Phelps County Community Foundation

About Phelps County Community Foundation

A $741,021 operating grant to Phelps Memorial Health Center stands out in the foundation’s recent record, showing how Phelps County Community Foundation Inc. uses large local awards to sustain essential community institutions. The grant list also shows repeated support for Phelps County Christian School, Don Sjogren Community YMCA, Holdrege Memorial Homes, and South Central Area Recovery, pointing to a funding style that mixes operating support with capital and improvement projects. Across 2023 and 2024, the foundation backed schools, health care, senior housing, emergency services, recreation, and local history organizations, with awards ranging from small discretionary gifts to major multi-hundred-thousand-dollar commitments. Its recent grants also include specific project support such as loan payments, building improvements, new windows, lobby renovations, and facility upgrades. That pattern suggests a funder that works through both ongoing institutional support and place-based project grants. The foundation’s work is tightly connected to local civic infrastructure, with grants to municipal, nonprofit, and faith-based organizations that serve residents in Phelps County. Lead grantee names recur across years, indicating sustained relationships rather than isolated one-time awards.

What Phelps County Community Foundation Funds

Education and youth programs appear throughout the grant list. In 2024, Phelps County Christian School received $490,000 for operations and loan payment support, and later another $396,619 for operations. The foundation also funded Holdrege Public Schools with $57,042 for improvements and Mount Calvary Lutheran Church with $46,196 for operations and a youth gathering. Community health and human services are another clear lane: Phelps Community Pantry received $45,000 for operations, while South Central Area Recovery was awarded $250,000 for building improvements in 2023 and $145,000 for building improvements in 2024. Recreation and civic amenities also receive attention, including $230,000 to the City of Holdrege for a ballfield complex and $434,359 to Don Sjogren Community YMCA for improvements and operations. Historic and cultural projects are present as well, with funding to Phelps County Historical Society and Citizens for Bronze Art.

How Phelps County Community Foundation Gives