Stewardship Through Charitable Funds

The Community Foundation's mission is to connect people, resources and causes to produce a positive and sustainable change in the communities we serve. After we receive the money from our donors, we invest it and use part of the earnings to make grants to 501(c)3 non-profit organizations that are improving the quality of life in Carroll County for this generation and generations to come.

Since our beginning in 1997, the generosity of our donors has allowed us to make grants of more than $3.5 million to help make our community a better place. This amount includes approximately $3.2 million in grants and $339,400 in scholarships, with an additional $3.5 million in Lilly Endowment Community Scholarships.

The Carroll County Community Foundation has implemented three changes to our grantmaking program:

The guidelines and application process have been simplified and include a more defined outline for the “letter of inquiry.”
We are launching new strategic grants in response to the three aspirations that were prioritized by our community listening process. The development of our more intentional and focused strategic grants process supports the aspirations of Carroll County. Our participants want a community that is:

a. mentally healthy, safe and drug-free
b. progressive, growing, vibrant and economically healthy
c. inclusive, supportive, connected, engaging and culturally diverse
We are allocating money for mini-grants (requests up to $1,000) and rapid response grants (requests up to $2,000) to offer a quicker turnaround. The grants will help the Foundation respond to short-term emergencies, opportunities, and evolving community needs.

We will continue to make general grants to respond to a wide variety of opportunities to benefit Carroll County. All grants will be awarded from the variety of unrestricted community endowment funds that donors establish.

Note: All grants are considered based on funding availability.

Stewardship Through Charitable Funds

Read more about the impact of giving in these grantee stories: