Since 1957, the Ballantine Family Fund has been supporting good causes in Southwest Colorado. In 2015, the fund granted $270,000 to nonprofits in five counties and to other causes that support the region even if they’re not located here.
The fund contributed: $60,890 to causes in Montezuma County in 2015.
The fund, established by the heads of the family, Morley Cowles and Arthur A. Ballantine Jr., focuses on causes that “benefit the human condition” in Southwest Colorado.
The trustees of the fund awarded grants this year to nonprofits working in the areas of animal protection; arts and entertainment; education; the environment; human services; and youth, with the bulk of the funding allocated to the arts, education, youth and human services.
As part of their contributions, the Ballantine Family Fund awarded an unsolicited $40,000 Core Value Grant to La Plata Youth Services. The funding will support LPYS’ Radical Possibilities Community-in-School Partnership Program, which is concentrating on improving school climate and providing preventive and early-intervention services to at-risk youth facing major barriers to school attendance.
La Plata Youth Services is working to provide coordinated access to community resources in a school setting, including mentors, family outreach, mental health care, case management, advocacy, tutoring and transportation.
“We look to reward organizations that are innovative, creative and resourceful,” said Richard Ballantine, president of the Ballantine Family Fund Board of Trustees and chairman of the board of Ballantine Communications Inc., the parent organization of The Durango Herald. “We hope our support this year helps keep our nonprofit community sustainable and strong.”
The trustees have engaged the Community Foundation Serving Southwest Colorado to help manage the Ballantine Family Fund and are launching a website and a new simplified online application in January.
abutler@durangoherald.com