Giving nonprofits hope and support to continue changing West Virginia communities
Below are a few of our recently funded projects: If you’re interested in having your project highlighted here, please contact us.
Mountaineer Food Bank
Mountaineer Food Bank (MFB), a member of Feeding America, is the largest emergency food provider in the state of West Virginia serving families, children, seniors, and individuals at risk of hunger. MFB is centrally located in Gassaway, but provides food and other household items to 48 of the 55 counties in West Virginia. In the last year, MFB and their feeding network distributed 20.7 million pounds of food to people in need. To actively fight hunger, Mountaineer Food Bank has a variety of feeding programs, which include food pantries, mobile food pantries, back pack programs, school food pantries, soup kitchens, summer feeding, CSFP (senior food boxes), and the Veterans Table feeding program. With the help of generous donors, volunteers, and partners MFB is able to feed West Virginia’s hungry and provide programs that help individuals, families, and communities thrive. For more information on Mountaineer Food Bank or how you can get involved please visit www.mountaineerfoodbank.org.
Nonprofits LEAD
Nonprofits LEAD helps build a strong, sustainable nonprofit community in the Mid-Ohio Valley in which every organization can achieve its mission. Nonprofits LEAD supports the nonprofit sector in the Mid-Ohio Valley through delivering training and professional development programs that address the diverse capacity needs of nonprofit organizations and leaders across the region. With over 321 participants representing 146 diverse nonprofit organizations, Nonprofits LEAD works to make nonprofit organizations in the Mid-Ohio Valley stronger and better able to use their resources effectively to create positive community change. In the past year, 98% of Participants in Nonprofits LEAD said that the information presented in the program they attended would help their organization achieve its mission.
The McDonough Foundation is a primary long-term supporter of Nonprofits LEAD, working as part of a team of funders committed to investing grant funds to keep a variety of innovative high-quality capacity building programs affordable and geographically accessible to all local organizations. The McDonough Foundation also serves as a member of the Nonprofits LEAD Advisory Council, providing continual input as a key stakeholder to guide Nonprofits LEAD in developing effective programs to address changing needs of local organizations. Moreover, the McDonough Foundation is a leader locally in promoting the importance of capacity-building work as a priority for all nonprofits through both education and investment.
Tucker Community Foundation
Tucker Community Foundation is a tax exempt public charity that manages and administers charitable donations intended for local use. The organization started in Tucker County in 1989 and has expanded to include Barbour, Grant, Mineral, Preston, Pocahontas, Randolph and Tucker counties in West Virginia and Garrett County, Maryland in its service area.
Tucker Community Foundation serves as a catalyst for collaborative projects throughout the region. Recent examples include the establishment of a Potomac Highlands Volunteer Center, a boulder park in Davis, W.Va., an entrepreneur pitch contest, a youth a campaign to address school attendance, a thriving food and farm initiative and retail market, and a community enhancement project. All of these projects generated significant partner support from other stakeholders in the community. The Tucker Community Foundation also provided seed funding for a youth philanthropy initiative and the establishment of Woodland Community Lenders in Elkins, the first Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI) in this region.
Working with the Business Development Assistance Committee of the Foundation, Woodlands Community Lenders has provided technical assistance and support to more than 100 startup and existing businesses in the region. In November 2017 TCF announced a joint venture with Davis Trust Co. and Citizens Bank of WV to create a new loan fund for new and growing small businesses in the region. To date the financing efforts through Woodlands has created more than 100 jobs.
