First incentive grants announced in Great Fish Challenge
The Whitefish Community Foundation has announced its first grant winners as part of its Great Fish Community Challenge.
The first round of incentive grants for $1,000 have been awarded to Child Bridge and North Valley Music School. Child Bridge raised the most money at $35,290, and North Valley Music School earned the grant for the highest number of donors at 80 so far in the challenge.
In a surprise twist, second place in each category gets a $500 grant. Those will go to CASA for Kids for raising the second highest amount of donations at $27,790, and Sparrow’s Nest Northwest Montana for the second highest number of donors at 77.
The total raised so far by all nonprofits participating in the Challenge is $401,695.
Child Bridge finds and supports foster and adoptive families for Flathead Valley children in need. North Valley Music School offers music education to students from ages birth to retirement. CASA’s mission is to recruit, train and supervise volunteers to advocate for abused and neglected children. Sparrow’s Nest is striving to procure safe housing for unaccompanied homeless high school students in Flathead County.
The Challenge is designed to encourage donors to give to charities during the giving period that ends Sept. 16 in order to maximize their donation and earn their favorite nonprofits a matching grant from the Whitefish Community Foundation. The Challenge began with a $200,000 match fund to inspire the community to give to the participating nonprofits in order to help them receive a matching grant.
There are 40 nonprofits participating in this year’s challenge.
Nonprofits have an added incentive this year to encourage donors to give early in the campaign. For the second round of incentive grants, the slate is whipped clean and all nonprofits will start over for the period that runs Aug. 17 through Sept. 9. Two more nonprofits will win money for having the highest number of donors and two will win grants for raising the most money during this period. First place will win $1,000 and second $500 in each category.
Winners will be announced at the Sept. 10 Great Fish 5K/10K Color Run and Community Celebration.
The first year of the Challenge raised $1.1 million for 32 nonprofits and started with a match fund of $150,000. The final match came out to 53 percent and was applied to the first $15,000 raised by each nonprofit.
The final match percentage for this year’s Challenge will be announced at the awards celebration Oct. 10 at Casey’s in downtown Whitefish.
The Community Foundation created the campaign to inspire a giving season and promote awareness about the work local nonprofits do in the community. Many nonprofits have limited staff and resources for fundraising. The campaign provides the resources for them to raise money, according to Foundation President Linda Engh-Grady.
Whitefish Community Foundation organizes the campaign at no cost to the participating nonprofits.
Donations can be made by sending in an official donor form, which will be available throughout the summer at the Whitefish Community Foundation office, local downtown businesses, Whitefish Chamber of Commerce, and from participating nonprofits. Online donations are accepted at www.greatfishchallenge.org.
The campaign will officially end on Sept. 16 at 5 p.m.
For more information about the Whitefish Community Foundation and the Great Fish Community Challenge visit the Foundation website at www.whitefishcommunityfoundation.org or call 406-863-1781.
Great Fish Top 10 Leaders
1. Child Bridge, $35,290
2. CASA for Kids, $27,790
3. Whitefish Theater Co., $26,500
4, Habitat for Humanity, $25,457
5. Shepherd’s Hand Free Clinic, $22,895
6. Whitefish Veterans Support Team, $21,555
7. Whitefish Legacy Partners, $16,835
8. Sparrow’s Nest Northwest Montana, $16,215
9. North Valley Music School, $16,141
10. Whitefish Lake Institute $14,140