The Lake-Geauga Fund of the Cleveland Foundation unveils 2023 grantmaking

Release Date: 11.16.23

CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Foundation Board of Directors recently approved $227,000 from the Lake-Geauga Fund of the Cleveland Foundation to support 11 organizations serving Lake and Geauga counties.

Established in 1988, the Lake-Geauga Fund of the Cleveland Foundation has distributed more than $19.7 million over the past 36 years utilizing the advice of its appointed committee. Since its inception, the fund has been a critical resource to communities in Lake and Geauga counties, as it has provided funding to jumpstart new ideas, guide organizational strategy, leverage additional dollars, and address high-priority program needs.

Beginning in 2015, the Cleveland Foundation’s board decided to fully integrate organizations in Lake and Geauga in the foundation’s monthly grantmaking process. Since that time, the Lake-Geauga Fund of the Cleveland Foundation has served as an additional resource with a more strategic grantmaking focus.

“The Lake-Geauga Fund’s Advisory Committee maintained its priorities for the second year in a row by focusing its resources on specific data-driven community needs such as mental health services and our aging population,” said Andrew Katusin, Cleveland Foundation program officer for grantmaking initiatives and Lake-Geauga Fund advisory committee liaison. “The committee’s collective review process once again identified the organizations doing the critical work on the ground in Lake and Geauga counties.”

The board recently approved the following grants from the Lake-Geauga Fund of the Cleveland Foundation:

  • Hershey Montessori School ($15,000): Funding will support high-quality mental health support services for students through staff capacity and training.
  • Fieldstone Farm Therapeutic Riding Center ($25,000): Funding will support access to equine mental health services for individuals in need who cannot afford to pay.
  • Vineyard Christian Fellowship ($20,000): Funding will support the expansion of their Senior Box program, which delivers food and other basic necessities to low-income clients.
  • Torchlight Youth Mentoring Alliance ($19,000): Funding will support increased organization capacity to expand services offered through their youth mentorship programs.
  • Crossroads Health ($28,000): Funding will support the ongoing operations of the Mobile Crisis Services and Response team.
  • Fine Arts Association of Willoughby ($20,000): Funding will support the Creative Arts Therapies suite of programming, which integrates the arts and mental health.
  • Lake County Free Clinic ($25,000): Funding will support access to healthcare services for seniors within the clinic’s footprint.
  • WomenSafe, Inc. ($20,000): Funding will support mental health staffing and training to maintain high-quality services for clients.
  • NAMI Lake County ($25,000): Funding will support program expansion to enhance peer support offerings for adolescents and youth.
  • Fairmount Center for the Arts ($10,000): Funding will support access to the arts for seniors throughout Geauga County.
  • Lifeline, Inc. ($20,000): Funding will support programming that connects pre-screened volunteers with seniors in need of support with small around-the-house projects.

Nonprofits are encouraged to apply for funding from the Lake-Geauga Fund of the Cleveland Foundation via a yearly RFP process. For more information, visit ClevelandFoundation.org/grants/lake-geauga/.

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