In its seventh round of grants, the Delaware COVID-19 Strategic Response Fund today awarded $178,625 to 11 nonprofit organizations providing services to communities throughout the state.
The Deadline is Monday for final weekly grants opportunity
The grants will address a broad range of community needs during the pandemic. Grantees are:
- Community Education Building – $2,800 to provide food to Wilmington families in need.
- Delaware Shakespeare Festival – $7,500 to provide virtual programming.
- Delaware Institute for the Arts in Education – $10,000 for art kits for underserved children in Wilmington.
- Delaware Museum of Natural History — $10,000 to provide virtual programming.
- Frederica Senior Center – $12,000 to deliver food to seniors in Kent County.
- Progressive Life Center – $15,000 for technology to facilitate communication between staff and foster children statewide.
- Blood Bank of Delmarva – $20,000 for lab supplies and pre-clinical testing of a COVID-19 vaccine.
- Family Counseling Center of St. Paul’s – $21,000 for case management and mental health services statewide.
- Delaware Children’s Museum – $25,000 for virtual programming, delivering activities and snacks to children in Wilmington, and operations.
- Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project – $25,000 to pump septic tanks for low-income families in Sussex County.
- Survivors of Abuse in Recovery (SOAR) – $30,325 to support mental health services for victims of sexual trauma statewide.
The Deadline is Monday for final weekly grants opportunity
In this seventh round, 40 applicants requested more than $1 million from the COVID-19 Strategic Response Fund, which is housed at the Delaware Community Foundation (DCF).
The fund, which launched on March 18, has awarded $2 million to 91 Delaware nonprofits so far.
Based on the nature of the applications, these grants initially focused largely on immediate community needs.
Now, the grants have been broadened to address a combination of immediate needs and broader community needs, including the arts, culture, the environment, workforce development, animal welfare and others.
The fund will provide the final weekly grants opportunity next week. The deadline is noon on May 18. The grants program will then resume two weeks later, as described here.
The fund will accept additional grant applications on June 1 and June 15. The June grants will target nonprofit organizations – both large and small – playing key roles in various sectors, throughout the state.
The grants target solvent nonprofit organizations with solid plans for long-term fiscal sustainability, strong leadership and management. The plans should be responsive to the changing environment for funding, as well as evolving community needs. Organizations with a history of serving underserved populations will be favored.
The application for June grants will be available late next week at delcf.org/covid-grants.
The council is actively raising money to be able to respond to community needs, said Stuart Comstock-Gay, who chairs the council.
“As the pandemic continues, the needs are growing and evolving,” Comstock-Gay said. “We are calling on the community to help local nonprofit organizations get food, shelter, medical care and other essential services directly to the people who need it most. We also must support our workforce, arts community and other sectors to restore our quality of life post-COVID-19.”
The Longwood Foundation, which previously gave $1 million to the Strategic Response Fund, recently awarded a $500,000 grant, with the stipulation that the DCF must raise a matching $500,000 from the community by May 30.
To make a gift that qualifies for the match, give at delcf.org/covid19-fund or contact Joan Hoge-North, jhoge-north@delcf.org.
