Gannett Foundation offers grants for nonprofits
Nonprofit and municipal organizations with projects aimed at building their communities may now apply to the 2020 A Community Thrives program, a $2.3 million initiative of the Gannett Foundation. The program is sponsored by the USA TODAY Network’s parent company, Gannett.
The nationwide crowdfunding and grant program is entering its fourth year of supporting organizations that address social issues including education, housing, arts and culture, wellness and the environment.
Typically, organizations apply to raise money for a specific project. Accepted organizations will work to raise funds on their own through a crowdfunding campaign, then may be eligible for more than 100 grants.
Organizers said A Community Thrives gives nonprofit groups the opportunity to raise funds on a national platform, while grants help further accelerate exceptional projects.
“The Gannett Foundation grants will support our readers’ top community-building ideas to help address local needs and ensure a vibrant, healthy community. We are committed to work in partnership to help our communities connect, act and thrive,” Maribel Perez Wadsworth, Gannett Media president of news and Gannett Foundation vice president, said.
More than a dozen national grants to support projects are set to be distributed, ranging from $25,000 to $100,000. Separately, incentives aimed at rewarding highfundraising projects will be offered.
Dozens more regional grants will also be distributed for general operating support, starting at $2,500. These grants are chosen by leaders across Gannett’s nationwide USA TODAY Network of newsrooms.
Michael A. Anastasi, vice president and editor of The Tennessean, said journalists are always searching for the “opportunity to make the world a better place through our work . ... We know the community in a way that those outside the community just can’t.”
A Community Thrives harnesses that local knowledge in selecting winners of local grants. The combination of fundraising and grant opportunities is has proven to be a “game changer” for local charities, Anastasi said – an ideal chance to get an “infusion of money.”
Local grants
In Memphis, a diverse group of leaders will be assembled to pick the local winners, said Mark Russell, executive editor of The Commercial Appeal.
In December 2018, The CA donated $30,000 to eight Memphis-area community groups, bolstering the work done by the organizations to improve children’s literacy and technology skills, recruit for mentorship programs and instill confidence in children who stutter, among other programs.
The nonprofits receiving the last round of Memphis grants included The YMCA of Memphis & the Mid South, $4,000; the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Memphis, $4,400; Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis, $4,000; and the Memphis Library Foundation, $1,600.
Since the last A Community Thrives initiative last took place in early 2019, Gannett has expanded the footprint of the USA TODAY Network, joining Gatehouse
Commercial Appeal donated $30,000 to area groups.
Media to become the largest U.S. media company by print circulation, serving communities in 47 states. For nonprofit groups, that means more regions will be offering local grants.
Last year, more than $4.5 million was distributed to nonprofit groups as a result of the program.
Applicants raised more than $2.5 million through their own fundraising efforts and the Gannett Foundation gave out $2 million in grants.
This year, grants will be awarded based on the proposed projects’ viability, sustainability, community need and service to historically disadvantaged groups.
How to apply
Organizations may submit applications from Aug. 18 to Sept. 11 on A Community Thrives’ website: acommunity thrives.mightycause .com.
Morgan Hines and Ashley May of USA Today contributed to this article.