OAKES, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – It was a record-breaking year for the Oakes Area Community Foundation (OACF) in 2019. The year-end numbers were released late last week and revealed the foundation’s biggest year to date.
The OACF raised over 81 thousand dollars in donations making it the highest amount in a single calendar year since the foundation’s creation in 1998 according to the 2019 Year-End Report. One reason for the spike in donations could be because of a matching grant.
“Frank Larson challenged our community to raise funds for our community foundation… motivated by a $100,000 matching grant from Frank, our community contributed more to our fund than we ever have before,” said OACF Chair John Zetocha in the report.
Larson is the owner of Starion Bank and launched the OACF in 1998 by giving “both Oakes and Ellendale each 100 thousand dollars,” said Zetocha. “He felt giving back to the community was important,” added Zetocha.
Funds acquired by the OACF are redistributed back to organizations and nonprofits in the Oakes area through grants. In 2019, over 14 thousand dollars were awarded to places such as Oakes Public Schools, Oakes Area Chamber of Commerce and Tiny Tornadoes.
“We will be able to do even more in the future, thanks to our many donors and Frank,” said Zetocha via the year-end report.
Future grant recipients are determined through an application process. There is a criteria that must be met in order to receive grant money according to Zetocha. One of the simpler requirements is that no businesses, only nonprofits, are eligible for consideration. The process if fairly simple as well.
“Our board receives grant applications and reviews them,” said Zetocha.
Since the foundation’s inception in 1998 there have been 100 grants totaling over 137 thousand dollars injected back into the community and its organizations.
“We want to thank everyone who contributed to our campaign last year,” said OACF Advisory Committee member Toni Ptacek via the year-end report.
Donations can be placed at www.NDCF.net/Oakes.