July 2026
WHERE GIVING MEETS COMMUNITY
Insights on local generosity, nonprofit work, and the needs shaping our region.
By Katie Simpson, Community Giving Foundation
When people think about grantmaking, they often picture the final step: a nonprofit receiving funding to support a program, expand services, or meet an urgent need. While those moments are certainly worth celebrating, they represent only a small part of the story.
The most important work often begins long before a grant application is submitted.
At Community Giving Foundation, we believe good grantmaking starts with listening. That means building relationships with nonprofit leaders, community partners, donors, and local residents. It means asking questions, studying trends, and looking beyond today’s challenges to understand what will strengthen our region for years to come.
Listening also means paying attention to the data.
Last year, the Foundation worked with nonprofit and community partners to identify the region’s top needs through community assessments and local data. Those conversations and findings help guide our work—not by limiting what we fund, but by ensuring we’re making informed decisions about where charitable dollars can have the greatest impact. (See the details at csgiving.org/data.)
As a result, 87% of our nearly $1.4 million in competitive grants awarded so far in 2026 are supporting one or more of the region’s identified top needs.
Of course, community needs are complex. Affordable housing, access to healthcare, childcare, food insecurity, transportation, mental health, and many other needs are all deeply connected. A family can’t thrive by solving just one challenge, and neither can a community.
That’s why our grantmaking strategy looks beyond individual projects. Every grant contributes to a broader picture of community well-being, whether it supports basic needs, health and wellness, youth and education, culture and community interests, or community and economic development. Together, these investments reflect our commitment to strengthening the many pieces that help communities flourish.
Sometimes that looks like funding a new program. Other times, it’s helping an organization expand an existing service, reach more people, or respond to an emerging challenge. Here are just a few recent examples from across the region of what this support can look like:
- A grant helped Child Hunger Outreach Partners tackle food insecurity in Columbia County at every stage of life, from weekend meals for students, school pantries for teens, and home deliveries for seniors.
- Funding expanded access to no-cost primary and preventive healthcare through A Community Clinic, ensuring low income and uninsured residents across the Susquehanna Valley can receive the care they need.
- Another grant supported Union-Snyder Community Action Agency’s Transportation Assistance Program, helping individuals and families overcome a critical barrier to access work, medical appointments, grocery stores, and other essential services.
- Funding for The Gate House helped guide individuals and families experiencing homelessness toward long-term stability through transitional housing, case management, and life-skills support that set them up for a future of thriving.
- A grant expanded affordable dental care by helping The Dental Health Clinic grow their Oral Health Project, increasing access for patients in Berwick and surrounding areas who face barriers and might otherwise forgo essential treatment.
- Another grant helped the Line Mountain Nourishing Eagles to Soar Weekend Backpack Food Program provide weekend meals for students facing food insecurity outside of school—reducing hunger and socioeconomic stressors and improving overall wellness and school performance.
One grant may not solve a regional or community issue on its own. But when you step back and look across dozens of grants, a much bigger story begins to emerge. Addressing one challenge creates ripple effects through investments in healthier families, stronger nonprofits, vibrant communities, and opportunities that create lasting change.
That’s one of the unique strengths of collective community giving. Individual donors each have causes they care deeply about. Together, their generosity creates the flexibility to respond to the needs that matter most today, and the needs we may not yet see coming tomorrow.
The Foundation’s grantmaking isn’t simply about reviewing applications or distributing dollars. It’s about connecting generosity with opportunity, informed by the voices of the communities we serve. Every conversation, every partnership, every data point helps us better understand where support is needed and how charitable resources can make the greatest difference.
The grants we celebrate today are more than individual success stories. They are chapters in a larger story of regional philanthropy as we work together to build a stronger future for our communities.