Check our website: We know you have new Covid-19 resources and references coming to you daily and it can be overwhelming. Weekly, we will highlight the best new resources and tools we find, and then add to our website for future reference. More info.

While schools are closed, Indianapolis' Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township has used its buses to deliver meals to low-income students. Its transportation department has created over 1,000 new bus stops and published these locations. More than 100 district staffers are involved to make the bus-stop meals possible. Read more.

Last week, hunger-relief agency Second Helpings and Sahm’s restaurant chain converted a large kitchen and cafeteria inside the OneAmerica Tower to prepare an additional 1,110 eat-at-home meals for low-income senior citizens and families. These meals will be delivered to residents of John J. Barton and Richard G. Lugar towers, and Barton Annex and to Indy Parks for distribution.  Read more. 

VOICES Day Treatment Program serves as a community alternative to secured detention for Marion County Juvenile Probation Department and provides daily services for 30 young men, under 18 years of age. These young men are assigned to the nonprofit by the courts, but with the emergency travel restrictions in the city, beginning this week, the staff is doing remote check-ins and activities to keep students engaged. During normal operations, the nonprofit provides breakfast and lunch for its students, but has reallocated its meal fund to deliver care packages to students’ homes. To learn more about this effort, visit http://voicescorp.org/

The Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction is partnering with Overdose Lifeline to create lock-boxes to provide Naloxone kits for opioid treatment programs during the COVID-19 outbreak. The lock-boxes, which comply with state code, can help recovering individuals reduce the number of visits to receive methadone dosages and avoid further spread of the virus. Read more.

In Baltimore, Wide Angle Media started a fund to help the young people it serves. It has reallocated money from its annual Innovation Fund to provide emergency support. Student participants may apply for COVID-19 funds to cover the cost of groceries, WiFi, medicine, rent and other essentials. Read more.

Easing kids’ anxieties. Last week, Norway and Kentucky offered kid-appropriate COVID-19 material. To help with kids’ understanding, Kentucky officials streamed an "age-appropriate presentation" ahead of Gov. Andy Beshear's daily press conference last Tuesday. In the nine-minute video, a Kentucky Center for Health and Family Services psychologist demonstrated how to navigate a kid’s new normal. 

In Italy, when one hospital ran out of valves for crucial respiratory machines, local manufacturers stepped in to 3D print replacements. Across the globe, more than 1,700 people have offered their services through the still-growing Google document “ 3D Printer Crowdsourcing for COVID-19.” Listing their experience level, the type of printer they have, and their email addresses, these design engineers are able to help 3D print masks, respirators, valves, and more for hospitals around the world.

CICF and its affiliates have adopted a four-pronged approach to the COVID-19 pandemic in Central Indiana to ensure that the health, economic stability, and service to the most vulnerable communities are being met during this crisis. Learn more here. Among its actions are to create two flexible funds, one for Marion County – the Neighbor Relief Fund for Marion County -- and one for Hamilton County – Hamilton County Crisis Response Fund. Details on how to request support from both of these funds will be available in the coming weeks.

Indiana nonprofits may qualify for low-interest federal loans of up to $2 million at 2.75 percent and terms up to 30 years for financial losses due to COVID-19. Since SBA issued a disaster declaration for Indiana, funds are available through the agency’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. To submit an online loan application or receive additional information, click here.

Emergency virtual programs for small businesses affected by the COVID-19 outbreak are being hosted by gener8tor from March 30 to April 3. These programs will feature daily webinars designed to identify, understand and help small businesses secure resources to withstand the current crisis. One-on-one office hours will also be available. Registration deadline March 25 at 11:59 p.m. For a complete list of programs, click here.

The Indiana Department of Workforce Development will host live 30-minute webinars -- March 24 at 10:30 a.m. or March 25 at 3 p.m. The sessions will cover unemployment eligibility requirements, the formula and amounts determined by Indiana State Statute for benefit amounts, frequently asked questions and how to apply for benefits. Each is limited to 500, with registration capacity of 5,000 for each program. Everyone who registers will be emailed a link to the recording within 24 hours. That recording can be shared with others and will also be posted on the DWD landing page created for information and resources specific to unemployment insurance and COVID-19. Click here to register.

Nonprofit emergency aid: With the nonprofit sector on the front lines addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to contact members of Congress to ask for emergency aid to nonprofit organizations in any pending COVID-19 legislation. To make it easy, The Independent Sector’s Policy Action Center has provided a 30-second campaign to ask legislators to provide grants, loans and tax credits for nonprofits. Click here.

By Melanie Priest, senior consultant, Hedges

Like the proverb: “It takes a village to raise a child,” it also takes a village to develop competitive grant proposals. The more resources and team members you include when creating grant proposals, the more you will be able to paint a compelling picture of your organization and the project in which you are seeking funding. 

With the increasingly competitive nature of foundation grants, best practices suggest including staff, participants, volunteers, community partners, and funders within your organization’s “village” to develop strong proposals. There are more than a million charitable organizations registered with the Internal Revenue Service in the United States (National Center for Charitable Statistics, 2019). Just like fundraising focused on individual donors, it is a competitive world when trying to secure foundation grants.

Your grant proposal may be developed by the best writer around, however it will fall short without preparation, planning, and input from all perspectives of the organization. It is essential to identify and utilize all contributors that comprise your village to set you up for optimal success.

Before creating the most competitive proposal, it is necessary to build your village by getting to know who the funders are in the area. Read more.

16 Tech will launch an innovation hub in the $500-million 16 Tech Innovation District in Indianapolis. It is partnering with Philadelphia-based incubation network 1776 to develop the project in the former Indianapolis Water Co. headquarters. Read more.

Indiana Humanities partnered with the Office of Community and Rural Affairs to design and administer Preserving Women’s Legacy Grants. Indiana Women’s Suffrage Centennial will provide grants with matching funds of $15,000 to $40,000 to applicants with projects tied to women’s history in Indiana. Main Street communities may apply for the grants through May 15 here.   

Women’s Philanthropy Institute (WPI) is accepting applications for the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. The one-year, $5,000 fellowship supports doctoral dissertation research and writing that contributes to understanding of women’s philanthropy or gender differences in philanthropic behavior. Ph.D. candidates who have successfully completed their coursework and defended their dissertation proposal are encouraged to apply. The deadline is April 30. More here.

The annual 100 Men Who Cook event, hosted by Old National Bank, designated The Villages as the recipient of the over $175,000 raised.  Read more.  

Charitable Advisors knows that the needs of nonprofits are changing daily and will evolve as the Cornavirus (COVID-19) pandemic affects more Americans. We have created a valuable resource webpage at https://charitableadvisors.com/nonprofit-pandemic-resources/.

What other tools or connections would you like to see added? Click here to complete. 

SPONSORS' INSIGHTS

Aly Sterling Philanthropy: The power of positivity and staying the course [+ 4 things to do immediately].

Johnson Grossnickle & Associates:  COVID-19: Philanthropy in a changing landscape.

MARKETPLACE

Our sponsor marketplace serves to further connect our readers with our advertisers who are focused on serving nonprofits. To learn about each sponsor's nonprofit services, click on its logo.



MEETING ROOM OR EVENT SPACE

OFFICE SPACE FOR LEASE OR SALE

President & Chief Executive Officer - Pathfinder Services (Northeast Indiana)

Chief Executive Officer - Indiana Rural Health Association (IRHA)