Field of Interest Grants

Field of Interest Grants are awarded in each of the Community Foundation's four fields of interest.

Arts/Culture Grants support projects that stretch an organization's artistic or cultural level of ability, moving it towards a higher level of achievement.

• Cinnabar Arts Corporation: $25,000.00 to partner with Opera Colorado in commissioning and performing a new children's opera "La Curandera", that celebrates Mexican folk traditions; Bruno Schurter Fund and the Fund For The Arts;
• Occidental Community Choir: $16,000.00 to support the Choir in elevating the quality of its compositions, vocal technique and performances and to produce the 2006 series "Heroes and Mentors, Wonders and Dreams"; Valis Fund and the Community Endowment Fund;
• Sonoma State University for the Sonoma County Choral Society: $7,400.00 to help transform the Choral Society Honor Choir from a project-based ensemble to a continuously operating symphony choir through support of the "Vivaldi/ Patterson Performance Project."; Fund For The Arts; and the Community Endowment Fund

Education Grants are awarded to nonprofit organizations providing services in school settings involving the areas of arts/humanities, the environment and health and human services.

• Acorn Soupe: $2,500.00 to develop and deliver a hands-on experiential environmental education program with a focus on habitat connectivity; JSO Fund ;
• Circuit Rider Productions, Inc: $25,000.00 to develop new leaders in the field of ecological restoration by engaging students in science-based field learning and leadership training; Valis Fund, JSO Fund and the Community Endowment Fund;
• Cultural Arts Council of Sonoma County: $10,000.00 for California Poets in the Schools to help low income, minority students at eight schools improve academic performance through delivering five-week poet-in-residence programs; Valis Fund and the Community Endowment Fund;
• Sonoma Ecology Center: $19,500.00 to support teachers, students and the environment by bringing hands-on watershed science education to elementary and middle school classrooms; Community Endowment Fund;

Environment Grants support projects that restore the connections among native habitats that have been broken through land use resulting in fragmentation, or, that result in the preservation or restoration of native habitat.

• California Native Plant Society: $5,400.00 to conserve existing populations of endangered Pitkin Marsh Lily and promote recovery of other local endemic populations of rare wetlands plants; Jean Forsyth Schulz Fund for the Environment and the Fund for The Environment
• Circuit Rider Productions, Inc: $25,000.00 to improve the outcomes of environmental restoration projects by researching and testing techniques that minimize adverse effects; Fund for the Environment and the Community Endowment Fund
• Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation: $25,000.00 to improve habitat for mammals, birds, invertebrates and salmonids through restoring 76 acres of riparian vegetation; Catherine L. O’Brien Fund for the Environment, Charl E. Rhode Fund for the Environment & Education, Russian River Settlement Fund and the Fund for the Environment

Health/Human Services Grants support a broad range of proposals dealing either with health or social service issues covering all phases of life. Preference is given to health programs that have a prevention orientation and human service programs that take an asset-building approach.

• A Home Within: $5,000.00 to help foster children grow to be healthy adults through providing pro bono psychotherapy for as long as it is needed; Patricia Eames Family Fund
• Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Sonoma County: $10,000.00 to help at-risk adolescents improve school performance and to make a positive difference in their lives through school-based mentoring; Patricia Eames Family Fund and the Bearden Family Fund
• Boys and Girls Club - Valley of the Moon: $25,000.00 to help low income children in the Springs/Agua Caliente area acquire the skills and knowledge needed to enter adulthood as healthy, caring and responsible people; Remak-Mosenthal Fund, Ding and Henry Arian Family Fund, Cochran Family Fund and the Bruce Lalor Fund
• Dynamy: $18,000.00 to prepare low-income students to complete high school, enter college and prepare for adult life through advising, mentoring and other activities; Patricia Eames Family Fund, Ding and Henry Arian Family Fund, E. Johnnie Tarchini Endowment Fund and the Sarah D. Rodgers Fund
• Imagine Bus Project: $7,500.00 to help young people at the Sierra Youth Center learn skills that will give them a stronger base for returning to society and a greater sense of responsibilities for their lives; Anonymous donor
• The San Francisco Foundation Community Initiative Funds: $25,000.00 to help low income, high-risk elementary school students succeed academically, socially and emotionally through providing long-term mentors at two schools, through the Mentor Me, Petaluma program; E. Johnnie Tarchini Endowment Fund
• Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance: $25,000.00 to help elementary, middle and high school students succeed academically, socially and emotionally through providing long-term mentors; Cochran Family Fund
• Southwest Community Health Center: $25,000.00 to reduce teen pregnancies and improve student health through providing reproductive and mental health services to teens at risk for pregnancy at Elsie Allen High School; Bruce Lalor Fund and the Community Endowment Fund

Basic Human Needs Grants are awarded to organizations that provide food, shelter or clothing to low-income people in crisis.

• Church of the Incarnation: $5,000.00 for the Living Room to purchase food and clothing for homeless women and their children;
• Committee On The Shelterless: $5,000.00 to purchase food for the Petaluma Kitchen;
• Community Action Partnership of Sonoma County: $5,000.00 for operating costs of the Chanate emergency shelter for homeless women;
• Council on Aging of Sonoma County: $5,000.00 for Meals On Wheels program for home-bound seniors;
• Friends In Sonoma Helping: $5,000.00 to provide rental assistance to help low income families avoid eviction;
• Petaluma Ecumenical Properties: $2,500.00 to assist low income elderly residents with costs of food, clothing and housing;
• Petaluma People Services Center: $5,000.00 for the senior home delivered meals program;
• Rebuilding Together - Santa Rosa: $2,500.00 to pay contractors to do needed repairs for low income households;
• West County Community Services: $5,000.00 to purchase food for needy families and individuals;

DeMeo Grants focus on programs that provide long-term support to homeless mothers with young children to enable them to end their homelessness and become productive members of society.

• Catholic Charities: $30,000.00 to assist mothers recovering from addiction to become self-sufficient and able to raise their children independently through the Perinatal Housing Program ; $20,000.00 for the DeMeo House;
• Committee On The Shelterless: $30,000.00 to help formerly homeless families maintain housing through the efforts of teams of Family Connection volunteer mentors ; $30,000.00 to help families end the generational cycle of homelessness through providing affordable shared housing and support services ;
• Community Action Partnership of Sonoma County: $25,000.00 to break the cycle of homelessness for mothers with small children through support, education and services in the Caring Communities program ;
• Community Resources for Independence: $30,000.00 to provide permanent housing and support services for homeless disabled mothers and their children;
• Women's Recovery Services/A Unique Place: $5,000.00 to assist homeless mothers who are new in their sobriety to move from a life-style of addiction and homelessness to one of sobriety and stable housing ;

Healdsburg Area Fund Grants

• Healdsburg Education Foundation: $5,000.00 to evaluate and improve systems, coordinate fundraising activities, conduct board training and develop a coordinated public message through a strategic planning process;
• Healdsburg Unified School District: $5,000.00 to resolve funding problems and related facilities and curriculum issues through a strategic planning process
• Knights of Indulgence Theatre United States: $5,000.00 to build community through sharing the performance of an original multigenerational theater piece created and performed by local youth and elders
• Migrant Education: $5,000.00 to build bi-national and multicultural understanding among local school teachers through expanding an exchange program with teachers from Michoacan
• Russian River Chamber Music Society: $5,000.00 to build community through providing free chamber music concerts

Russian River Community Trust Grants

• Congregational Church of Guerneville: $2,061.00 to purchase broadcasting equipment as fiscal sponsor for KGGV-LP FM non-profit radio; $3,110.00 for installation of an awning over the handicap access ramp to the sanctuary
• Food for Thought: $2,500.00 to help purchase and install a 30 kilowatt photovoltaic system
• Pegasus Theater Company Inc: $3,076.00 to upgrade the headphone/intercom communication system at Pegasus Theater in Monte Rio

Supporting Organization Grants

Chop's, the DeMeo Teen Club, Inc. is a supporting organization of the Community Foundation. A separate nonprofit organization with its own governing board, it receives funding from the Charles DeMeo Memorial Endowment Fund of the Community Foundation. In 2005, $586,700.00 was distributed to Chop's for operations.

2006 Competitive Grants (as of June 1, 2006)

Funded through the income earned from unrestricted and field of interest endowment funds, competitive grants include Field of Interest Grants, Basic Human Needs Grants, Capacity Building Grants and DeMeo Grants. As of June, 2006, a total of $198,974.56 has been invested in our community through the competitive grant programs.

Basic Human Needs Grants are awarded to organizations that provide food, shelter or clothing to low-income people in crisis.

• Community Action Partnership of Sonoma County: $5,000 for operating costs of the Sloan House for homeless women
• Petaluma People Services Center: $5,000 for the senior home delivered meals program
• Redwood Empire Food Bank: $5,000 to cover transportation costs associated with acquiring food and to buy food for the Backpack for Kids program
• River Child Care, Inc.: $5,000 to provide emergency basic supplies, childcare, transportation and shelter to low income families
• West County Community Services: $5,000 to continue operations of the Food Pantry for low income residents
• West County Community Services: $3,974.56 for flood clean-up

Grantsto End Family Homelessness focus on programs that provide long-term support to homeless mothers with young children to enable them to end their homelessness and become productive members of society.

• Catholic Charities: $20,000 for client services at the DeMeo House; $5,000 to assist mothers recovering from addiction to become self-sufficient and able to raise their children independently through the Perinatal Housing Program
• Committee On The Shelterless: $30,000 for Family Connection to help formerly homeless families maintain housing through the efforts of teams of volunteer mentors; $30,000 to help families end the generational cycle of homelessness through providing affordable shared housing and support services
• Community Action Partnership of Sonoma County: $25,000 to break the cycle of homelessness for mothers with small children through support, education and services in the Caring Communities program
• Women's Recovery Services/A Unique Place: $30,000 to assist homeless mothers who are new in their sobriety to move from a life-style of addiction and homelessness to one of sobriety and stable housing
• YWCA of Sonoma County: $30,000 to promote healing and violence-free living for women with children fleeing domestic violence through the Adobe Project

2005 Donor-Advised Grants