Seventeen Alaska nonprofit groups from Nome to Ketchikan have an additional reason to be thankful this holiday. They are recipients of grants from the Rasmuson Foundation amounting to $9.7 million.
The grants, announced Nov. 26, are part of the foundation's Tier 2 program which awards money for capital projects of more than $25,000, expansion and start-up efforts deemed to have broad significance and "projects of strategic importance or innovative nature."
Award amounts ranged from $1.65 million to the Anchorage-based Foraker Group to provide assistance and training to other nonprofits, to $20,000 to Ketchikan Youth Initiatives to renovate a community youth center. interior renovations of a community youth center. The Ketchikan award, and others, includes a "top-off" provision that can substantially increase the amount of the outright award under certain conditions. Several of the awards are in the form of matching grants, with the foundation agreeing to contribute a sum based on how much other money can be raised for the stated purpose.
Recipients are:
• Affinityfilms, Anchorage, $75,000 for a documentary about Alzheimer's disease.
• Alaska Botanical Garden, Anchorage, $775,000 for new buildings.
• Alaska Native Heritage Center, Anchorage, $299,890 (with a challenge grant) for a strategic initiative.
• Anchorage Rotary Community Services, $25,000 (with a challenge grant) to install raised planters and plant trees on 4th Ave.
• The Foraker Group, Anchorage, $1.65 million over three years for technical assistance, training and services targeting Alaska's nonprofit sector.
• United Way of Anchorage, $250,000 to support Housing Anchorage.
• Chinik Eskimo Community, Golovin, $250,000 to construct a steel building to house search and rescue equipment.
• KNOM Radio Mission, Nome, a matching grant of up to $50,000 to expand the studios and upgrade equipment.
• The Carol H. Brice Family Center, Fairbanks, a matching grant of up to $200,000 to upgrade the air quality and improve the energy efficiency.
• Fairbanks Community Food Bank Service, $85,000 to purchase warehouse loading equipment.
• Fairbanks North Star Borough, a top-off grant of $500,000 for equipment and landscaping at the new North Pole Library, contingent on local contributions of at least $100,000.
• Fairbanks Youth Soccer Association, $75,000 in the form of a challenge grant with a top-off of $375,000 to build two artificial turf fields in the Wilbur Street Complex.
• Big Lake Lions Foundation, $495,000 award for the Big Lake Recreation and Community Center.
• Haines Assisted Living, $400,000 award with challenge grant up to $99,900 to construct a housing complex and provide services to veterans and the broader community.
• Ketchikan Youth Initiatives, $20,000 for construction with a top-off award of $98,300 for interior renovations of a community youth center.
• Organized Village of Kasaan, $450,000, of which $50,000 is a matching grant, to restore the Chief Son-i-Hat Whale House, the last Haida Clan House in Alaska.
• ArtPlace, a statewide collaborative, $1.5 million to promote livable communities through arts and creative placemaking.
In addition to the grants to nonprofit groups, the foundation also announced that it would fund two of its own initiatives, the Pre-Development Program, which provides consulting and technical assistance to nonprofits, and the Sabbatical Program that pays for extended time off for nonprofit workers. The two programs received $900,000 each.
Reach Mike Dunham at mdunham@adn.com or 257-4332.
By MIKE DUNHAM