What Do We Do, Anyway?

Well, what we don’t do is give away money, or give grants to projects. What we do is help project coordinators write good proposals for well-planned projects that will be successful in being funded. Then we help them find the right funders who will give them money.

Finally, we submit their proposals to these funders, around the state, and on the mainland, and almost half the time the project gets the money. Since foundations, and the state, county and federal agencies who fund community projects will only give money to nonprofit organizations like the Center, their checks are written to us and we immediately give the money to the projects.

We also maintain the on-going relationships with the funders. and prepare and submit final reports that tell the funders how the money was spent. Since early 2003, we have submitted 88 proposals for projects, and we have been awarded 42 grants for $1,111,760 in support of our projects. This process of receiving money for projects is called “fiscal sponsorship”, and it’s a primary part of “what we do”.

We funded the Center using this same process in our first four years, but funders seldom will give money to the same program for more than three years. At this point, we are dependent on contributions from the community, friends of the community, and visitors, and on the fees we charge funded projects for our services.

Executive Director
Christine Richardson