La Crescent Community Foundation General Grants

The La Crescent Community Foundation, established in 1995, aims to enhance the quality of life in the La Crescent area through targeted grants. It supports various community projects, including park improvements and educational initiatives, while prioritizing organizations that uphold non-discrimination policies. The Foundation's grants focus on local needs, with a preference for applications from schools and local government agencies. Recent efforts include funding for a new event center, demonstrating a commitment to community development.

About The La Crescent Community Foundation
In 1995, the City of La Crescent received several generous donations in honor of city councilman, Frank Kistler. Based on donor wishes, the city used the funds to support community projects. A committee of local citizens was formed by the City Council to manage and distribute the donations. That committee became the La Crescent Community Foundation, which is a 501(c)(3) organization.
Since then, the La Crescent Community Foundation has funded a number of efforts to benefit the community, and continues its mission today through endowments and trusts from funds raised to provide grants to a number of initiatives.
Grants - Our Projects
The La Crescent Community Foundation's first project was to assist the city in securing 32-acres of land along Jonathan Lane for creating Old Hickory Park. The group not only guaranteed funds for purchasing the land, but also worked with the Lions Club and the Rotary Club to secure a grant from the Department of Natural Resources which funded the entire purchase of the 32-acres of land.
The La Crescent Community Foundation has supported many other local projects including a new pool table for the Boys & Girls Club, materials for the gazebo at Vetch Park, improvements at the A.B.L.E. facilities in La Crescent, a founding and continuing sponsorship of the La Crescent FIRST Robotics High School Program, and funding towards the playground equipment at Old Hickory Park.
We continue to fund a variety of other projects and needs as the community continues to development services, programs, events and initiatives aimed at improving the quality of life for people in the La Crescent area. Recent projects have included establishing a fund to support community-wide efforts to build an event center within La Crescent.
General Fund Grant Policy
We have targeted what we fund. Those statements are paraphrased as follows:
The purpose of the La Crescent Community Foundation, Inc. is to support charitable, recreational, scientific, literary, cultural, or educational purposes within the La Crescent area. Grants will be used for local improvement projects including, but not limited to, city beautification, improvement of the park system and local recreational areas, and other projects in response to community needs.

Eligibility

The La Crescent Community Foundation supports programs and organizations that do not discriminate in their employment practices, volunteer opportunities or delivery of programs and services on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, ancestry, age, medical condition, disability, veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by law.

Ineligibility

For the General Fund, we will avoid granting to organizations or projects outside of our focus area or that fall in the following list:Programs outside of the greater La Crescent areaReligious or private organizationsVeterans fraternal or other fraternal organizationsPolitical parties or organizations Endowment campaignsDisease-specific programs or organizationsFund raising benefitsMulti-year commitmentsOn-going operating expensesTravel for individuals or groups