Telluride Foundation Awards $900,000 to Community Organizations
The Telluride Foundation has awarded over $8.5million in Community and Special Initiative Grants and over $20.5 million in total grants since 2000. The Telluride Foundation Board of Directors awarded $901,200 in Community Grants to 70 regional nonprofits at the end of December, bringing the total grants given in 2011 by the Foundation to over $2.2 million."Thanks to the incredible generosity of our donors and the leadership of the Board, the Telluride Foundation is able to distribute over $900,000 in grant awards. The Board was able to matched the 2008 levels of grant awards, which is a considerable goal during these difficult economic time. We are extremely grateful to these generous donors who support the vital work that our community nonprofits and organizations do for all of us," said Brian O'Neill, Chair of the Telluride Foundation.
In its 2011 annual Community Granting cycle, the Foundation received 86 applications seeking $1,597,694 . The Foundation awarded grants to 71 of the 86 groups that applied, and awards ranged from $1,900 to $40,000, with 28% going to human services, 22% of the grants funding early childhood development, 19% to arts and culture, 18% to education, 8% to athletic groups, and 4% to the environment/animals. Local groups receiving grant awards included organizations serving Telluride, Ouray, Ridgway, Norwood, Nucla and Naturita. The Telluride Foundation supports many types of organizations in the community that serve the people who live or work in San Miguel County.
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 Brian O'Neill, Patricia Maxon, Dan Tishman, Allan Gerstle, Susan Saint James, Richard Betts and Megan McManemin. Their recommendations were reviewed and approved by the Board of Directors at its meeting on December 29th.