Best Elliott County Grants for Nonprofits in Kentucky

Kentucky Department of Tourism

The Kentucky Department of Tourism is an agency within the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, which promotes the Commonwealth as a travel destination

The Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet (TAH) is dedicated to making Kentucky a welcoming place for everyone to visit, with a focus on tourism, the arts and sharing the commonwealth's unique heritage.​ TAH serves as Kentucky's top tourism agency, and collaborates with local tourism partners to coordinate tourism, arts and heritage efforts through legislation, tourism development and marketing outreach.

Regional Marketing and Matching Funds Program

The Matching Funds Program provides local non-profit tourism organizations with financial assistance to promote tourism in their areas. The program is administered by KDT staff in accordance with 300 KAR 1:010, Regional Marketing and Matching Funds Program.

Specific projects eligible for reimbursement include:

• Tourism publications, Videos, CDs and DVDs
• Media advertisements
• Billboards and Signage
• Brochure Distribution Services
• Consumer travel show expenses
• Group tour marketplace expenses
• Meeting/Convention & Sports marketing Trade Shows and Expo expenses
• Media Press Kits
• Sponsorship of Tourism Trade Shows and Events
• Bid Fees to Assist in Bringing Events to the State
• Web Site design expenses

U.S. Civil Society Microgrants

We seek to support projects that engage Pulitzer Center journalism to amplify the voices of affected communities, foster public debate, and drive meaningful audience engagement with our focus areas.

Audience engagement has been at the core of the Pulitzer Center’s work since its founding in 2006. In addition to grants and fellowships that facilitate breakthrough journalism, we support initiatives that connect the reporting to the audiences that need it the most. Our goal is pursuing real-world impact: engaging and mobilizing communities, increasing understanding and connection, and influencing decisions locally and globally. 

This microgrant aims to support civil society organizations and groups in the United States to utilize Pulitzer Center-supported reporting as part of projects that contribute to a more informed and empowered community.

 For this grant cycle, we are seeking grant proposals for civic engagement projects to be completed by early December 2026 that focus on one of the following issues:

• Climate and the environment, with a focus on U.S fisheries and fishing communities or climate and labor
• Information and Artificial Intelligence
• Global health, with specific focus on mental well-being or connections to the Global South

The objective is to use Pulitzer Center-supported journalism as the inspiration for the projects supported by this civil society microgrant. By leveraging this reporting, we expect to build projects that amplify the voices of affected communities, foster public debate, and drive meaningful audience engagement that will lead to impactful conversations in communities in the U.S. and beyond.

Grants range from US$2,000 to US$4,000. Project proposals can support existing activities or support the launch of new activities. 

Context and Background

The Commonwealth of Kentucky has been awarded funding through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Rural Health Transformation Fund (RHTF). This investment will empower Kentucky to launch and implement its Rural Health Transformation Plan (RHTP), a community-driven strategy to expand access and improve health outcomes for rural residents across the Commonwealth1 .

Our Plan

Kentucky’s RHTP launches five interrelated initiatives designed to build rural health infrastructure and provide sustainable, long-term improvements. This plan directly supports Kentucky’s rural counties while advancing statewide impact through innovation, technology-enabled care and strengthened workforce recruitment pipelines for both clinical and non-clinical staff. This strategy will help build a resilient, integrated and technology-forward health system across the Commonwealth.

• Rural Community Hubs for Chronic Care Innovation:
  • Establishes local “hub-and-spoke” collaboratives focused on obesity and diabetes prevention and management.
  • These hubs will integrate nutrition, physical activity programs, and digital self-management tools.
• PoWERing Maternal and Infant Health:
  • Expands timely prenatal and postpartum care by deploying telehealth-enabled maternal care teams who will serve maternity-care deserts and high-risk regions, to help mothers and infants receive seamless, high-quality support.
• Rapid Response to Recovery (EmPATH Model):
  • Deploys technology-enabled crisis stabilization and mobile behavioral health response teams to connect individuals with community-based treatment and recovery supports.
• Rooted in Health:
  • Rural Dental Access: Increases access to preventive oral health services through expanded dental hygiene training programs, externships, and investment in Public Health Dental Hygiene (PHDH) teams in Local Health Districts (LHDs).
• Crisis to Care:
  • Integrated Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Response and Coordination: Enhances pre-hospital capacity and trauma coordination through treat-in-place protocols, improved data connectivity and workforce training for rural EMS providers. 

The Bernie Smillie Memorial Scholarship was established in 2010, in memory of Freeland resident and business owner Bernie Smillie. Bernie passed away in 2000, due to complications from a lung transplant he had received in 1994. In 2005, family and friends of Bernie established the Bernie Smillie Memorial Golf Outing. Proceeds of this outing has helped to promote organ donor support and awareness and establish this scholarship fund.

Bernie Smillie Memorial Scholarship - Michigan Resident

Evaluation Criteria

• Financial need (20)
• Work experience (20)
• Overall involvement at work, school and community activities (20)
• Career goals as demonstrated in essay (20)
• Letters of recommendation

Yellow Dog Studio Memorial Scholarship

The Yellow Dog Studios Memorial Scholarship was established in memory of Mari Zimmerman-Thompson and Christopher Thompson. Mari and Chris became husband and wife in May of 2002. They lived their remaining years together as kindred spirits until July 2, 2015 when a tragic automobile accident took them from their family and friends.

Evaluation Criteria

• Special skills/interests (30)
• Career goals (20)
• Essay (15)
• Letters of recommendation (15)
• Extracurricular activities (5)
• Awards and honors (5)
• Overall involvement in work, school and community activities (5)
• Academic performance (5)

Women of Colors Scholarship

Women of Colors (WOC) was founded in 1993 by a group of women that believed it would take a cooperative effort of women of all nationalities, ages and socioeconomic status to address issues plaguing the Saginaw Community. The founders believed that women should take a more active role in addressing issues of crime, blight and poverty. WOC began by providing support, community outreach services and facilitating discussions within the community. WOC’s mission promotes multi-cultural diversity and enhances community relations in Saginaw County by performing community service, mentoring youth, and collaborating with other organizations.

The Women of Colors Scholarship will be awarded each year to a Great Empowering Motivational Sessions (GEMS) member that is an area high school senior actively involved in efforts to empower young women and in activities that address issues affecting young women in the Saginaw Community. If no GEMS members are high school seniors, applications will be accepted from non-GEMS applicants.

Women Giving to Women Scholarship

Women Giving To Women (WGTW) provides intellectual and emotional support for women of diverse backgrounds. WGTW scholarship was established to empower women to complete a bachelor’s degree and become leaders in the community. WGTW also provides financial support for the following community endeavors: The Child Abuse and Neglect Council (CAN) Great Lakes Bay Region, The McNally House of Covenant Hospital, Underground Railroad of Saginaw and The Women’s Studies Section of the Frankenmuth Wickson District Library.

Evaluation Criteria

• Scholastic record (25)
• Community involvement (15)
• Leadership (10)
• Essay (25)
• References (15)
• Non-traditional field of study (10)

Village of the Living Dead Kenneth Fulton Memorial Scholarship

Kenneth Fulton was a member of the St. Charles Haunted House since its very beginning in 1985 until his passing at the haunted house in 1998. He volunteered and also brought along with him his kids and brothers to volunteer as well. Ken was a quiet gentle man that loved what the haunted house stood for and who it was all about – the kids. His favorite character to play was Michael Myers. He was tall and quiet and was able to scare the patrons with his eerie silence. He loved the members of the haunted house as his own family. He is greatly missed and would be so proud to be a part of this scholarship.  

Evaluation Criteria

• Community service (50)
• Financial need (25)
• Letters of recommendation from two volunteer organizations (13)
• Extracurricular/school activities (12)

Tiderington Family Scholarship

The Tiderington Family Scholarship was established in 1996 by Dr. Robert H. and Charlotte Hughes Tiderington and their three sons, Robert III, James and Thomas, to provide funding for students pursuing a vocational career. Neither Dr. Tiderington nor his wife Charlotte graduated from college. Dr. Tiderington remarked: “It was important to us that our boys went to college. We always stressed education. When you give a gift of education, you give a gift for life.”

Team One Credit Union Scholarship

Team One Credit Union established its scholarship program as a way to help make a college education more affordable for its members children. Since its inception in 1978, the program has grown to award 14 $1,000 scholarships.

Team One prides itself as a leader in the credit union industry and feels a strong commitment to helping people grow, both as individuals and as credit union members. In addition to its scholarship program, Team One Credit Union offers student loans and tuition savings programs.

Steve Wagner Scholarship

Steve Wagner retired as executive director of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Michigan (ACEC/M) in 2003 after 34 years of service. As a member of the Capitol Club and Michigan Society of Association Executives, Steve was well respected by his peers and colleagues and is known for his honesty and integrity.

Steve and his wife, Lana, were married in 1965 and have two daughters, Shelley and Whitney. Throughout his career, Steve has been a proponent of community service and has given many hours himself to church and community programs. Steve also has been a strong proponent of education. ACEC/M has established this scholarship in honor of Steve Wagner to award engineering and surveying students who, like Steve, are active in the community and find it important and necessary to give something back.

Saginaw Country Club Golf Scholarship

The Saginaw Country Club has been one of the premier private clubs in Michigan for over 116 years. In honor of its centennial year in 1998, the Club’s Board of Governors established the Saginaw Country Club Golf Scholarship.

The scholarship is offered to promote and reward golf playing among Saginaw County’s youth.

Our Littlest Angels – Callie M. Wilson Memorial Scholarship

The “Our Littlest Angels – Callie M. Wilson Memorial Scholarship” was established in 2011 to assist students interested in the field of Nursing.

Callie Wilson was born on December 20, 1981 and was a patient in the Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (RNICU) at Covenant HealthCare in Saginaw. After 46 days of wonderful care, Callie passed away. Her parents, Byron and Mickey Wilson, along with several of their friends started the Our Littlest Angels Fund in 1982. The fund has raised $1.3 million through its golf tournament and bowl-a-thons for the purchase of specialized equipment for the RNICU.

Covenant HealthCare’s RNICU is truly a live saving service for distressed infants throughout the East-Central Region of Michigan. Several thousands of critically ill newborns have been cared for in this unit since its inception.

The golf tournament and bowling event have now been retired and the remaining funds are being used to establish this scholarship to honor all those associated with the RNICU in Callie’s memory. This scholarship will be awarded to students wishing to enter education in nursing. They must demonstrate strong leadership skills and a passion for infants and nursing.

Louis R. & Helen E. Schwartz FFA Agricultural Scholarship

The Louis R. and Helen E. Schwartz FFA Agricultural Scholarship was established to help prepare Saginaw County students for a future in agriculture or an agriculture-related field. Both Lou and Helen Schwartz were raised on farms in Iowa, so they knew from first-hand experience that farming can be a difficult business. They moved to Frankenmuth when Lou opened area S&H Stores in 1962. The stores were sold to Quality Farm and Fleet in 1982.

Scholarships are awarded to students from Saginaw County, Michigan; Lyon County, Minnesota and Muscatine County, Iowa.

Daniel Jon Thurlow Memorial Scholarship

Two scholarships will be presented per year, each being renewable for one additional year on a competitive basis. It is also our hope that recipients of this particular scholarship will be especially diligent in using this money to help create a better life for themselves and their family. Thus, Danny’s untimely passing will ultimately contribute to making this world a better place, one family at a time.   

A. Wlock and E. Woodruff Scholarship

The A. Wlock and E. Woodruff Scholarship was created by Emilee Woodruff and Autumn Wlock’s family and the W2 Foundation in loving memory of Emilee and Autumn. Emilee and Autumn passed away in February 2020 when a fire destroyed their home. Emilee was diagnosed with epilepsy as a preteen. Autumn was Emilee’s first child and love of her life. Emilee was a great mother and Autumn was a happy baby. This scholarship is aimed to help students attend college that have been affected by a fire or who have been diagnosed with epilepsy.  

Albert Smith Conservation Scholarship

Albert A. Smith was born in Omer, Mich., in 1913. He began his education in a one room schoolhouse near Omer and successfully completed his first three grades in the first year of school. Upon graduation from Flint Northern High School at age 15, he went on to receive an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and thereafter a law degree in 1939. In the mid-1950s, he opened a law office in Saginaw that later became the law firm of Smith Bovill, P.C.

Mr. Smith’s love of the law was matched by his interest in the outdoors, and in particular his beloved Ruffed Grouse. He used his rolling farm and woods to entertain his friends, clients and courtroom adversaries. He was a consummate host to anyone who shared his love for the hunt.

Al was generous with his time and resources. He supported and served on the boards of his favorite charities and civic groups, including the Salvation Army, the Ruffed Grouse Society where he served as national president, the Samaritan Center and First Congregational Church. In 1976, he was recognized for his outstanding conservation work when he received the Wildlife Conservationist of the Year Award from the Michigan United Conservation Clubs.

Casting your Future – UAW Local 668 Scholarship

The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) is one of the largest and most diverse unions in North America and is committed to improving the lives of working men and women around the globe. Here in Saginaw, Amalgamated UAW Local 668 proudly represents the hourly employees at the General Motors Saginaw Metal Casting Operations plant and the Knight Facilities Maintenance Group at the same facility.

Our commitment is unwavering to the education of the youth of this country. The success of our middle class is directly dependent on education which provides the skills required to compete in a global economy.

Clifford H. Spicer Memorial Scholarship

Clifford Spicer, founder of Spicer Engineering, was a registered professional engineer and professional land surveyor. A member and past president of the Michigan Society of Professional Engineers, Michigan Society of Land Surveyors, Michigan Waterworks Association and Michigan Water Pollution Control Federation, he served also on the Board of Appeals on Zoning for the City of Saginaw for 21 years.

At Spicer Engineering’s 50th Anniversary celebration in 1994, Mr. Spicer was honored by community leaders, including Governor John Engler and employees of Spicer Engineering. Former Saginaw Township Manager Frank Jones remarked, “Clifford Spicer … instilled in all employees his own extremely high professional work ethic. A finer gentlemen and engineer I have yet to meet.” Mr. Spicer died in 1997 at the age of 94.

Innovation in Religion and Spirituality Seed Grants Call for Proposals

The Religion and the Public Sphere program at the Social Science Research Council aims to foster research on the wider implications of new forms of religious and spiritual life. This program is offered with the support of the Luce Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, and the Templeton World Charity Foundation.

Overview

In recent years, scholars have noted that religious and spiritual life is being substantively reshaped. “Innovation” is one way of framing these changes, but it remains a partial and contested analytic lens, and is popularly associated with the sudden emergence of a “new” element introduced into an otherwise static tradition. Scholarship on religion and spirituality, however, points to a more complex set of processes. The essays in an ongoing forum for The Immanent Frame have set out some initial parameters of these dynamics: rather than invention ex nihilio, what we often see is the strategic recombination of existing elements within a broader context of social, political, and cultural change.

Research Themes

This request invites proposals that examine the dynamics of religious and spiritual change that fall within the frame of “innovation.” Possible topics include, but are not limited to: 

• Explorations of innovations within transnational or diasporic religious and/or spiritual communities within the United States, particularly related to the circulation of ideas and culture from or to the Global South.   
• Gendered knowledge of innovation. 
• Studies of the process by which an innovation attains—or does not attain—legitimacy, relevance, or authority within a given community or institution. 
• The relationship between contemporary economic conditions—poverty, economic insecurity, and competitive pressures for time and money—and innovations in religion and spirituality. 
• Historical studies of innovations in religion and spirituality; the creation, reception, transformation, and longevity of an innovation over time.  
• Civic participation and the social mobilization of new or innovative religious identities, as well as the reinterpretation of religious or spiritual traditions or ideas in the service of particular political or ideological projects.

Program Terms 

The program offers research support over a period of up to 6 months. The grant funds will be up to $10,000 per award.

About The Community Foundation

The Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties is a community-based social impact investor whose mission is to engage, invest, and lead—working toward a vision of community vibrancy with opportunity for all. Our team of experienced staff and dedicated trustees is committed to boldly leading and supporting transformational community investments. We channel charitable contributions from donors through nonprofit partners that are meeting current community needs and steward community resources responsibly to ensure greater capacity for the future.

Adirondack League Club Scholarship

Established by Adirondack League Club to award scholarships to students in the Central Adirondack region of the Adirondack Park.

Candidates are identified by a committee.