The Elsie Skvir Ganister Foundation Fund provides financial assistance for organizations and parishes with innovative approaches to advancing the mission of Orthodoxy in the United States. June 30 is the annual deadline for submitting grant applications, and recipients are announced in the fall of each year.
Founded in 2001, the Elsie Skvir Ganister Foundation Fund is a component fund of the First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania, located in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The foundation takes its name from the village of Ganister in Central Pennsylvania, where immigrants drawn there by jobs in the limestone quarry founded St. Mary's Holy Assumption parish in 1916.
Favor is given to proposals that address priority needs of the Orthodox Church in America, especially those that do so in catalytic ways. The selection process also weighs leadership experience, clarity of goals, the presence of a stable funding base, and faithfulness to the teachings and ministry of the OCA. Applicants must articulate how their undertaking will have a positive impact on a specific priority need, without duplicating other programs or projects already serving the Church.
Grants are modest in size and traditionally capped at $5,000. But, properly used, they have the potential to jump-start valuable initiatives that might not otherwise get off the ground. Examples of grants given over the years include:
- Fund a guest speaker program to help seminarians develop their pastoral skills
- Finance air conditioning and installation for a community "outreach bus"
- Translate invaluable music textbooks from Russian to English
- Purchase digital recorders to distribute Orthodox radio broadcasts world-wide
- Develop a mission "starter kit"
- Minister to new mothers by providing infant car seats
- Support the distribution of religious materials to prison inmates
- Cover the cost of new laundry equipment purchased to assist domestic violence survivors
- Contribute to canonization activities for the new saint Mother Olga of Alaska
Applicants must be qualifying 501c(3) entities as described under IRS Section 509(a)(1). Grants will not be considered for endowments, ongoing operational support, annual campaigns or event sponsorships, debt reduction, research grants, or support of individuals.
To apply, visit the First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania website, www.fcfpartnership.org. Applications will be reviewed and recommendations made by the Advisory Board of the Elsie Skvir Ganister Foundation Fund, a donor-advised component fund of the First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania.
