The Dayton Foundation reports a record 367 new charitable funds and nearly $121 million in grants for its fiscal year
The Ohio community foundation and its fund holders awarded about as much in grants as the year before. Its next competitive deadlines for nonprofits in the Dayton region are Oct. 2, Nov. 12 and Dec. 1.
Dayton. The Dayton Foundation, the community foundation of the Dayton, Ohio, region, said on Sept. 14 that 367 new charitable funds were set up with it in the fiscal year that ended June 30, the most it has added in a single year. Together, the foundation and the holders of its funds awarded nearly $121 million in grants.
Donors put $120 million into its funds during the year, the second-highest amount in the foundation's 105-year history, and it manages assets of more than $1.4 billion. Its president, Michael M. Parks, wrote in August that the new funds, a count that includes its Charitable Checking Accounts, were nearly 18 percent more than the year before.
Grants close to the year before
The grant total is more than double what the foundation awarded five years ago, in its centennial year of 2021, the announcement said. It is close to recent years: the foundation's financial page lists $120 million in grants for the 2025 fiscal year and $124.1 million for 2023.
Most of that money goes where fund holders advise. The foundation's grants page says the majority of its grants are advised by fund holders, and that its competitive grants come from donors who placed few or no restrictions on their funds, so that its volunteer Grants Committee and Governing Board can decide where the need is greatest. Mr. Parks wrote that more donors had set up unrestricted or lightly restricted funds, letting nonprofits meet more local needs.
Deadlines for Dayton-area nonprofits
Discretionary grants, for new projects or for special efforts of established nonprofits, are awarded three times a year to 501(c)(3) organizations whose programs are mainly in Montgomery, Miami, Greene, Darke, Preble and northern Warren counties. A request must be more than $7,500 and no more than $75,000, and for a project costing less than $300,000 it may not exceed 25 percent of the cost. The next applications are due Oct. 2 at 4 p.m.
Basic Human Needs Grants, for organizations that focus on basic needs such as food, shelter, health care and clothing, are awarded quarterly, and the next deadline is Nov. 12. Greenlight Grants of $500 to $7,500, for special projects, program expansions, capital improvements or capacity building, are also awarded quarterly; the next round closes Dec. 1, and applicants hear within two weeks of the deadline.
The foundation has awarded nearly 529,000 grants totaling $1.6 billion since its founding in 1921, it said.
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