REXBURG--Since 1988, the Idaho Community Foundation has been serving the people of Idaho with building up and funding charities and helping nonprofits get their start. The organization started with a man named John Ferry, who became the president of Boise Cascade as building materials company, got several people together to help charities gain funding and to help the people around them. Now, over 30 years later, they have granted over $200 million and are on the way $300 million.
“There is the Idaho Food Bank, which throughout the state provides, you know, food assistance to people who are struggling with food insecurity,” Rich Ballou, philanthropic advisor for the eastern Idaho chapter said. “The main philanthropic advisor for Eastern Idaho. “We help different centers for domestic violence, like right here in Rexburg, there's the Family Crisis Center, which has received grants from us."
According to him, Idaho is in the lowest percentile for charitable giving which can bring with it some key issues. He and other volunteers at the foundation want to reverse that so a culture of philanthropy and support to Idaho's communities grows. They also provide workshops to help people manage nonprofits better. People have often said that they are a best kept secret, but they want to change that.
“Every year on June 15th, we invite any nonprofit in East Idaho to apply for a grant from a fund called the Forever Idaho Fund, which is money that people who say, you know, we don't know where we want our money to go,” Ballou said. “Nonprofits can apply for grants from this pool of money, and then we have a group of volunteers who are community leaders representing the different counties in East Idaho who review all these applications and then make decisions about which one should get funded and for how much.”
They are available to help develop grants for new charities and are looking for more people to share their purpose and do more with them. You can contact them at https://www.idahocf.org/ and learn more about their projects and how to get started.