Weathering the Economic Storm Partnership Issues Final Results
Cincinnati, OH - January 31, 2012 - As it comes to a close, the Weathering the Economic Storm (WTES) funding partnership reports awarding $4.5 million in grants awarded to 127 nonprofit organizations across eight Tristate counties. The lives of 95,000 children, adults and seniors were touched by the partnership’s work.
The partnership originally began in 2009 as a one-year response to the impact of the economic recession on the region’s most vulnerable citizens. Twenty-six funders, convened by The Greater Cincinnati Foundation, came together to quickly identify and provide funding support to support a variety of critical community needs.
The WTES funders stayed together for three years providing the following assistance:
- Safety Net Services $2,140,392 Grants supported emergency programs such as transportation and prescription medication assistance as well as benefits enrollment and rent and utility assistance.
- Housing Stability $1,478,000 Families were kept in their homes through foreclosure prevention and critical home repairs.
- Early Childhood Education $340,000 Childcare costs, impacted by high unemployment and government budget cuts, were subsidized with grants.
- Organization Stabilization $198,540 Cultural institutions in the region struggled as endowment values, individual gifts, and corporate support decreased considerably. WTES funders supported these vital community assets with grants to 27 small and medium-sized arts organizations.
- Grantwriting Assistance $99,000 WTES also assisted local nonprofits in pursuing competitive state or federal government funding opportunities by providing $1,000 to $4,000 grants to cover grantwriting services to 34 organizations. A total WTES investment of $99,000 has already leveraged more than $5.5 million in state and government grants.
Shared Harvest Foodbank received assistance from WTES. Its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was awarded $120,000 for outreach.
“The average monthly benefit provided to each family applying for SNAP through our outreach program is $265, accruing nearly $3,200 in food buying power a year for each family,” said Tina Osso, executive director of Shared Harvest. “This initial investment of $120,000 by WTES has provided a total accrued SNAP benefit of $4,253,330 for the 1,409 families we helped apply. This benefits not only these families by helping them acquire food to sustain themselves, but are new resources for the economic health of the communities where they live. We could not have accomplished any of this without the Weathering the Economic Storm grants.”
“We felt that GCF could provide a ‘hub’ where funders could come together to quickly address the economic crisis. It’s been inspiring to see the group work together, both to address the immediate basic needs and to think about long-term ways to help address ongoing service needs and nonprofit sector challenges,” said Kathy Merchant, GCF President/CEO. “We were especially pleased that several small WTES grants helped to leverage much larger government grants, so we plan to continue that program as a regular service to nonprofits.”
Video about the Weathering the Economic Storm partnership and a photo gallery of WTES grantees is available on GCF’s website at
www.gcfdn.org/WTES.
Read a story about the partnership in
Soapbox.