Giving Together: Small grants, growing impact

For a student trying to concentrate through a long school day while experiencing food insecurity, a snack can make a meaningful difference.

Flathead School Snack Program works with school nurses and counselors to provide nutritious weekday snacks to students who need them. The program currently reaches as many as 592 students from 16 schools across the Flathead Valley, from Lakeside and Marion to West Valley and schools throughout Kalispell. 

This year, a $1,000 Micro Grant from Whitefish Community Foundation is helping the organization purchase snacks for the 2026-27 school year. 

Micro Grants offer an accessible year-round entry point for nonprofits that are new to Whitefish Community Foundation. Sometimes, that $1,000 helps meet an immediate need. Other times, it becomes one step in an organization’s growth.

Bear Grass Performing Arts was created in 2024 to bring high-quality performing arts education to children and youth across the Flathead Valley. Its Flathead Valley Youth Chorus gives young people a place to learn, perform and experience the joy of making music together.

In 2024, Bear Grass Performing Arts received a $1,000 Micro Grant to purchase sheet music for the chorus’s spring semester. The following year, the organization was ready to take another step by receiving a $4,250 Community Grant in 2025 to develop a logo and reserve a performance space for the Flathead Valley Youth Chorus. 

And this year brought another milestone. Bear Grass Performing Arts participated in the Great Fish Community Challenge for the first time. So far, the organization has raised $29,795 and earned the full percentage matching grant available through the Challenge. Its final total will be announced with the other participating nonprofits at the Great Fish Awards Celebration on October 22.

"Since Bear Grass Performing Arts' inception in the spring of 2024, we have been so fortunate to grow our program offerings from a single choir to two youth choruses and a youth band in just two years of operation,” said Wyatt Dykhuisen, Bear Grass Performing Arts Treasurer. “In that time, Whitefish Community Foundation has been an incredible partner, and having the opportunity to leverage their knowledge, community relationships, and financial support through this year's Great Fish Community Challenge has made a world of difference for our organization."

Not every organization begins with a large staff, an established donor base or years of grant-writing experience. Many begin because a few people see an unmet need or an opportunity to make their community better.

A small, accessible grant can give them the chance to put an idea into action, establish a track record and build relationships that help them take the next step. For the Flathead School Snack Program, $1,000 will help put nutritious food into the hands of hundreds of local students. For Bear Grass Performing Arts, a $1,000 grant helped put sheet music into the hands of young singers — and became one early chapter in a story that continues to grow.

Big community impact does not always begin with a big investment. When we make room for nonprofits to start small and grow, we make room for more good ideas and people working together to strengthen the place we call home.

Alan Davis is President & CEO of Whitefish Community Foundation. The Foundation manages over $100 million in charitable assets and granted $21.5 million to nonprofits last year. He can be reached at [email protected] or 406-863-1781