtooth Ranch. |
| The Watershed Education Program (WEP) | $8,000 | to expand number of field trips and implement experiential curriculum in the watershed school districts. |
| Top of the Pines, Inc. – Capital | $4,000 | to purchase equipment and construct a low ropes course. |
| Tri-County Health Network | $20,000 | for general operating support. |
| Uncompahgre Volunteer Legal Aid | $5,000 | for general operating support. |
| Weehawken Creative Arts & Ridgway Chautauqua Society (Jointly) | $22,500 | for two organizations, coming together, seeking general operations and programming support to further strengthen their shared management arrangement. |
| West End Economic Development Corporation WEEDC | $15,000 | for renovations to a building to be used as a co-working space and community kitchen. |
| West End Family Link Center | $13,000 | for general operating support. |
| Western Colorado Council, Boy Scouts of America | $2,000 | for general operating support for Scouting programs, including membership, camp, and uniform/curriculum cost assistance. |
| Wright Stuff Foundation d.b.a. Prime Time Early Learning Center | $40,000 | for general operating support. |
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