Community Grants

Community Grants

Joe and Kathryn Albertson started the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation as a means to administer their charitable giving. From the start, the couple gave to a number of worthwhile causes, including education. If you look at the history of grantmaking at the Foundation, you will see that Joe and Kathryn gave to many community organizations that are still serving Idahoans today, like the YMCA, the Idaho Youth Ranch, and the Salvation Army.

The Foundation continues to provide community grants to Idaho as a member of the local philanthropic community, the Foundation also supports meritorious projects and organizations at the discretion of the Foundation's Board of Directors. In this area, the Foundation supports organizations and programs that help people to help themselves, have a proven track record of success, have a broad base of funders and local support, and spend a low percentage of their budget on administrative and fundraising expenses, and are aimed towards charitable organizations primarily in areas of the state where Joe and Kathryn Albertson lived and worked.

In addition to Foundation community grants, the Foundation provided a special fund to the Idaho Community Foundation for educational grants under $25,000 from roughly 1990-2007. For more information on grants supported by this fund, visit the Idaho Community Foundation web site or call 208 342-3535.

The J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation awarded $5.8 million in community grants in 2006. Grant recipients were selected based on their ability to positively impact the lives of children and to fill a critical need not being met elsewhere in the community. Organizations granted Foundation funding are expected to be well-run and demonstrate the ability to leverage Foundation investments.

The Foundation does not accept unsolicited grant proposals.