foundations joining forces

Regional funders have joined together to create NKY Funders’ Grants, an ongoing program that convenes foundations around grant opportunities for nonprofits that serve Northern Kentucky. Current participating funders include: Horizon Community Funds of Northern Kentucky, the Butler Foundation, Greater Cincinnati Foundation, the R.C. Durr Foundation, and the Elsa Heisel Sule Foundation.

In 2018 and 2019, this funders coalition presented the NKY Funders’ Grants Pitch Competition, which engaged nonprofit finalists in pitching their mission and story to over 200 community members for grant awards.

In 2020, the R.C. Durr Foundation and Horizon Community Funds partnered together with a pilot of the Jumpstart Program, a charitable initiative of Network for Good. The Jumpstart Program provides nonprofit organizations with twelve months of one-on-one coaching for nonprofit partners to improve their individual fundraising, a key component of strengthening organizational capacity. After launching a needs assessment with Northern Kentucky-serving nonprofits, five nonprofits were selected based on the Jumpstart’s qualification analysis to participate in the first cohort of the program in Northern Kentucky. The results were clear: an investment of $25,000 yielded $563,242 in net new nonprofit impact!

The NKY Funders group agreed to move forward to sponsor an additional cohort of fifteen nonprofit organizations in 2021, and fifteen new nonprofit organizations were recently selected in 2023 for another round of the Jumpstart program.

Our collective funders will continue to evaluate opportunities for nonprofit capacity building as they emerge. Together, we are building a stronger and more vibrant Northern Kentucky region.