Project Help of Steuben County

Project Help started in 1989 as a grassroots effort of the Steuben County Ministerial Association. Their goal was to address the most basic needs of the community in one location, including providing food, toiletries, bedding, furniture, clothing, housewares, and school supplies. Today, Project Help serves as a community wide pantry for Steuben County residents, and helps direct people to the resources they need. Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Project Help has helped more than 100 new families. Recently, Project Help received a 1:1 matching grant opportunity from the Steuben County Disaster Response Fund. When asked what makes Project Help unique, Sheri Frank shared that the organization fills the deeply rooted needs of the community. Without Project Help, many of the people with the most need in our community would be without basic necessities.

Read the full story here, and check out this 30 second video nonprofit spotlight with Executive Director, Sheri Frank:

SCCF wrapped-up a 3-part series of hybrid grant proposal writing workshops this week. Led by Kelly Trusty, these workshops covered topics such as searching for grant opportunities, telling your organizations story, and managing a grant from start to finish. Participants had the opportunity to attend in person or via Zoom. If you were unable to attend these workshops, you may contact us for materials. Fall workshop details will be announced next month.

New grant guidelines took effect on July 1, 2020 for all applications submitted through the Steuben County Community Foundation. Please read through these guidelines here before submitting an application this year. Additionally, the 10 community fund grant applications are now available on SCCF's online grants portal. These funds support projects in Angola, Ashley-Hudson, Clear Lake, Fremont, Hamilton, Helmer, Metz, Orland, Pleasant Lake, and Salem Center.

*A letter of inquiry is a brief explanation of your program, often used with larger grant opportunities to determine if it is a potential fit with a funder's interests. SCCF's letter of inquiry process is completed through the same online portal as all other grants.

Fundraisi ng events are a great way to connect with donors , but they often require a lot of work to carry out. This year, we heard from many nonprofits who were forced to re-schedule and cancel fundraising events due to COVID-19. SCCF was asked to compile information about upcoming nonprofit fundraising events in order to help organizations gain awareness of a community schedule and avoid overlap. If your nonprofit is hosting a fundraising event between July-December 2020, please consider adding your information to this form by July 31st. A schedule will be shared in our August Nonprofit Newsletter.