Second Round of Community Grants Announced

The restoration of the Little Sister Barn was one of four major projects to receives Community Investment Fund Grants this cycle.

Five projects were funded during the second round of Destination Door County’s Community Investment Fund (CIF) grants, though one of those recipients declined to accept the money for reasons unknown.

The awarded projects are:

• Town of Gibraltar: $100,000 toward the acquisition of the Redmann Property for the Fish Creek Park Expansion and the extension of the Bayshore Connectivity Trail.

• City of Sturgeon Bay: $50,000 for improvements to the Sunset Park pavilion and public restrooms.

• Door County Maritime Museum: $50,000 (including $4,000 from other funds of the Door County Community Foundation) for the dry-docking of, and repairs to, the historical vessel and in-water museum John Purves.

• Sister Bay Historical Society: $50,000 for the repurposing of the 104-year-old Little Sister Barn at the Corner of the Past Museum property.

An award of $100,000 was also granted to the Village of Ephraim for its North Ephraim Multimodal Trail with solar lighting, but village administrator Brent Bristol said the village board declined to accept the grant during its Aug. 8 meeting. On Wednesday, village president Mike McCutcheon confirmed that the village had refused the grant, but he declined to say why. 

A total of 12 applications were received during this grant cycle, with requests totaling $1,864,072. Among those that were not funded, one application failed to meet the statutory tourism requirements; one partially failed to meet those requirements; and one denied application received a modest grant from another Door County Community Foundation fund. 

These four projects join the eight projects that were awarded a total of $325,251 in the first round of grant awards in May 2023, bringing the total Community Investment Fund grant awards this year to $575,251.

The CIF grant program, funded by Destination Door County and administered by the Door County Community Foundation, began in January of this year. Grants are awarded four times annually (three times during this inaugural year).

There is one more grant cycle opportunity happening in 2023, with a deadline of Thursday, Oct. 5. Qualified applicants include 501(c)(3) public charities, 501(c)(6) organizations, and local units of government.

Any interested Door County municipality or local non-profit organization is strongly encouraged to schedule a meeting with the Door County Community Foundation to discuss their idea before submitting an application. Call the Community Foundation at 920.746.1786 or email [email protected] to schedule an appointment. For details about the program and to view funding requirements along with the online application, visit CommunityInvestmentFund.org.