(October 6, 2025) — Your Community Foundation is proud to announce the recipients of our 2025 Community Grant Cycle. This year, we awarded $24,741 in total, which includes both community project grants and two special endowment grants.
Since its founding in 2012, Your Community Foundation has awarded approximately $122,840 during our Community Grant Cycle, supporting a wide range of projects that improve the quality of life for residents throughout Allen County.
This year the demand for funding was significant. We received more requests than ever before and were only able to fund less than half of the applications, leaving a 59.17% funding gap. This highlights both the depth of community needs and the importance of the grantmaking funds that make this support possible.
Funding for these grants comes from our two unrestricted endowment funds — the YCF Public Health Fund and the KHF Health Fund. Both were built through generous contributions from community members and are invested to grow over time, ensuring continued support for local projects well into the future.
2025 Community Grant Recipients
- $1,500 – Southwind Extension Educational Foundation
Funding will be used to purchase a transportable Automated External Defibrillator (AED) to be available at the Iola Extension Office and the Allen County Fairgrounds during the county fair - $5,000 – Humanity House Foundation
Funding supports Humanity House’s ongoing utility relief program, which helps low-income households in Allen County keep essential services connected. - $2,000 – Elsmore Ruritan Club
Funding helps sustain the club’s monthly food pantry program, which provides groceries, household essentials, and personal care items to families and seniors in Elsmore and Savonburg. - $3,000 – Humboldt Daycare and Preschool Inc.
Funding will be used to purchase 10 new bicycles of various sizes and helmets for children to use during daycare programming. - $2,000 – Pregnancy & Family Center
Funding helps support Project Safe, which provides families in Allen and surrounding counties with car seats and 5-in-1 Pack ’n Play bedside sleepers. - $741 – Iola Public Library
Funding will help the library install an Aunt Flow Model E menstrual product dispenser in the main women’s restroom, expanding equitable access to essential hygiene items and supporting efforts to fight menstrual poverty in the community. - $3,500 – 13 Reasons to Fly SEK
Funding will help sustain the Zero Reasons Why mental health campaign in Allen County and continue integrating its programs into schools in Iola, Humboldt, and Moran. - $5,000 – Allen County Recycling
Funding will help purchase a forklift for moving bales of recyclables, improving efficiency and expanding local recycling capacity.
Endowment Grant Initiative
This year, Your Community Foundation also introduced a new Endowment Grant opportunity to help nonprofits invest in their futures. The program allowed organizations to establish a permanent endowment with no initial cost, with YCF contributing the first $1,000 to each new fund.
Two organizations, Hope Unlimited and The Growing Place, were selected to receive these grants, giving them a powerful new tool to support their missions for generations to come. By establishing an endowment, they will also now be eligible to participate in our annual Match Month fundraiser.
Support Future Community Grants
Community generosity makes all of this possible. Every dollar given to YCF’s unrestricted endowments strengthens our annual grant cycle and expands our ability to fund critical local needs.
If you would like to support future community projects, donations can be made to:
Your Community Foundation
PO Box 44
Iola, KS 66749
Please note “YCF Public Health Endowment” in the memo line. You can also give online. All gifts made in November will be matched during our annual Match Month campaign, doubling your impact for the community.
