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St. Croix Foundation for Community Development has announced that $160,000 in grants were awarded to 11 member organizations of the foundation's coalition of nonprofits. Made possible through the foundation’s CARE Fund and GlobalGiving, the 2021 CARE Sustaining Impact Grant serves to build operational and programmatic capacity among nonprofits as they advance Covid-19 relief efforts, according to a recently issued release.
The CARE Fund, which was established in the immediate aftermath of 2017 Hurricanes Irma and Maria, supports strategic, high impact investments in the Virgin Islands for disaster recovery and community resilience, the foundation said. Now a permanent Fund of the foundation’s, in this cycle of grantmaking the CARE Fund prioritized 1) Stabilizing nonprofits serving vulnerable populations through the Open-Door Funding; and 2) Providing direct support to frontline NPOs to build or expand programming.
This 2021 cycle of the CARE Fund was invitation-only and offered to St. Croix Foundation’s Nonprofit Consortium (NPC) member organizations, according to the release. A coalition of 25-plus nonprofits, NPC is a progressive civic model that collaborates around four vital sectors including, 1) health and human services, 2) education and youth development, 3) environs (built and natural), and 4) arts, culture, and Crucian heritage.
Applications were carefully reviewed by the foundation’s Grants Review Committee, with the following nonprofits and charitable projects receiving awards between $10,000-$15,000:
1. Caribbean Center for Girls and Boys of the Virgin Islands: Out-of-School Programming
2. Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts: Art Ignites!
3. Diane Hampton Breast Cancer Project: Art Therapy Workshops
4. FYR is LIT: BLAZE Literacy and Teen Leadership Development
5. Music in Motion: 39th Dance Season
6. St. Croix Environmental Association: Afterschool Environmental Education
7. St. Croix Landmarks Society: Junior Preservationists Program
8. St. Croix Long Term Recovery Group: Resilience Hub Planning
9. Virgin Islands Architecture Center for Built Heritage and Crafts: Strategic Development Organizational Capacity Building
10. Virgin Islands Good Food Coalition: Organizational Capacity Building
11. World Ocean School: Roseway Program Capacity Building
Funding for this round of grants will support programs that collaborate to leverage scarce resources and span literacy skill development, art therapy, and organizational capacity to achieve greater impact. Awards were made possible through a grant award from GlobalGiving, a global crowdfunding platform that connects donors with meaningful causes in over 165 countries and operates on a core principle that “good ideas can come from anyone, anywhere, at any time.” In 2020, the GlobalGiving community raised more than $105 million for projects in 169 countries alone.
To date, St. Croix Foundation’s CARE Fund has invested over $1.9 million into the Virgin Islands’ ongoing recovery efforts through innovative and strategic grantmaking, workforce development, energy independence, and food security initiatives, according to the release.
President and CEO of St. Croix Foundation, Deanna James, stated, “With the Virgin Islands continuing to be outside of most national philanthropies’ funding sphere, GlobalGiving's trust-based approach to grantmaking allows the Foundation to not only keep doors open but build capacity in the civic sector for sustained impact.”
St. Croix Foundation extends its deepest appreciation to GlobalGiving and to the Virgin Islands nonprofits, national partners and foundations as well as the Foundation’s Grants Review Committee for its engagement.
For more information on how you can support the CARE Fund, or to support the Foundation’s numerous other projects/programs please contact St. Croix Foundation at 340-773-9898, [email protected], or visit its website at www.stxfoundation.org.
