WHAS Crusade for Children
/OVERVIEW: This group runs the most successful telethon in America and makes grants to Kentucky and Southern Indiana nonprofits. It prioritizes children with special needs.
FUNDING AREAS: Children with special needs
IP TAKE: When applying, grant seekers should keep in mind that religious clergy members decide who gets these grants. There is typically a lot of support here for Louisville organizations.
PROFILE: The WHAS Crusade for Children makes grants to nonprofits, schools, and hospitals that focus on kids with special needs. It seeks to make “life better for children with special needs by inspiring generosity with our community partners.” The geographic focuses of this funder are Kentucky and Southern Indiana. These grants are only for direct services to help children up to age 18 who have special physical, mental, emotional, and medical needs.
The WHAS Crusade for Children is the oldest, largest, and most successful telethon in America. This organization’s open application process to provide grants to local groups makes it stand out. It is also significant for the size of its grantmaking: total grants have exceeded $5 million per year lately.
The board of directors voted to create a new Crusade Endowment in 2002 to ensure that 100 percent of every donation supports children with special needs. In its first 64 years of existence, the group raised over $175 million.
Note: it does not make grants to individuals or families, does not provide general operating support, and does not cover administrative costs. Instead, all grants support specific programs or equipment that directly benefits special needs kids.
In a recent grant cycle, this funder awarded 218 grants and provided $5.6 million from the annual collection. The University of Louisville received the most grant funding for the year. Many of the grants awarded were between $5,000 and $50,000. Sample grantees include the Boys & Girls Club of Bowling Green, CASA of Lexington, Centerstone Kentucky, Down Syndrome of Louisville, and Kentucky Center for the Arts Foundation. View a full list of recent grants on the funder’s homepage.
In the past, the grant application deadline falls in mid-January. The grant year runs September 1 through August 31. Grant seekers can request an application by letter to the address below. Nonprofits, schools, and hospitals that received grants this year are automatically sent a notice about applying again.
Grant decisions are made by an advisory panel of 12 interdenominational clergy people. A list of the members is on the funder’s website.
The address to send a letter to in order to request a grant application is as follows: WHAS Crusade for Children, Grant Application 520 W. Chestnut Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202.
PEOPLE:
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