January 2026
Where Giving Meets Community
Insights on local generosity, nonprofit work, and the needs shaping our region.
By Katie Simpson, Community Giving Foundation
There is power in local giving. At the Community Giving Foundation, we see this every day as we monitor community needs, facilitate personalized giving plans, and champion our nonprofit partners. This deep understanding of local challenges and opportunities and our commitment to steward generosity for lasting impact has brought us many stories and valuable insights, and we want to share them with you. We hope this monthly column will pull back the curtain on how local giving works, why nonprofits are essential, and how our collective generosity can create lasting impact when we understand what our community needs most.
For nonprofits across our region, January is one of the busiest months of the year. While many of us are easing into the new year, nonprofit leaders and staff haven’t slowed down—they’re completing grant applications, collecting impact data, building program budgets, and managing fundraising expectations. They’re doing this work not because it’s easy, but because it’s essential. The funding they receive supports countless programs and services in the community, helping to ensure our neighbors can survive and, hopefully, thrive.
At the Foundation, January marks our largest competitive grant round, which closes on Jan. 31st. In this round alone, we are preparing to distribute nearly $1 million back into our region. But it’s important to understand what that process looks like and the commitment behind it.
Nonprofits spend dozens of hours preparing thoughtful, detailed grant applications. They assess client needs, measure outcomes, and articulate how limited dollars can create the greatest good. We know that our grant round is only one piece of a much larger funding puzzle. At the same time, nonprofits are applying for federal and state funding, other private foundation opportunities, corporate support, and individual donations—all while continuing to deliver programs and services every day.
Recognizing this, the Foundation has worked hard to improve our grantmaking process over the last two years. We’ve streamlined applications and aligned questions with local needs and opportunities for collaboration. Our goal is to be a true partner to nonprofits, not just a funder, by respecting their time, expertise, and essential role.
Foundation grants are reviewed by advisory boards of local leaders and our staff, all of whom bring deep local knowledge and lived experience to the table. Together, we evaluate proposals through a data-driven lens of our region’s most pressing needs. (More on those needs at csgiving.org/data.) This approach helps ensure funding decisions are maximizing impact—for our nonprofit partners and the communities they serve.
And yet, even with our careful stewardship and nearly $100 million in assets built through generations of local generosity, the truth remains: there is never enough to meet every need. Year after year, the requests we receive far exceed the dollars available. That gap isn’t a failure—it’s a reflection of both the scale of need and the deep trust nonprofits place in local giving as they tirelessly respond through mission-driven programs and services.
When we understand the essential role nonprofits play and the importance of local giving to strengthen local solutions, we’re more likely to engage, give, and lead. Strong communities don’t happen by accident. They’re built—together.