Making an Impact – Stories

Cycle 2 Community Grant Results COVID-19 has changed many aspects of daily life. For local nonprofits, they have stayed focused on their missions and adapted to a different reality while trying to manage losses of income or increased demand for their services. In response to the global pandemic [...]

A Surprise Gift From a Person Known for her Giving Heart Introducing the Ramona L. Jezewski English Fund Ramona L. (Ladewig) Jezewski English lived a lifetime in the Winona area yet traveled widely, leaving her mark not only on people in Winona, but all around the world. Because of [...]

Stronger Together Led by the Laird Norton Family Foundation The Laird Norton enterprise and their partners raised over $1,000,000 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and distributed funds nationally to the Seattle Foundation, Pierce County Connected, Washington Food Fund, and the Winona Community Foundation COVID-19 Relief Fund. “We understand [...]

Connecting Passions to Projects Introducing the Donna Helble Literacy Fund A monetary gift left by a passionate educator and child literacy advocate will impact thousands of Winona County’s youngest residents. Donna Helble was known for her full and benevolent life. Although Donna is no longer with us, she created [...]

The Winona Community Foundation (WCF) awarded eight grants totaling $45,200 to area nonprofit organizations in its first-cycle of 2020 after reviewing 25 qualified applications exceeding $200,000 in requests on March 13. Funds to support the Community Grant program are made possible in part through gifts made through wills from; Ramona [...]

Competitive community grants are a common element of community Foundations. The funds to support these grants come from annual donations, gifts made through a wills and estates, investment returns, and administrative fees. Prior to 2012, community grants were limited to no more than $2,500 per request with an annual [...]