The Bunker Hill Associates have introduced a new grant application process this month in order to make more of an impact with larger grant awards, focusing on fewer organizations with its gifts.
President Kim Mahoney and Secretary John Taglilatella rolled out the changes this week, saying they would have a Grant Committee meeting on Sept. 24 at 6 p.m. in the Knights of Columbus building where applications will be available for local organizations, and a five-minute presentation will requested from the organization applying.
Both said they will now give four, $4,000 grants to community organizations serving local youth. To be eligible now, a non-profit or group must be located in Charlestown with 60 percent of the organization residing in Charlestown. Organizations now must address a need address a program need that benefits and services the youth of Charlestown. They also have to be an official non-profit or have the ability to accept and expend grant funds.
“We’ve been doing this for 33 years and we’re trying to have more of an impact and more accountability with the grant money,” said Taglilatella.
Said Mahoney, “Our fundraising efforts are a little different and have been very successful than they have been in my opinion. From that, we’re seeing upwards of $40,000 raised this year. That’s a testament to the hard work of the Bunker Hill Associates and the generosity of the people who support us. We’re very proud of the work we’ve done in the past. Our goal is to continue to work hard and support the neighborhood. That’s the mission of the Associates really.”
Mahoney said they’ve given around $420,000 in grants over the 33 years that the Associates have been organized.
Taglilatella said they would also be offering, also on Sept. 24, the ability to apply for mini-grants of $2,000 or less. The was no cap to the number of those grants that will be dispersed.
Organizations seeking the $2,000 grants will also have to be present on Sept. 24 and also have to give a short presentation.
“These are for organizations that don’t need $4,000, but we want to fund their smaller program,” he said. “This was the wishes of the membership and so we added that to it.”
These grants will be need-based, and an example is a program funded in previous years at the Charlestown Library.
The second part of the process will be the returning of grant applications to the Grant Committee on Oct. 22, at 6 p.m., in the Knights Hall. At that meeting, the groups will be asked to turn in their applications, which they would have received on Sept. 24, and also to make a 10-minute presentation addressing the program need and service to the youth of Charlestown.
The Grant Committee will take all of the applications under consideration that night after being signed off, and decisions will be make at the end of October.
Mahoney said the old process worked with a member sponsoring a grant application, and then there were so many applicants that the pool of money shrank. With the new process, they will be able to impact local programs in a more meaningful way.
“It’s going to be more of an impact on a smaller group of non-profits,” she said. “We also will continue to fund many of the non-profits we’ve funded through the years in addition to this grant process. We want to help the community, and ‘no’ isn’t in our vocabulary very often. We always try to make things work.”
The main fundraising activities for the Associates are the Bunker Hill Breakfast, Bunker Hill Family Feud, the $10,000 drawing, the Bunker Hill Ad Book and the Trivia Night.