Founder’s fund helps area nonprofit
It’s only the first year Breakthrough Butler has been a member of the Butler Collaborative for Families, but the leaders of the collaborative found the nonprofit’s mission of motivating youths to make a difference compelling.
The collaborative, organized by leaders of different agencies around Butler County, chose Breakthrough Butler to receive its mini-grant this year, an award meant to fund a new or expanding program in the Butler area.
Nick Yannotty, the founder of Breakthrough Butler, said he wants to create more programming for youth age 12 and older in Butler because the agency’s most common programs are focused on younger children. Yannotty said the $10,000 given by the Butler Collaborative for Families will give him opportunity to fund equipment and space rentals.
“With the grant, we’ll have more resources available to start programs like photography or videography, or some of those non-sports STEM activities,” Yannotty said. “We would have some funds to pursue equipment, spaces, be able to take care of people who do take their time to help.”
Breakthrough Butler is a youth-centered organization that operates summer camps, sports programs and dances in and around Butler. Yannotty said one of his personal drives for the organization is giving youths the tools to improve themselves and the environment around them. He said in addition to STEM activities, he would like to use the mini-grant to create a youth leadership council.
“Our mission at Breakthrough is providing a safe and uplifting space,” Yannotty said. “The selling message is I'm just trying to build motivation in the community. When you're doing something bigger than yourself is rewarding and cool.”
The Butler Collaborative for Families awarded the grant Thursday, Dec. 11, at its annual Holiday Huddle, a meeting that invites its members to celebrate the year and award the mini-grant.
This year’s mini-grant is the first of many that will be matched by the “Founder’s Fund.” Elan Welter Lewis is founder of the collaborative and agreed this year to match its mini-grant fund every year for 10 years, bringing the total amount awarded to Breakthrough Butler to $10,000. Lewis also founded Family Pathways, the agency matching the funds for the collaborative.
The grant is funded by yearly membership fees, and Lewis said adding to that fund will help the receiving agency accomplish its goals more efficiently each year, in addition to giving it more money for necessary resources.
“I wanted to help them leverage resources,” Lewis said. “We’ve got some very creative, very innovative things that helped seed a lot of projects like Bundle up Butler, Rise Up Rides. It’s all about filling in gaps.”
In previous years, the mini-grant went to programs such as Rise Up Rides, which offers transportation service to people who could otherwise not make it to appointments or even to work, Glade Run Lutheran Services’ warming center and Children’s Advocacy Center’s human trafficking awareness and prevention workshops.
Emily Snow, vice cochairwoman of the Butler Collaborative for Families, said the mini-grant had five applicants this year, which a committee reviewed and voted on prior to Thursday. The mini-grant has qualifying criteria which the committee reviews, Snow said, but the collaborative always seeks new ideas to fund.
“It has to be for a new program, a new idea or an expansion of an existing idea,” Snow said. “It’s the first time that I’ve had this happen; in November we had a tie on the spot, so we actually had to decline the three people who did not get it. We were able to do a revote between the other two.”
Lewis said her agreement to match the mini-grant funds for the next 10 years comes from a similar place as Yannotty’s goals. The Butler Collaborative for Families is built on interagency cooperation, and the mini-grant aims to fund programs that uplift the community.
“One year wouldn’t achieve our goal,” Lewis said of her decision to match funds for 10 years. “The mini-grants are about two or three organizations coming together, working together to support the community.”
