For the past 25 years, the Cleveland Foundation has worked with our donors to enhance the lives of residents in Lake and Geauga Counties, providing more than $32.8 million in grants. At the December 18, 2015, meeting of the Cleveland Foundation board of directors, the board reiterated our commitment to Lake and Geauga Counties by approving an enhanced process for grantmaking in these counties that offers greater flexibility and responsiveness to funding requests, with the possibility for more dollars and increased access to Cleveland Foundation staff to help with technical support and strategic counsel.

Community Responsive Grants

The foundation requires all grant applicants to submit an online grant inquiry, outlining basic information about the proposed project. These Community 0662-CF-OhioMapDesign_V2_CroppedResponsive inquiries may be submitted at any time. We recommend submitting one inquiry per proposed project. If it is determined that your project fits the foundation’s guidelines, you will be asked (within a few weeks) to submit a full application. Please note that an invitation to submit a full application does not guarantee funding at any level.

Grantmaking Update

The Lake-Geauga Fund is conducting an analysis of the fund and the community’s needs at the same time as the Cleveland Foundation is refining its strategic grantmaking framework. As this evaluative work begins, the Lake-Geauga Fund’s Advisory Committee has decided to pause grantmaking in 2024 and resume under a new strategy in 2025. At this time, nonprofits who traditionally apply for the Lake-Geauga Fund should use the foundation’s standard grantmaking process by submitting a Community Responsive inquiry.


The Role of Donors

The partnership that has grown among donors, community leaders, and nonprofit organizations promises a brighter future for Lake and Geauga counties. Learn more about becoming a Cleveland Foundation donor.

2022 Grants

Crossroads Health

  • $25,250 Support for staffing and operational costs of the hotline and Mobile Crisis Services Response Team

Fairmount Center for the Arts

  • $12,775 Support ongoing arts, wellness, and performance experiences for Geauga County seniors

Family Pride of Northeast Ohio

  • $44,700 Funding for the addition of staff to increase client access to supportive and mental health services

Jennings Center for Older Adults

  • $39,750 Support for formal and informal caregivers through the creation of accessible evidence-based training content and workshops

Lake County Free Clinic

  • $25,575 Funding for the expansion of medical care services for low-income seniors in Lake and Geauga counties

Lakeland Foundation

  • $19,995 Support for the operations of the Veteran agriculture training and wellness program

Lifeline Empowerment

  • $44,700 Funding for a pilot program linking community volunteers with seniors needing help with minor household chores, errands, and other activities of daily living

Signature Health

  • $35,500 Support for the provision of best-practice training for Signature Health clinical staff

2021 Grants

Alliance for Working Together Foundation

  • $50,000 Support for the creation of the Northeast Ohio Transformation Training Center, a world-class, industry 4.0/SMART Manufacturing training center and a hub for education and industry sector collaboration that will help fill a gap in K-12 and adult/incumbent worker training

Geauga Growth Partnership, Inc.

  • $25,000 Support for youth workforce development programming, including the development of a web-based learning portal for Geauga County teachers and students as well as North Eastern Ohio Education Association (NEOEA) Day professional development activities for Geauga County teachers

ioby

  • $10,000 Funding for an assessment centered on stakeholder interviews to see if the organization’s potential expansion into Lake and Geauga counties would be feasible and sustainable

Lake Geauga Recovery Centers

  • $50,000 Support for the $2 million 50th Anniversary Campaign that will result in the availability of an additional 16 beds for those men needing residential recovery services

Deepwood Foundation

  • $10,000 To allow individuals and families to meet the basic daily needs of food, shelter and safety

Fine Arts Association

  • $10,000 To allow students with behavioral, cognitive and physical disabilities and those feeling higher levels of stress/anxiety to participate in the Creative Arts Therapies (CAT) program

Geauga County Veterans Food Pantry

  • $10,000 To provide an ongoing supply of basic household cleaning and sanitizing supplies and PPP to veterans, and the volunteers that work at the pantry

Hershey Montessori

  • $15,000 To allow the school to outfit and sanitize both campuses to ensure the continued wellbeing of students, staff and parents

McKinley Community Outreach Center

  • $20,000 To continue to provide basic hygiene items, clothing, shoes, food, and much more

2020 Grants

Project Hope for the Homeless

  • $22,000 COVID-19 emergency response

Lake County Free Clinic

  • $10,000 COVID-19 emergency response

Crossroads Health

  • $25,000 COVID-19 emergency response

Lakeland Foundation

  • $10,000 COVID-19 emergency response

Fine Arts Association

  • $10,000 COVID-19 emergency response

Claridon Community Helps

  • $5,000 Commercial refrigerator, freezer and food supplies

Geauga Hunger Task Force

  • $20,000 Food and shipping costs

University Hospitals

  • $25,000 Testing, treating, preventing, protection, wellness and resilience for the employees and community at University Hospitals Geauga Campus

Deepwood Foundation

  • $20,000 Food cards and rental subsidies for the families and adults living independently

Family & Community Services, Inc.

  • $15,000 Chagrin Falls Park Community Center food, delivery costs, and academic activities and supplies

Metzenbaum Sheltered Industries Inc.

  • $14,000 Client lost wages due to the COVID-19 crisis

Ravenwood Mental Health Center

  • $15,000 Emergency needs due to the COVID-19 crisis

Kent State University Foundation

  • $20,000 Zoom room on Burton, Ohio campus and establishment of an Emergency Relief Fund that supports students in Lake and Geauga counties

NAMI Geauga County

  • $1,500 Laptop, two Zoom accounts, and staff training for tele-communications and service

2019 Grants

Kent State University Foundation

  • $14,079 Growing the student pipeline to postsecondary education in Geuaga County (Year 2)

Chagrin River Watershed Partners, Inc.

  • $60,000 Chagrin River Corridor and Lakefront Trail Connection Plan

Foundation for Geauga Parks

  • $15,000 Planning and piloting pollinator initiative

Fairmount Center for the Arts

  • $10,000 Engaging rural underserved preschoolers and their caregivers in expanded early childhood, literacy based program

Catholic Charities Corporation

  • $21,250 Innovative backpack program pilot in Painesville City Local Schools – Chestnut Elementary

2018 Grants

Metzenbaum Sheltered Industries Inc.

  • $10,000 Transport vehicle for individuals with development disabilities to community-based worksites

Catholic Charities Corporation

  • $34,122 Helping Geauga County residents build the foundation to rise out of poverty (Year 2)

Lake Erie College

  • $25,000 Mobile lab for high-need local educational agency schools across Lake and Geauga counties

Mental Health & Addiction Advocacy Coalition

  • $5,000 Public policy/advocacy activities for mental health and addiction issues across Lake and Geauga Counties

Kent State University Foundation

  • $15,000 Growing the student pipeline to postsecondary education in Geauga County

Chagrin River Watershed Partners, Inc.

  • $28,000 Rain garden stormwater pilot program in Lake County

Crossroads Health

  • $40,000 Marketing, branding and implementation of strategic plan

United Way Services of Geauga County

  • $20,000 Improve reading outcomes of children living in Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) households in Geauga County

Cleveland Rape Crisis Center

  • $34,200 Marketing capacity to enhance services across Lake and Geauga counties

2017 Grants

University Hospitals

  • $70,000 Emergency Department intervention model to fight opioid crisis in Geauga County

Catholic Charities Corporation

  • $24,290 Helping Geauga County residents build the foundation to rise out of poverty

Leadership Lake County

  • $10,000 Pilot new model to develop stronger non-profit leaders

Lake-Geauga Recovery Centers

  • $19,000 Addressing client transportation challenges

DDC Clinic for Special Needs Children

  • $9,300 Creating a more cost effective method of diagnosing rare genetic disorders

Lake Health Foundation

  • $40,000 Capital support to increase addiction treatment beds in Lake County

Lake-Geauga Committee of the Cleveland Foundation

Jane Neubauer, Chair
Owner, Sugar Pines Farm

Ali Adinaro
Marketing & Fundraising Event Manager, SMART Recovery, USA

Richard J. Frenchie
President, The Frenchie Group

Tracy Jemison
Community Partner

James W. Patterson
Owner & President, Patterson Fruit Farm

Angela Spalsbury
Dean and Chief Administrative Officer, Kent State University

Nicole Parker
Assistant Dean for Field Education & Community Partnerships, Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University