Cobb Community Foundation, United Way award 5 Network for Good Jumpstart grants

Marietta Daily Journal, Ga.
·2 min read

Jan. 10—The Cobb Community Foundation, in conjunction with United Way of Greater Atlanta, announced that five Network for Good Jumpstart capacity-building grants of $5,000 each have been awarded to Loving Arms Cancer Outreach, Revved Up Kids, The STEAM Generation, VISIONful Communities and BUY—Cobb.

These grants will provide a 12-month training program to immediately build their fundraising capacity, diversity revenue, and sustain and grow their programs.

These agencies were selected as a result of a carefully planned approach to meet human service needs in Cobb County identified by an in-depth study conducted in 2019 through CCF. The data collected was used to create a heat map that shows where assistance should be targeted and the nonprofits currently operating in the area. Hyper local nonprofits were then invited to learn more about the Jumpstart program, and the interested teams underwent assessments for readiness in the rigorous program.

"This grant program is exciting because we are using a very intentional approach to meeting the needs identified through the recent community assessment," said Catherine Gankofskie, CCF. "What we learned is that it is extremely important that help is offered through nonprofits whose programming takes place inside these neighborhoods. It has been shown that even great programs operating outside of these neighborhoods are not as effective because transportation is a barrier to participation. Strengthening these nonprofits to serve their clients better inside the neighborhood is going to make a difference in their success."

Alongside CCF's investment of $25,000 made possible by Corporate Community Champion Liberty Furniture, United Way is contributing $30,000 for additional capacity-building efforts.

"While this first investment focused on financial sustainability, the next will be broader in scope," said Nicole Lawson, United Way. "Those plans will be announced as we have the program finalized."

The Jumpstart program has been proven successful in other communities served by the United Way. For this reason, CCF and United Way have now partnered together to bring the program to Cobb.

For more information, visit www.cobbfoundation.org.