More than two dozen Island nonprofits are sharing $173,092 in grants awarded Tuesday night by the Permanent Endowment for Martha’s Vineyard.
In addition to its customary grant levels ranging from about $1,000 to $5,000, the endowment has added a new impact grant class of $15,000 to $25,000.
“We received 14 impact grant applications totaling $334,000,” permanent fund executive director Emily Bramhall told a room full of local nonprofit representatives, volunteers and community members at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center in Vineyard Haven.
“That was far exceeding what we had, but we were fascinated to learn the breadth of the need and the way that people could dream big.”
The endowment chose two of the 14 applications to fully fund this year. The Great Pond Foundation is receiving $16,500 to gather data on the biology of Edgartown Great Pond, and the Island Food Pantry now has $25,000 with which to buy a refrigerated truck to bring fresh and frozen produce and other foods from the mainland to the Vineyard.
“We estimate that one in 11 Vineyard residents is food-insecure,” said food pantry executive director Kayte Morris. “Last month, we had 900 people that we reached. We’re bringing 4,000 pounds of food [to the Island] every week. . . that’s over 200,000 pounds of food a year, and it’s being transported in a non-refrigerated box truck.”
The food pantry will share the truck with other Island food charities, such as St. Augustine’s Church in Vineyard Haven, Ms. Morris said.
The impact grant announcements came at the end of a fast-paced ceremony in which Ms. Bramhall introduced speakers from each of the 28 nonprofit groups receiving grants. The endowment distributed $24,950 for the arts, not only to established arts nonprofits but also to Grace Episcopal Church for its community Messiah sing next month.
Health grants totaling $24,880 went to such causes as Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard and Windemere Nursing and Rehabilitation, but also to Featherstone Center for the Arts to support the memory support group that meets there weekly.
The $16,500 impact grant for the Great Pond Foundation was part of $41,662 in environmental grants to six organizations including Biodiversity Works, for a study on bats, and the Friends of Sengekontacket for a summer internship program.
Community grants totaled $81,600, including the $25,000 food pantry truck and grants to 10 other organizations.
Speaking in Wôpanâak, Durwood Vanderhoop of the Aquinnah Cultural Center greeted the audience before switching to English to thank the permanent foundation for funding the center’s Wampanoag history and cultural outreach. The grant will enable the center to bring its programming to schools in the winter months, when the unheated cultural center is closed, Mr. Vanderhoop said.
Founded in 1982 with a $60,000 bequest, the Permanent Endowment for Martha’s Vineyard now manages more than 50 funds totaling more than $12 million, and has distributed nearly $8 million to local causes. For more information, the website is endowmv.org.
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