Hands up: Columbia Basin Foundation moves nonprofits ahead one grant at a time

EPHRATA — There are many, many organizations in the Basin making life better for other people, but making life better, unfortunately, costs money. And a vital part of that money comes from charitable grants. 

“Grant funding is critical for organizations that need funding,” said Columbia Basin Foundation Executive Director Corinne Isaak. “You can only fundraise so much. If there are grants, you have different buckets to draw from.” 

This year, the Columbia Basin Foundation expects to award about $30,000 in grants, Isaak said. 

Grants can be up to $2,000 per organization, Isaak said, although most of them are smaller. 

“It used to be open-ended, and a couple of years ago I said, we need to put a cap on this,” Isaak said. “People were sending us $100,000 grant requests because they didn’t know (we were limited).” 

Grant recipients fall into five basic categories, according to the website: Youth Programs, Women and Children in Crisis, Environmental Projects, Community Projects and Animal Shelters. Foundation staff figures out the distribution of funds each year for each category, Isaak said. 

An applicant must be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Grant, Adams or Lincoln counties. The grants must go for specific projects; regular operating expenses don’t qualify. The Foundation follows up afterward to verify how the money was spent. 

CBF Finance Director Jacquie Hunt reviews the applications first, and then they’re passed on to the whole staff for review, Isaak said. 

Soup on Saturdays, which serves meals every weekend at Civic Center Park in Moses Lake, applied for – and received – $1,000 from last year’s CBF spring grant cycle, and another $1,000 from the Foundation in December as part of its Nominate-a-Nonprofit grant program. That $2,000 went toward buying a food trailer to make and serve meals in. The CBF grants, along with donations from Spokane Teachers Credit Union and some others, enabled Soup on Saturdays to buy a used trailer in January. 

“We are very, very happy to get it,” said Soup on Saturdays Founder and President Trinette Mullineaux. “This is our first winter serving outdoors, so we have an immediate need for at least a cargo trailer. I was blessed when we found this one. It’s gutted, but it has real good bones.” 

Soup on Saturdays hopes to renovate the trailer this year, with the help of this spring’s grants. In the meantime, they’ve used it to serve meals when the weather is bad, with some tables and chairs set up on the grass under an awning. 

The amount of information required in a grant application is extensive, Isaak said. A complete application is essential. 

“Sometimes people don’t give us enough information,” Isaak said. “So, we want to have a detailed application, and … it has to seem like it’s a worthy project that is showing advancement and impact.” 

Mullineaux said her first experience with the grant application was intimidating. 

“That was probably my biggest stressor last year, was teaching myself how to do grants,” Mullineaux said. “I had to do the financials with Soup on Saturdays, and last year, they wanted financials from 2024. Part of that year I still was (connected with) a church, and then we broke off and became our own nonprofit. It was complicated … I had to teach myself how to do an income statement.” 

Mullineaux is taking classes online to learn some of the accounting she needs, she said. In the meantime, the Columbia Basin Foundation helped her. 

“They were gracious enough to review my grant application before I sent it in, to polish it up,” she said. “I have a good running rapport with them. If I’m writing a new grant, I can send it over to their grant writer and she can take a peek at it for me. They’ve been extremely helpful, not just (by giving) grants, but as an advisory. I’ve been running (Soup on Saturdays) for going on six years, but we’ve only been a nonprofit for a little bit over a year, so the whole nonprofit side is new to me. Any time I had questions I could call upon them. They’ve been a wonderful connect.” 

Applications are being accepted now for the spring grant cycle. The grant recipients will be announced in May, according to the CBF website. 

“We’re excited to work with organizations and help them improve and advance,” Isaak said. “The most important thing for people to (know) is that we’re a very valuable resource in the philanthropic world.” 

To apply: 

Columbia Basin Foundation accepts grant applications online only at cbfcommunity.org/2026-grants-open. Applications are open now and close March 31. Recipients will be announced in May. 

    Soup on Saturdays serves a meal in Moses Lake’s Civic Center Park in October. With the help of the Columbia Basin Foundation, Soup on Saturdays was able to purchase a food trailer, which it’s planning to renovate this year.

    From left: Corinne Isaak, Columbia Basin Foundation executive director, presents Workforce Education Services Benefits Navigator Tara White and BBCC Foundation Executive Director LeAnne Parton with a donation for $1,000 in 2024. The BBCC Foundation received a grant from the Columbia Basin Foundation this spring as well.