Grantmaking is a big part of what the Blue River Community Foundation does. This helps us to serve as an integrating force throughout Shelby County, helping our residents create a viable and vibrant community in which all people can thrive.

Since our inception in 1988, BRCF's assets have grown from $500,000 to more than $17 million in over 180 funds, allowing us to award more than $6.5 million in grants to date.

Our grantmaking process is driven and informed by rich community knowledge, relying on the contributions of staff, board members and a broad and diverse group of community volunteers.

Each year, the Foundation awards grants to nonprofit organizations and charitable endeavors in several different ways -

• Unrestricted Grants - These grants come from a collection of funds, such as our large Community Fund and from several named Family Funds, which allow the Foundation to decide where the money is most needed in the community. Unrestricted grants are used to support long-term solutions for community issues, respond quickly to emergencies and to meet changing social, cultural, educational or environmental needs in our local communities. These funds can address a broad range of issues and keep the donor's gift from becoming outdated.
• Field of Interest Grants - These grants are made from funds where the donor designated one or more general areas of interest, such as education, youth, beautification, etc. Scholarship funds would be a good example of a field of interest fund.
• Requests for field of interest funds (besides scholarship funds) are accepted during the regular grant cycles for our community competitive grants.
• Donor Advised Grants - These grants are made based on recommendations of the donor advisor(s) to the fund. A family may sponsor one of these funds as a way of teaching their children the act of giving by allowing them participate in the selection process to award the grant. It can also be used for companies to meet their charitable goals.
• None of our donor advised funds currently accept unsolicited grant requests.
• Designated Grants - These grants are made from funds where the donor has specified one or more nonprofit organizations to receive the annual payout from the growth of the fund. If the specified nonprofit ceases operations, the Foundation is legally authorized to select an alternate beneficiary to continue to fulfill the donor's charitable intent.
• Agency Endowment Grants - These grants are annual payouts from the growth of funds that nonprofits have set aside in an endowment to be administered by the BRCF. The nonprofit thereby can grow its assets and ensure operating dollars for years to come, while they focus on their mission of service to the community. The agency benefits because our Board of Directors provides strong investment oversight and staff provides administrative services for very low cost.
• Special Project Grants - These grants are made from nonpermanent funds that have been given for a specific project. They may be grant monies from another foundation that are to be administered by the Blue River Community Foundation on behalf of a nonprofit, such as the 4Community Project. Or they can be a collection of donations from the community for a special event, such as Shelby County Reads. This is a limited service the Foundation provides in special situations to help further a vital project or cause.
• If you have a project that you think fits this area and would like to discuss it with us, please call the Foundation office at (317) 392.7955 and talk to Lynne Ensminger.