LA CROSSE, Wis. (WEAU) – The La Crosse Area Community Foundation is announcing a new Capacity Building Grant program designed to provide funding for operational costs and sustainability to local nonprofits.
Four local nonprofits received a combined $300,000 in grants.
The foundation’s impact director Lauren Journot says the money for the program came out of their competitive grant cycle.
“We’re lucky here that not only do we have a strategic plan that points us towards trust-based philanthropy and investing in the infrastructure of organizations for long-term sustainability, but we have a board, committee, and community who leaned into that with us and allowed us to be able to do that trust-based philanthropy. Part of that is being able to invest in capacity building activities,” says Journot
Earlier this year, the Community Foundation did focus groups with local nonprofits. Journot says it was after those meetings that ideas for the new program began.
“We heard nonprofits saying they really need breathing room to be able to not worry about every single dollar that has to come in the door and then go right back into programing. Instead, they want the space to invest in themselves, build infrastructure, and plan for their futures so they can be sustainable without having to be hand-to-mouth with every single dollar that comes in the door,” says Journot.
The four nonprofits to receive grants are the Hmong Cultural Center, Sustainability Institute, The La Crosse Lighthouse Inc., and Next Steps for Change. Next Steps for Change founder Natalie Morescki says part of their grant will go towards adding an operations manager.
“We have such a huge need for peer support in the counties that we serve. Adding an operations manager will allow us the capacity to grow our organization even further, expand our services, and dive a little deeper into the communities that we serve,” says Morescki.
Morescki says lack of funding is a problem for many nonprofits.
“That funding is just not there. There’s not funding out there that provides opportunities like this. The La Crosse Area Community Foundation providing this opportunity has been a huge relief for us to be able to breathe for a minute, use their expertise, and grow,” says Morescki.
Each grant allows up to 70% of funds to go directly towards critical operational costs, with the remaining support allocated to other essential costs.
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