Wednesday, June 3, 2020
This can only be possible if we remove barriers that prevent all of our neighbors - and particularly people and families of color - from having equitable opportunities to achieve a thriving life. more
Monday, April 6, 2020
The Community Foundation has received a $55,000 matching challenge gift for new contributions to the Urgent Needs Fund, effective immediately. more
Monday, March 30, 2020
The first grant awards from the Urgent Needs Fund have been awarded to support four nonprofits in the region. more
Friday, March 20, 2020
An Urgent Needs Fund has been established at the Community Foundation to mobilize individual giving and create a resource from which to support community response efforts to the impacts of the coronavirus. more
Monday, March 2, 2020
Nominations are now being accepted for the Kalkaska Citizen and Business of the Year Awards, a 50-year tradition honoring a local resident and business for their civic involvement. more
Monday, February 3, 2020
Though the majority of the scholarship applications are due March 2, Community Foundation staff recommend students begin the process now. more
Monday, January 27, 2020
The Community Foundation Board of Directors recently elected four new Directors for the 2020-2021 board year. more
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
All told, 2019 was a banner year for our Community Foundation. Donors entrusted us with $3.5 million in contributions and we awarded more than $3.3 million in grants and scholarships. more
Thursday, December 5, 2019
The Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation’s Board of Directors recently approved $286,169 in grant awards as part of the fall grant cycle. In total, so far this year the Community Foundation has awarded more than $3.1 million in grants and scholarships. more
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Students throughout the five-county region are attending college this fall with scholarship funding from the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation. This year, the Community Foundation awarded more than $272,000 in awards to 194 recipients. more
Thursday, September 19, 2019
The Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation is currently accepting grant applications for its Fall Grant Cycle. more
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Movement Lab began at Central Grade School during the 2015/2016 school year and was offered only to kindergarten students. During the 2017/2018 school year, the program was expanded to first grade students at Central. Now, a $15,000 grant from the Community Foundation is ensuring Movement Lab is available for another year. This is the second year the Community Foundation offered a grant to support Movement Lab. more
Tuesday, July 2, 2019
The Community Foundation Board of Directors recently elected two new Directors and a new Secretary to its Board. The Board Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and Treasurer were all re-elected for their officer positions. more
Monday, July 1, 2019
Join us in welcoming the newest addition to our team -- Brittany Morton -- in the role of Program and Administrative Associate. more
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Join the Community Foundation on Friday, July 26 at 10am to hear personally from acclaimed authors of 'Our Towns,' James and Deborah Fallows, as they share what they learned from visiting communities across the country. Be inspired to create solutions as we celebrate success in our own towns and strive to build healthy, resilient, thriving communities. more
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
“We envision healthy, resilient, thriving communities for all,” said David Mengebier, Community Foundation president and CEO. “Environmental issues – including our valuable water resources – are a critical component to meeting that vision.” more
Monday, April 15, 2019
Continuing a long-standing community tradition, this year’s Citizen and Business of the Year have been named. The Traverse City Chamber of Commerce and the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation have partnered to host the annual event. The award winners will be honored at the 2019 Kalkaska Annual Luncheon on Wednesday, April 25. more
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Northwestern Michigan College students are planning an inaugural “Concert for Community Awareness” to raise awareness on issues, including mental health, suicide prevention, substance abuse, and homelessness. more
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
“Last year, we launched Accelerate, a movement for well-being, as part of our strategic commitment to building a culture of health and well-being,” said David Mengebier, Community Foundation president and CEO. “Our board chose Movement Lab as the recipient of its discretionary strategic grant dollars because it promotes physical activity and boosts literacy – both of which are critical to future well-being of kids.” more
Friday, February 15, 2019
Two students have been selected as the winners of the Perry Hannah Essay Contest that the Community Foundation YAC students have helped promote, facilitate, and judge. more
Thursday, February 14, 2019
Nominations are now being accepted for the Kalkaska Business and Citizen of the Year Awards, a 49-year tradition in the community to honor a local business and resident for their civic involvement. The award winners will be honored at the 2019 Kalkaska Annual Luncheon on Wednesday, April 25. The Traverse City Chamber of Commerce and the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation have partnered to host the annual event. more
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
Last year the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation, in partnership with the Charlevoix County and Petoskey-Harbor Springs Community Foundations, received a $60,000 grant award from the C.S. Mott Foundation to support combined clean energy efforts in the region.
This work focuses on building new and stronger relationships and partnerships, supporting greater community understanding and increased engagement with clean energy efforts, and supporting the three municipalities (Charlevoix, Petoskey, and Traverse City) in moving renewable energy and energy efficiency work forward within their communities and city facilities to create regional resiliency. more
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
“Last year we received almost 800 unique scholarship applications – an increase of nearly 200 over the previous year – and we decided that we needed a better system to optimize and simplify the process,” said Gina Thornbury, Community Foundation program officer. “Our new software allows students to fill out a preliminary application that lists every scholarship they are eligible for, tells them what to submit, and sends them deadline reminders.” more
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
The Community Foundation and TCNewTech are two of a group of local organizations working to build an innovative regional health ecosystem and invest in a local health technology cluster. The group also includes 20Fathoms, Munson Healthcare, and Boomerang Catapult. more
Monday, January 7, 2019
Two recently established Community Foundation Endowments are positioned to honor the legacy of local leaders – Jim and Ida Tompkins – and ensure annual benefit for area youth, for generations to come. more
Friday, January 4, 2019
The Community Foundation Board of Directors recently elected five new Directors for the 2019-2020 board year, including a youth representative: Marina Ascione, Terry Beamsley, Rachael Birgy, Cash Cook, and Royce Ragland. more
Thursday, December 20, 2018
As Marsha Smith began to approach her retirement date from Rotary Charities, where she’s served as Executive Director for more than 20 years, she asked that people consider marking her retirement not with gifts for her, but rather for the community. The Community Foundation established the Marsha J. Smith Community Leadership Fund to create just that opportunity. more
Monday, December 17, 2018
The Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation’s grants this year total more than $2.4 million, including $243,943 in grant awards approved this month by the Board of Directors as part of the 2018 fall grant cycle. more
Thursday, December 6, 2018
The Community Foundation is our local giving partner. By creating a fund or donating to an existing fund, such as the Endowment for Kalkaska Area, we can ensure that community needs are met now and forever. This giving season let’s give it forward, together. more
Friday, November 9, 2018
Kalkaska County Board Directors for the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation awarded $1,800 to the Father Fred Foundation for their Blessings in a Backpack program that makes sure that low-income students have nutritious food over the weekend. more
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
The Community Foundation is currently accepting grant applications for its Fall Grant Cycle and anticipates awarding nearly $280,000 in fall grants this year and has more than a dozen endowments from which it will award grants in the coming months, including from its Youth Endowment. more
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
The Community Foundation has granted more than $1 million from the Campbell Endowment. And, through the endowment model, a $1 million endowment remains. This means that the Campbell Endowment, which is just one of many endowments at the Community Foundation, will continue to financially support our community in perpetuity. more
Friday, August 10, 2018
Several key ideas that stand out to me about the Community Foundation model: First, it helps people make long-term investments in causes that matter to them. Second, it looks for opportunities to make our communities more vibrant and healthy. Lastly, it grants funds every year to organizations that are making life better in the region. more
Thursday, August 9, 2018
What I love about the Community Foundation is not only that immediate impact, but also how we are focused on the stewardship of endowments in perpetuity. Donors look to the Community Foundation to steward giving in a responsible manner so that doing good works can go on forever. more
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
The Community Foundation and the Women’s Auxiliary of the Crystal Downs Country Club launched a new partnership this year, together awarding $44,500 in scholarships to area students. more
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
This year, the Community Foundation awarded nine scholarships from the Tompkins scholarship endowment to six graduating high school seniors and three current college students who all previously graduated from Traverse City Area Public Schools. In total, the Tompkins Scholarship Endowment granted $38,500 this year to TCAPS students pursuing higher education. more
Monday, July 9, 2018
The Community Foundation Board of Directors recently elected new officers and directors for the 2018-2019 board year, which began July 1. more
Thursday, June 14, 2018
The Community Foundation recently awarded $15,000 to the Advocates for Benzie County to support the purchase of a multi-functional trailer. more
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Students from throughout our five-county region will be attending college in the fall with scholarship funding from the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation, which has already awarded $222,683 in scholarships in 2018. more
Friday, June 8, 2018
For more than 25 years, your Community Foundation has been working in our region to provide dynamic and excellent services for donors, meaningful grants to support local nonprofits and collaborative leadership around community initiatives. We have the responsibility and privilege of partnering with donors and nonprofits in our region to enrich our communities then, now and forever. more
Friday, May 4, 2018
Join us in welcoming two new members to our team! more
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
The Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation recently awarded more than $384,000 in grants to local organizations throughout the five-county region and expects to award over $2 million in grants over the course of 2018. more
