St. Margaret’s Gives Over $100,000 in Grants

Because of the generosity of the parishioners of St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, nonprofits all over the world will be able to make a difference in the lives of those who need it the most.

The parish has issued 204 grants totaling $1,513,305 from endowment earnings since 1998. In the early years of the grants program, most applicants were locally based, averaging a request size of about $5,000. As the grants program became better known and accessible throughout the world, the number of applicants and the amounts of the actual grant awards have increased. 

“The largest grant we have ever issued was $40,000,” said Elizabeth Winn, the church’s Grants Committee Administrator. “Nine is the fewest number of grants awarded in one year and 25 the most (the very first year). This year we provided over $115,000 with 14 grants.”

The annual awards process requires the dedication of volunteers who read through and discuss each multi-page application and financial statements of the grant requestors. This year, 39 applications were submitted.

The committee ensures that the mission goals of the church's grant program are met. Members are looking for proposals that-- 

• Endow the poor and hungry with the means to feed, shelter and clothe themselves;
• Restore the ill to health and heal the broken;
• Promote, preserve and sustain environmental health and good practices; and
• Improve access to educational opportunities.

“Requests are not restricted by location or by a minimum or maximum amount,” explained Winn. “The focus is on the mission, not on the money.”

Once applications are checked, dozens of St. Margaret’s parishioners, in teams of two or three, make on-site visits or they interview applicants by phone, Skype or e-mail. Their written findings and insights are distributed to the committee members and these liaisons accompany their applicant to grant committee interviews.

Members of this year’s Grants Committee were: Tom Andrews, Fran Becker, Bates Churchill, George Curran, Eric Droof, Barbara Friedmann, Leigh Gruber, Spencer Johnson, Ann Lallande (Chair), Norm Mayfield, Kim Morrow, and Caroline Nold.

Grant Recipients for 2011 include:

• The Guatemala Human Rights Commission;
• Partners In Care (PIC) of Severna Park;
• Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance;
• Episcopal missioner Kyle Evans mission training teachers in Haiti;
• He Opens Paths to Everyone, Inc. (leasing distribution space and purchase of basic household needs for families with children in Anne Arundel County transitioning out of shelters and into homes);
• St. Etienne Mission Building Reconstruction;
• The Bates/Annapolis Middle School Chess Program;
• Advocates for Homeless Families;
• La Resurrection School, Gros Morne Haiti (submitted as a long term mission project of St. Martin’s-in-the-Field, Severna Park);
• Samaritan House (for Annapolis homeless);
• Engineers Without Borders-— Student Chapter, University of Maryland College Park; and
• OCHAN —support safe women’s and maternal health at the community clinic in Opac Village, northern Uganda.