New donors to MBG can help “unlock” a $19,000 grant award from the Winter Park Community Foundation!
Mead Botanical Garden (MBG) is excited to announce that it has been selected as a grant award winner by the Winter Park Community Foundation during the Foundation’s recent Grant Round held in collaboration with Rollins College’s “Impact Investing”undergraduate course. The Winter Park Community Foundation is an affiliate of the Central Florida Foundation.
The capacity-building award is made to MBG Inc. in two parts:
- Up to $19,000 is designated for the development and implementation of a marketing plan
- $2,000 will fund professional development for the executive director
The $19,000 award will be made once MBG engages 50 new donors with the organization.
“We are extremely grateful to be named as an award winner!” said Cynthia Hasenau, MBG Inc.’s Executive Director. “Mead Botanical Garden has been Winter Park’s best kept secret for far too long. We are working to change that. The grant will go a long way toward helping MBG formalize a plan to get the word out about Mead Botanical Garden, its programs, wedding and concert venues, and, of course, the incredible nature people experience when they visit.”
Hasenau invites individuals, families, companies and foundations to help MBG achieve the 50 new donors challenge and “unlock the $19,000 award” by making a contribution to the garden through its web page. “I know it sounds cliché, but every gift to the garden matters. When combined with the Foundation award, each gift will be multiplied many times and have an even greater impact,” she said.
Gifts to the garden are used to support youth and environmental education programming, new garden installations, wildlife habitat improvements and a variety of other restoration projects.
The Bach Festival Society of Winter Park and the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Florida were also named as grant recipients. The three awards total $62,000 in investment in the Winter Park community. To qualify for the grant, organization have to be located in and serving in the City of Winter Park or its vicinity. “Through these grants, we honor the legacy of individuals and families who entrusted us to invest in the Winter Park Community in perpetuity,” said Michelle Chapin, vice president of community strategies and initiatives. As part of the grant selection process, students and advisors from the Rollins “Impact Investing“ class visited the garden and sought to understand the business challenges facing MBG Inc. In this one-of-a-kind course, Rollins students experience first hand the real world process of grant-making.
The Central Florida Foundation has worked with over 400 individuals, families, businesses and professional advisors and nonprofits since 1994 to build and sustain philanthropy in Central Florida. It connects donors to causes, charitable organizations and community issues that they are passionate about, manages and invests funds and empowers donors to make smarter giving decisions that create a greater impact in the community now and in the future.
