LF grants and scholarships of nearly $800,000
The Lithuanian Foundation is pleased to have provided nearly $ 800,000 of support in grants and scholarships during the 2016 year.
The LF Board appoints the Grants Committee and the Scholarship Subcommittee. The Grants Committee is equally composed of three members of LF and three members of the Lithuanian American Council. The committee meets to evaluate the grant requests and approves scholarships. The distributions are made in compliance with the Internal Revenue Code for 501(c)(3) organizations and according to the published distribution priorities and guidelines. The awards are approved by the LF Board.
The 2016 Grants Committee meetings were held at the Lithuanian World Center in Lemont, twice on May 22-23 and October 22. This year there were 212 grant requests all totaling $2,763,180. After thorough evaluation the Committee voted to support 87 of grant requests for a total $564,334.
Additionally $8,860 was distributed from donor directed funds according to the donor’s designation.
We present the projects which received the largest support through grants. Projects 2016 received more then $ 20,000:
$125,000 – Lithuanian Heritage Schools
$ 35,000 – Lithuanian World Center in Lemont, IL
$ 33,440 – The Lithuanian-American Community Education Council projects
$ 32,000 – LAC Cultural Council
$ 30,000 – The XV North American Lithuanian Folk Dance Festival in Baltimore MD
$ 26,500 – The Lithuanian Research and Studies Center, Chicago, IL
$ 25,000 – The Lithuanian student internships in Lithuania
$ 25,000 – Rakas Camp, Custer, MI
Grant awards ranged from $10,000 – $20,000:
$ 18,660 – Lithuanian American Newspaper ,,Draugas“, Chicago. IL
$ 15,000 – The Youth Center, Chicago, IL
$ 13,000 – The 50th Anniversary of Šiluva Shrine in Washington, DC
$ 12,500 – Neringa Camp, Brattleboro, VT
$ 10,000 – Lithuanian Museum of Art, Lemont, IL
$ 10,000 – Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture, Chicago, IL
$ 10,000 – The Ateitis Foundation, Lemont, IL
The complete list of awards can be found here.
LF Grants Committee (first row from the left) Ingrida Strokovas, Laura Garnyte, Renata Dambrauskaitė-Kancleris, Juozas Kapačinskas. Second row from the left: Arvydas Tamulis, Dalius F. Vasys, Virgus Volertas, Vytautas Narutis.
Grants Committee members at the spring grants review meeting.
The Scholarship Sub-Committee met on November 19, 2016 at the World Lithuanian Center (Lemont, IL) to evaluate the 112 scholarship applications. The Sub-Committee decided to support 82 requests. The total requested amount was $484,882 while the awarded scholarships were $198,100. 2016 LF scholarship received 63 students from USA, 14 from Lithuania, 3 from the United Kingdom, one from Canada and one student from Germany.
In addition another $19,804 was granted for scholarships from special funds. Candidates for scholarships provided by universities.
The list of 2016 LF scholarship recipients is listed here.
The list of 2016 LF scholarship recipients is listed here.
2016 Lithuanian Scholarship Sub-Committee from left: Jonas Grazys, Darius Sabaliunas, Alina Akulic, Juozas Kapacinskas (Grants Committee Chairman), Lilija Gelazis, Ieva Dilyte, Albertas Tuskenis, and Tauras Bublys (LF Scholarship Sub-Committee Chairman).
2016 Lithuanian Scholarship Sub-Committee meeting.
Lithuanian Foundation sincerely thanks all our members and donors for their effort and dedication thanks to which we can support the Lithuanian diaspora activities and some projects in Lithuania.
LF information
Photo: LF archive
