This past year was the most successful year yet for the Grand Traverse Regional Foundation.
“This past year, our assets for the time exceeded $100 million and we granted out about $3.3 million to over 350 nonprofits, and more than 180 students in the form of scholarships,” said David Mengebier, Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation President/CEO.
Amy Jung is a member of the Grand Traverse Regional Youth Advisory Council (also known as “YAC”). The program gets students involved as youth leaders and grant-makers.
“As seniors, it can be really stressful with college decisions and trying to find ways to fund that,” Said Jung. “Having an organization that cares about, as students, and wants to support our education, or whatever plan that we have going forward, is really nice to have.”
In 2021, “YAC” awarded $80,000. The Foundation said when looking back, there’s on thing that really sticks out.
“One of the things I was really proud of is that the Community Foundation, last year, created the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Fund,” said Mengebier. “So, to date, we’ve awarded $20,000 to nonprofits working on promoting diversity, equity, inclusion across our region.”
In 2022, the Foundation said they want to continue to convene the Community Development Coalition, a coalition of 30 government and business organizations, working to improve things like mental healthy, child safety, and addressing housing shortages.
“We do this work because we care about this place and when we see the impact that our scholarship awards have for students, and the grants that we award to nonprofits,” said Mengebier.
© 2023 - 910 Media Group
