Click here to subscribe today or Login.
A total of $416,000 in grants were distributed locally last year by the F.M. Kirby Foundation.
The Morristown, N.J.-based family foundation’s board of trustees Monday listed the grants among the $12.9 million made to a variety of nonprofit organizations large and small, local and national.
The foundation was endowed in 1931 by Fred Morgan Kirby, who opened his first store in Wilkes-Barre and went on to become one of the founders of the F.W. Woolworth Co.
In a prepared statement, Bill Byrnes, vice president of grants for the foundation said the grants “have largely adhered to geographical areas of interest to the family and organizations associated with board members.” Five Kirby family members and two non-family members make up the board.
“Notwithstanding our broad programmatic interests, it is our long-term relationships and commitment to provide unrestricted support, the life blood of any nonprofit, that reflects the strategic value of our grantmaking and typifies the Kirby family motto of “facta non verba” or “Deeds, not words,” Byrnes said.
The local recipients were:
• F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts in Wilkes-Barre, $140,000.
• Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, $100,000 for the Allan P. and Marian Sutherland Kirby Center for Creative Arts Endowment Fund.
• American Red Cross/Northeastern Pennsylvania Community Chapter in Wilkes-Barre, $30,000 for disaster relief operations in Luzerne County, specifically Wilkes-Barre and the Wyoming Valley.
• Mountaintop Hose Company No. 1, Fairview Township, $7,500 for the purchase of a heavy-duty rescue truck.
• Planned Parenthood Keystone, $35,000 for general operating support, particularly Luzerne and Northampton counties.
• United Way of Wyoming Valley in Wilkes-Barre, $90,000 for annual allocations to community-based social service agencies and programs.
• Grace Episcopal Church in Kingston, $3,500 for one-time support toward major repair work on the church organ.
• St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Wilkes-Barre, $10,000 for repairs to stained glass windows.
Overall 222 grants were distributed to nonprofits in the arts and humanities, education, environment, health and medicine, human services, public policy, and religion. In an effort to review these giving strategies, the board of trustees recently completed a three-year strategic plan and has reconfirmed these areas of focus moving forward.
For a complete listing of the grants, visit the foundation’s website, www.fmkirbyfoundation.org.