The Women's Gift Alliance in Coeur d'Alene has reached 126 members and as a result the WGA donated $72,500 in grants this year.

The recipients were announced Thursday in the Fireside Room in McEuen Terrace. Three nonprofits - Gizmo-cda, Inc., KIDS Camp and the North Idaho Violence Prevention Center - each received $22,500 in pooled grants from WGA.

"We started this year with 26 organizations ... after a few weeks of meeting it got down to time to vote," said Collette Erickson, WGA grant committee chair.

Erickson said the committee went through a rigorous elimination process. It removed half the organizations with the first vote, she said, and the finalists were required to submit more detailed applications. When the grant committee had eight finalists left, it visited each of the grant applicants' sites to determine who would make the best use of the money.

"It's not just about giving the money away, it's about making sure that it's given away wisely and that it's used wisely and sustainably," said Janet Robnett, member and former president of WGA.

Gizmo-cda, Inc. represented by Barbara Pleason Mueller, is a nonprofit "makerspace" which provides tools and materials used by community members to learn new skills. Mueller said Gizmo plans to use the money to purchase a UV printer which can print on many different materials such as glass and metal.

"There is just all this stuff that we can do, from artists to people who are entrepreneurs, it totally opens up what Gizmo Inc. is able to do," Mueller said.

KIDS (Knowledge, Independence, Direction, Success) Camp at Fernan Elementary is a summer literacy program for first- and second-graders.

"We believe in our hearts and our minds that we are actually saving these kids' lives," said Greta Gissel, representing KIDS Camp.

She said there are 65 children registered to begin camp next week and the goal is to increase the rate of benchmark reading in the children by the end of third grade to "break the cycle of poverty and create success in the future of these children's lives."

The North Idaho Violence Prevention Center has limited space, with just four rooms in which to place families in need of assistance, said Katie Coker, executive director of NIVPC. With the money from WGA, they can work on the structural problems.

Two finalists that were not chosen for the large pooled grants were Farragut State Park and Camp Lutherhaven. Each was awarded a consolation prize of $2,500.

Errin Bair is a park ranger at Farragut, and said she wants to remodel the old mess hall of the "brig" - the jail at Farragut when it was a Navy base. She said the museum there focuses on the history of the Navy, and her dream is to add some of the local area history.

"We've been taking baby steps and with (the WGA) help last year and this year we will be able to do a soft opening ribbon cutting on July 25," Bair said.

Kristi Rietze, director of philanthropy at Lutherhaven, said it is in the process of making every building at the camp handicap accessible, so the money it received will be applied toward the long-term project.

"We're going to keep working at it and we are going to make those improvements eventually as we have funding," Rietze said. "It's just a really important thing for us to be in a place where everyone feels safe and welcome."

WGA started in 2004 with 50 members, all of whom pay yearly membership fees of $1,050. Robnett said $500 of that goes into the pooled grant fund, $250 goes into the WGA Endowment fund and $250 goes to the Individually Designated Gift (IDG) fund in which each member is allowed to designate that money to the nonprofit of their choice. More than 120 organizations have been presented with the IDG award.

The pooled fund is used for the recipients of the larger amounts, and the endowment fund is used to award the consolation prizes. Robnett said since the beginning of WGA, more than $900,000 has been awarded to deserving nonprofit organizations.

"I think we will break a million dollars next year," Robnett said.