As we embark on our 60th anniversary at Foellinger Foundation, we’ve come across many causes for celebration. We celebrate our legacy of supporting nonprofit excellence and leadership in Northeast Indiana. We celebrate the nonprofit grantees that invest in our communities.

We also celebrate Allen County as a whole, and the individuals who call it home. We have a lot to be proud of here.

Our community’s momentum is encouraging. Around every corner, there’s a new development, a new project, a new idea. The nonprofit organizations and leaders who are driving innovative ideas that directly impact our citizens particularly inspire us. 

Our nonprofit organizations act with people in mind. They address social issues that would otherwise leave community members behind.

Often, they’re also limited by resources, which made us wonder, what other big ideas could be out there, just waiting for the right support to bring them to life?

Foellinger Foundation’s Breakthrough Fund will support new, out-of-the-box ideas that need a little extra assistance to be refined, or a great idea that may need some additional massaging before it can be realized.

We’re proud to help bring the best ideas to life that encourage and put resources behind partnerships in breakthrough status projects. But what does it even mean for a project to be breakthrough status?  

Breakthrough-level ideas address social issues in a way that hasn’t been done before, and they significantly impact the lives of our residents. They solve a compelling and crucial problem. They’re ambitious, yet feasible, measurable and sustainable. When two or more organizations partner to create change, the opportunities are boundless. See the full application criteria. 

The Breakthrough Fund is a $500,000 investment in Allen County. We’ve earmarked $100,000 of it toward helping nonprofit organizations and their partners refine their big ideas—the Refine Phase. Once they’ve determined the viability of the idea, it may receive an award to help the realization of the idea—the Realize Phase.

Together, we’ll arm our community to confront social issues and positively influence quality of life in Allen County.

Online applications are due on May 16. To learn more about the Breakthrough Fund, contact us at 260 422-2900 or visit the Breakthrough Fund page. 

Looking for inspiration? Check out this Ted Talk!