Bucks announce community grants
The Milwaukee Bucks Foundation announced Thursday that it will be giving 15 Wisconsin-based organizations $311,500 in grants over the next year.
This year’s recipients are groups that support young victims of community trauma and help manage mental health care among youth. Most of the grants will be given out over the course of one year, although some are twoyear grants.
The group of recipients includes ACTS Housing, The Alma Center, City on a Hill, CommonBond, Express Yourself Milwaukee, First Stage, Grateful Girls, Hometown Heroes, La Causa Inc., Milwaukee Christian Center, Meta House, Operation DREAM, SaintA, St. Augustine Prep and Teens Grow Greens.
Arvind Gopalratnam, executive director of the foundation, said kids today are dealing with different issues than previous generations, and through that, mental health care is becoming a topic that isn’t so taboo.
“Our kids in our community are facing different challenges than we did when we were younger,” Gopalratnam said. “As our societies continue to evolve, we prioritize how to address mental health challenges. We want to be at the forefront to be able to help fund some of that.”
The foundation has committed to giving a total $1.4 million to the community since it was founded in 2016. The foundation’s annual goal is to commit to $500,000 every year, although a portion of that rolls over from the previous years for organizations that accept money over the course of
two or three years.
Ninety-four groups applied for the grant last summer, and the group was narrowed down to this year’s 15 recipients. Gopalratnam said the foundation chose a diverse group of recipients because trauma is a “broad topic” and is dealt with in different ways.
“There can be a variety of different things that reflect trauma or mental health challenges in our community,” Gopalratnam said. “Sometimes it’s lack of access to food, or lack of access to housing, which can lead to trauma. There are a lot of different triggers that can cause trauma in youth.”
Applications are open until Labor Day for the next grant cycle, which will focus on a theme of “learn and play,” helping fund organizations that build and refurbish athletic and educational spaces. Any applying organization must be a registered 501(c)(3) group and must be based in Wisconsin.
Gopalratnam also said the foundation is rolling out a “player pool” program that will allow Bucks players to have a say in where foundation money goes. The foundation will pull out a certain amount of money, and each player can match that portion. Every player will then be able to control where that money goes in the next grant cycle.
Khris Middleton and Pat Connaughton are some of the players expected to take on the role of “team captains” in the pool program, although every player contributes to the foundation in some way. Gopalratnam said the Bucks are the only NBA team where players directly influence charity givings from the team.
“We just want to give our players an opportunity to think about their roles in our community and the philanthropic opportunities they can have based on those roles,” Gopalratnam said.
The foundation also has the 50/50 raffle program during the regular season where fans can buy raffle tickets to win half of the sales pool. The other half of proceeds from those sales go toward the foundation, which said raffle ticket sales were $150,000 during the 2017-’18 season and $300,000 during the 2018’19 season.
Overall, the creation of the foundation has “realigned revenue streams” for the Bucks and has changed the internal corporate culture of the team’s employees, Gopalratnam said.