2020 Local Impact Grant Recipients
Through Pi Beta Phi Foundation’s Local Impact Grants program, Pi Phis can strengthen the future of their communities by supporting literacy programs close to home. As Pi Phi chapters and alumnae clubs fundraise for The Literacy Fund, the Local Impact Grants program allows them to nominate 25% of their gifts to a nonprofit organization with a mission or special program focused on literacy. Our Foundation then matches that 25%, dollar for dollar.
During the 2020 calendar year, our Foundation awarded $53,583.36 in Local Impact Grants to 31 organizations nominated by Pi Phi chapters and clubs. While the total amount awarded is lower than previous years, the decrease reflects the fundraising challenges our chapters and clubs experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the program’s launch in 2013, Pi Phis have provided a total of $684,102.58 in Local Impact Grants to organizations across North America.
“The Local Impact Grants program was specifically created to help our members support Pi Phi’s literacy work and literacy-focused organizations within their local communities,” says Pi Beta Phi Foundation Director of Operations and Programs Betsy West McCune, Missouri Alpha. “By nominating local organizations to receive grants, our members are growing and expanding Pi Phi’s impact in innovative ways.”
The Chicago Literacy Alliance (CLA), a collective of more than 100 organizations advancing literacy within the Chicago community, received a Local Impact Grant through a nomination from the Illinois Kappa Chapter at the University of Chicago. Assistant Director of Development Julie Lanham says the funds from the grant will directly support CLA’s programs and member initiative, including the alliance’s new Literacy Equity Initiative. “Our Chicago Community Confabs create opportunities for authentic connection and a deeper understanding between CLA members and communities facing barriers to literacy resources,” she says. “As a follow-up to Chicago Community Confabs, the CLA is hosting virtual Action Group sessions. These Action Groups are an opportunity for Alliance members and Community members to dive deep into discussion and action planning that address identified needs through collaborative community-centered design.”
The Sandhills, North Carolina, Alumnae Club nominated the Northern Moore Family Resource Center (NMRFC) in nearby Robbins, North Carolina, to receive a Local Impact Grant. Texas Beta Clare Varn Ruggles is a member of the Sandhills club and has served as Director of the NMFRC for 15 years. She is grateful for the support her organization has received from our Foundation in recent years, including Local Impact Grants and FDS500 grants. Support from our Foundation even helped open NMFRC’s preschool. “Northern Moore County is largely rural and poor, with a significant Spanish-speaking population,” Clare says. “We needed to increase access to early childhood learning in the area, and the grant we received from the Foundation got our school off the ground.”
Thank you to the Pi Beta Phi alumnae clubs and chapters that nominated organizations to receive Local Impact Grants — and congratulations to the grant recipients! To learn more about the ways Pi Beta Phi Foundation supports Pi Phi’s commitment to literacy, visit pibetaphi.org/foundation.