The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven’s largest grant program has funneled more than $2 million to 77 local nonprofits — funding programs in Greater New Haven that help kids thrive after school, unhoused people find beds to sleep in, artists create with more financial security, and childcare organizations survive a struggling yet essential industry, among a wide range of services.
According to a press release, a host of nonprofits received an average of $25,000 in one-year operating grants from the foundation in July. (For a full list of nonprofits receiving one-year grants, click here.)
An additional $1,679,500 went to 59 nonprofits who had received multi-year grants in 2021 and 2022.
The grants will fund general operating expenses for the nonprofit recipients. Community Foundation President and CEO Will Ginsberg was quoted in the press release as saying, “The Foundation is proud of our shift to providing unrestricted funds to Greater New Haven nonprofits, which have risen to meet the crisis of our time and continue to provide the services and programs essential to our community’s thriving. This type of funding is what our great local nonprofits need most.”
Recipients include longstanding groups that have received Community Foundation funds in the past, such as the literacy organization New Haven Reads, the family childcare advocacy group All Our Kin, the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, and the homeless services organization Columbus House.
A handful of organizations are first-time grant recipients from the Foundation, including Prosperity House, a West River-based re-entry and sober home, as well as Freedom Reads, a group building libraries in prisons.
“In 2023, The Foundation received many more grant applications than in the previous two years as the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects continue to be felt by the nonprofits and the people they serve,” a press release from the Community Foundation stated. “Many applicants to The Foundation reported budget challenges as public pandemic relief funds diminish, along with difficulty finding and retaining staff. They also reported high levels of mental health needs in the community.”
(Disclosure: The Community Foundation contributes funding to the Online Journalism Project, which publishes the Independent.)