Community organizations and nonprofits dedicated to improving their communities can receive up to $100,000 in grants through Gannett’s annual fundraising program.
Applications opened June 1 for the 2022 A Community Thrives program, a $2 million initiative sponsored by Gannett, which owns Delaware Online/The News Journal.
Several national grants of up to $100,000 and dozens of local grants starting at $2,500 will be awarded. To be eligible, nonprofits must first participate in an online crowdsourcing campaign and raise a minimum of $3,000.
Last year, Delaware’s Waggies by Maggie & Friends, a dog biscuit business that hires only employees with intellectual disabilities, was awarded a $25,000 grant through the program. It was selected as one of 16 national grantees.
Mary Ann Nolan and Leigh Corrigan founded Waggies by Maggie & Friends in 2007 to provide employment for their daughters, who were both 21-year-old women with intellectual disabilities.
The nonprofit started with three bakers, first selling to Burns & McBride, a longtime Delaware HVAC company, which gave treats out to its customers. It has grown to employ about a dozen.
The ingredients for the biscuits are simple, Nolan said last year. Peanut butter, milk, flour and “tons of love.”
Nolan and Corrigan planned to use the money to handle the rising minimum wage in Delaware and the increase in the cost of ingredients.
“We don’t want to have to raise our prices because who wants to pay more than $7 for dog bones?” Nolan said.
The Gannett Foundation last year awarded grants to four other Delaware organizations: Bethel AME Church ($5,000), Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council ($5,000), Boardwalk Buddy Walk Fund ($2,500) and Practice Without Pressure ($2,500).
Nonprofits can submit their grant applications from 12 p.m. on June 1 to 9 p.m. on June 30 at acommunitythrives.mightycause.com. The fundraising period will run from July 18 to Aug. 12, then the Gannett Foundation will evaluate eligible grant applicants. The grant recipients are tentatively scheduled to be announced on Oct. 5.
To learn more about the A Community Thrives program, go to gannettfoundation.org/act.
Contact Brandon Holveck at bholveck@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @holveck_brandon.
