What Can You Do With $500?

Muskegon, MI: The Community Foundation for Muskegon County (CFMC) wants to know what YOU can do with $500 to make your corner of Muskegon County a little more lovable. The Foundation is, once again, launching its successful “Love Your Community” mini-grant program with an invitation to the community to share their ideas and declare their love for Muskegon.

Inspired by author and urban consultant Peter Kageyama and his message encouraging citizens to show their love for their community, the Foundation will award $500 mini-grants to projects that demonstrate and share the love for Muskegon. Examples of past Love Your Community grant contest winners include Movies on the Beach, a Play It Forward benefit concert for the Snurfer Sculpture, Portraits of White Lake photography exhibit, Lakeside Community Pocket Park, and many more.

Unlike CFMC’s traditional grants, Love Your Community mini-grants are open to anyone, including individuals and businesses as well as nonprofits. Project ideas must be for the benefit of Muskegon County and its residents, whether for a specific neighborhood, community or the county as a whole; they are not for personal or business benefit.

Contest guidelines and a brief application form are available at CFMC’s website www.cffmc.org/blog and at www.facebook.com/cffmc. Email the application, including a picture, sketch, or graphic and a 300 character description, by 5 p.m. on September 25, 2015 to grants@cffmc.org.

On October 1, ideas will be posted on the Foundation’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/cffmc) and open for community voting. The five projects that have the most “likes” from community members at noon on Thursday, October 15, will receive up to $500 to turn their ideas into reality. Winning applicants will be asked to provide a more detailed one-page project description and a budget before funds are released. As with all of Foundation grants, decisions are subject to Foundation Board of Trustees’ approval.

For more information, applicants are encouraged to call the Foundation office at (231) 722-4538.