2024, like many others, was a year of highs and lows, milestones, achievements, and everything in between at the Springfield Foundation. In March, we proudly awarded $769,000 in 443 different scholarships after receiving a total of 515 applications.
Over the summer, we received a record number of 143 grant applications for our annual competitive grant cycle, a 17.2% increase from 2023! 106 of those proposals were able to be funded either fully or partially for a total of $1,069,082.80, another record milestone! Following this cycle, the Springfield Foundation co-organized the Getting the Grant: A Foundational Grant Writing Workshop alongside the Community Health Foundation, United Way of Clark, Champaign, and Madison Counties, the Wilson Sheehan Foundation, and the Springfield chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
During the fall and winter, Springfield Foundation board & staff completed over 100 hours of community service! This included visits to Second Harvest Food Bank, Crayons for Classrooms, Autumn Trails Stable, St. Johns Baptist Church, and Shoes for the Shoeless. The Foundation also collected a total of 62 coats and more than 15 hats for our winter coat drive! These were donated to the Springfield City School District for students in need.
Throughout the year, a total of 26 new funds were created including 7 Scholarship, 7 Designated, 6 Charitable Checking, 5 Agency, and 1 Unrestricted fund. We received over $5 million in charitable gifts and collected over $55,000 in the Partners in Philanthropy campaign.
To celebrate our 75th anniversary, the Springfield Foundation granted $75,000 a year for five years to Rocking Horse Community Health Center for mental and behavioral health services at the Springfield High School Student-based Health Clinic. In the first 5 months of operation, there were 1,160 visits to the student-based health clinic and of those visits, 610 were for behavioral health services.
The Springfield Foundation is looking forward to continuing to raise, strengthen, and distribute permanent charitable funds to benefit Clark County in 2025, while continuing to amplify the good in our community in any way we can.
If you’d like to give back to something in the community that you’re passionate about, contact the Foundation at 937-324-8773 or info@springfieldfoundation.org to learn about options available!
For good. For ever. For all.
