The Community Foundation of Greater Flint (CFGF) awarded more than $4.2 million in grants in 2009. A majority of CFGF’s grantmaking comes from charitable funds that are designated by the donor for a specific organization or purpose. Another form of CFGF grantmaking, discretionary grants, are awarded from unrestricted, broad field of interest funds.

Local volunteer advisory committees and staff review discretionary grant proposals and make recommendations to the CFGF Board of Trustees. Last year, $372,035.60 was awarded for programs that support the discretionary grantmaking priorities established by the board. Those areas include community leadership, community collaborations towards systemic solutions, regional venture philanthropy with other funders around the state, and mini-grants. The board also approved $284,696 for innovative health programs and services.

For more information about the Community Foundation’s discretionary grantmaking, please contact a member of the Community Impact staff at (810) 767-8270.

Genesee Chamber Foundation
$20,000 in support of a community communications/branding project to develop a new image for Flint and Genesee County with local, regional and national audiences.

Local Initiatives Support Corporation
$7,500 to assist with the application for the Flint Blueprints for Downtown Program, which will help to create Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) requests funds to assist the Flint Downtown Authority (DDA) with the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) application for the Michigan Blueprints for Downtown Program. MSHDA will contract with a nationally recognized consulting firm to create downtown action strategies for up to 10 Michigan communities.

Flint Area Convention and Visitors Bureau
$10,000 to help identify a replacement golf tournament and likely sponsorships enabling the continuation of the tradition and benefits that a professional golf tournament brings to the community and to local charities.

Flint NIPP, Inc.
$15,000 to support the completion of Witherbee’s Market and Deli in historic Carriage Town.

Metro Community Development
$3,000 to enable the Genesee County Community Collaborative to restructure and focus its work on community development.

Flint Area Congregations Together
$15,000 to support the work of Flint Area Congregations Together (FACT), an initiative that works with faith institutions to organize community residents to envision, plan and implement strategies and advocacy efforts to revitalize the Flint community.

Flint Community Schools
$10,000 for the Holmes/Brownell One Church-One School project, which brings community volunteers from 14 churches into Brownell Elementary and Holmes Middle Schools to help improve the academic achievement, social behavior and personal development of children.

Priority Children
$24,999 to support the programs of Priority Children, which aim to improve the quality of life for children and families in Genesee County through assessment, awareness, advocacy and action.

Foundation for Mott Community College
$2,500 to co-host the Donna Brazile Public Speaking Engagement at Mott Community College.

Motherly Intercession
$5,000 towards the facilitation of the N-TOUCH program, which provides crisis management and referrals for children of incarcerated parents and caregivers.

Flint Cultural Center
$5,000 for the Whiting Educational Outreach program, which enriches the lives of young people and adults through workshops, lectures and demonstrations provided in area schools and other community locations.

Greater Flint Arts Council
$2,000 to support the 2009 Jazz Festival at Riverbank Park.

Catholic Charities
$250 to help sponsor the 2009 Hispanic Heritage Celebration.

Flint YMCA of Greater Flint
$500 to support the Partner w/Youth Campaign.

Old Newsboys of Flint
$1,000 for the Let No Child Be Forgotten project which provides holiday gifts for children.

The Disability Network
$500 for the14th Annual Employment Luncheon.

Valley Area Agency on Aging
$500 towards events and programs of the Valley Area Agency on Aging.

Flint Children's Museum
$1,000 to support Flint Faces & Places: There's No Place Like Home, an exhibit that will build awareness of Census 2010 for families and educators that visit the museum.

Genesee County Land Bank
$17,500 for the purchase of equipment to be used for urban agriculture training and for ongoing weed and blight control within the city of Flint.

Genesee Area Focus Fund, Inc.
$8,615 to help provide Red Ink Flint with artist technological resources.

Community Foundation of Greater Flint
$5,000 to support activities of the Census 2010 Genesee County Complete Count Committee.

Community Foundation of Greater Flint
$3,861.59 for the Better Together Community Rally held at Flint City Hall in partnership with the University of Michigan-Flint American Democracy Project.

Community Foundation of Greater Flint
$20,000 to help support the Flint Area Reinvestment Office (FARO), which was established for the purpose of assisting Genesee County in identifying opportunities to coordinate efforts to obtain federal recovery and reinvestment funding and to foster local collaboration.

Genesee Intermediate School District
$17,000 to provide PreK-5 dental education and screenings to at-risk students.

Genesee Intermediate School District
$38,974 to support Bendle Family Health Services, which provides integrated health education and direct services to parents and students.

Genesee Intermediate School District
$31,500 for SKIP to A Great Start, a program that offers health-based information through home visits, parent-child playgroups, and parent education at each of the 21 school district sites in the GISD service area.

Metropolitan Housing Dev Corp-YOUR Center
$1,000 for support of a women’s health conference promoting awareness and prevention of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections.

Motherly Intercession
$5,000 towards the facilitation of the N-TOUCH program, which provides crisis management and referrals for children of incarcerated parents and caregivers.

Catholic Outreach
$10,000 for the St. Christopher Children's Transportation program so that seriously ill children, who cannot be treated locally, can be transported to the Children's Hospital in Detroit, University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, and clinics and hospitals in Lansing.

Hurley Foundation
$10,000 to support Empowerment Groups for Women, a program designed for low-income mothers to improve problem-solving skills and overcome health-related barriers.

Hurley Foundation
$20,000 to support the Friends of Hurley outreach campaign. The purpose of this campaign was to pass a county-wide millage proposal in order for Hurley to continue to provide its specialty health care services.