28 Mar Mastermind Categories and their Impact on Grantmaking
Mastermind Grant recipients being presented their grants at MCCF’s Philanthropist of the Year event in Nov.
We’ve mentioned the surveys and that they can impact the grantmaking of the Foundation. Now that the surveys are open again, we thought it would be interesting to show how we take community priorities and categorize them for grantmaking.
In general, the words that we found are general enough to fit most of our grantmaking are health, placemaking, economy and people;
Placemaking: When we think of placemaking, we think of the community we live in and keeping or creating vibrant places within them. Essentially crafting our communities as places that people want to come to and continue to live in. Looking through the survey data that was submitted last year, the top priority for the entire county was the removal/renovation of run-down properties, along with the improvement of public infrastructure. These two priorities fit under the placemaking category.
Health: Health can be as simple as the access of healthcare. We even go as far as placing home availability, childcare and the access of mental health resources under this category. These can all potentially impact community members and their lifestyles leading to less healthy citizens. Affordable housing and childcare were pointed to as top priorities in McPherson County.
Economy: This category encapsulates everything that has to deal with the commerce in McPherson County including the success/variety of businesses and availability of well paying jobs. Attracting new businesses was a top priority county wide, but was in particular the top priority for multiple of our communities.
People: The people are the center of McPherson County, without us it would be a piece of very flat and windy prairie. The people category concerns the connection of citizens and engagement in their respective communities along with the development of leaders. The top priority of this category was the civic engagement of the students in our communities along with developing community pride.
McPherson Counties top priorities:
#1 (Placemaking) Remove/renovate run-down properties
#2 (Placemaking) Improve public infrastructure
#3 (Health) Expand access to quality and affordable housing
#4 (Health) Expand access to quality and affordable childcare support services
#5 (Economy) Attract new businesses
The Foundation sees all these priorities as solvable with the collaboration of the right parties and all these data points and more were presented to community leaders last July. For example, when it comes to childcare in McPherson County, MCCF has been working closely with childcare providers to secure funding for capital projects and staffing including and had formed the McPherson County Childcare taskforce prior to Mastermind McPherson County last year.
With the Mastermind McPherson County survey data, the foundation was able to release over $60,000 in funding towards grants in these categories:
(Health) McPherson County Health Department – McPherson County Underserved Health Services Program – $10,000
(Placemaking/Health) Central Kansas Conservancy – Meadowlark Trail: McPherson to Lindsborg – $5,000
(Health) NAMI Kansas Inc. – “You Are Not Alone” Mental Health Support to McPherson, KS – $6,980
(People) Parents and Teachers Together (PATT) – Parent Involvement with Families at Moundridge Elementary School – $1,000
(People) McPherson Coalition for Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity – Leadership Literacy Library – $1,830
(People) McPherson Chamber of Commerce – Connecting Volunteers for Positive Impact -$3,360
(Placemaking) McPherson Housing Coalition – McPherson Count Housing Study – $12,000
(Placemaking) Canton 2030 – Beautify Downtown Canton – $9,700
(Placemaking) Marquette Chamber of Commerce – Marquette Main Thoroughfare Beautification – $8,750
(Placemaking) The Inman Chamber of Commerce Inc – Inman Main Street Banners – $4,500
We’ve already seen some information back from these grants about progress and we will be sharing videos discussing their impact on each community. Check out our video from last week covering the grant given to the Underserved Health Program here. Want more information on the Mastermind McPherson County initiative or see the results for every community? Click here!