PCCFF gives $33,000 in grants to 13 projects in fiscal year 2025
BY BECKY UEHLING
GRANT TRIBUNE Correspondent
The Perkins County Community Foundation Fund (PCCFF) sent out its Annual Report recently, highlighting its work and organizational focus over the past year.
With dedication and hard work from those who serve on the fund’s advisory committee, the PCCFF currently has an endowment of more than $900,000, which is up $70,000 a year ago, according to PCCFF Chairman Dennis Demmel. During the 2025 fiscal year from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025, $33,000 was awarded to thirteen local projects. In addition, four projects have been funded from July 1 to October 30, 2025, he said.
Currently PCCFF is receiving a payout of $37,500 in the current fiscal year, including $4,000 carried forward from the previous fiscal year, Demmel said. “This level of funding is available for local projects through June 30, 2026. Nearly 120 projects have been funded since 2003, when PCCFF was founded, utilizing some $195,000 in grant support from the Fund,” he said.
Some of the highlights for PCCFF in 2025 were helping to start a youth lead program called “Farm to School”, which brings locally grown food into Perkins County Schools for its lunch programs, updated signage and lighting for the Perkins County Historical Society, funding provided to bring in the children’s theatre group Missoula Children’s Theatre, continuing to assist with the youth led park improvement projects, and English as a second language class.
Some of the other projects funded completely or in part are as follows:
-“Beautification” projects, Madrid & Venango
-Perkins County Schools, sports equipment
-City of Grant, Veterans Memorial upgrade
-Perkins County Elementary School snacks
-Furniture for Perkins County Senior Services
-Elsie Fire Department building painting project
-Park Ridge Assisted Living events support
-Western Sky Community Care Center, video
-SWNCBC, new housing appliances
-Teammates Program for background checks
-“Fields of Faith” event, Perkins Co. FCA
-Village of Elsie, community beautification
An Affiliate of the NCF
The PCCFF is an affiliate of the Nebraska Community Foundation. The PCCFF endowments are managed by the Nebraska Community Foundation, NCF, which also manages some $50 million in “unrestricted” endowed assets for 102 other “community based affiliated funds” in Nebraska. The NCF has been in existence since 1994.
Transfer of Wealth and 5 to Thrive Campaign
The PCCFF Annual Report also reported on the NCF’s updated Transfer of Wealth Study in 2024. The NCF analysis indicates the potential wealth transfer for all of Nebraska to be some $100 billion that would be transferred from the older generation to the next in the coming 10 years. Nearly $1 trillion is projected to be transferred in 50 years. PCCFF asks community members to consider the local charitable potential in this Transfer of Wealth.
According to Demmel, for Perkins County, the value of estate transfers is estimated at $368 million over 10 years. “The Nebraska Community Foundation is encouraging Nebraskans to allocate 5 percent of their assets to charitable organizations in a ‘five to thrive’ campaign. Five percent of Perkins County’s wealth transfer would amount to some $18 million over the next 10 years. Details of the NCF challenge can be found at www.fivetothrivene.org,” Demmel said.
PCCFF encourages “planned giving” to obtain the 5 percent level suggested by NCF, Demmel said. “Wills, trusts and other instruments are often used to plan future gifts. In addition, simpler tools are also available. For example, beneficiary designations related to IRA’s or life insurance are convenient methods for arranging future gifts and can be arranged with help from financial advisors,” he said.
Demmel said sometimes assets of one generation may leave the community to heirs elsewhere. Demmel pointed out that Jeff Yost, CEO of the NCF has stated, “Once wealth leaves the community, it is gone forever. Once wealth is endowed in our community, it is here forever.”
Applying for Funds
Grants for community projects by PCCFF are available by applying with Treasurer Michelle Ross at 308-882-8469. Government entities and 501c3, non-profit organizations are eligible. Current members of the PCCF Fund Advisory Committee are:
Dennis Demmel, Chair, Grant; Rodolfo Aragon, Vice-Chair, Grant; Michelle Ross, Treasurer, Elsie; Jennifer Baumgartner, Secretary, Madrid; Maggie Conner, Member, Venango; Janet Lagler, Member, Grant; Barb Tines, Member, Venango; Becky Uehling, Member, Grant; Jeff Wallin, Member, Grant.
A Love Letter to His Home
NOTE: Jordan Mireles was once again the summer intern for PCCFF. To finish up his summer, Jordan wrote a love letter to Perkins County. PCCFF thanks Jordan for his dedication to Perkins County and PCCFF.
Dear Perkins County,
There’s something about you that’s hard to explain, and impossible to forget. You’re not just small towns south of Ogallala or the place you go by to go to Holyoke, you are a beautiful home to so many people.
Growing up, I always felt like Perkins County was too small and like there was nothing to do, but now that I’m mature, I realized how much of a blessing that is. A small town means a tighter community, and that’s exactly what you have.
No one is truly a stranger, and if they are to you, then they’re not someone in our family. You’ve become a home to so many people, both old and young. The families who’ve always been here continue to grow their roots in you, and new families come to start growing theirs too. When I was in high school, so many of my classmates couldn’t wait to leave you, and now they can’t wait to come back to you. You made me realize that it’s not about what there is to do, but how much it means to belong. You reminded me that sometimes the uneventful is peaceful and today you are a bastion of that special kind of peace.
When I’m in Omaha for school, I can’t stop thinking about your mornings and how sacred they feel. Your mornings start with the calls of the Mourning Doves and songbirds. The air and sky feel lighter, and time seems to stretch out just long enough for me to appreciate the peace. Sometimes I just sit outside and breath in the cool morning air and listen to the breeze and birds before I start my day. Perkins County, you have a peace that the city could never have, the kind of mornings that make you think that maybe, just maybe, today is going to be alright. It’s in those quiet moments that I remember why I miss you so much. No matter how far I go, your mornings always call me back. They are small reminders that peace still exists, and I know exactly where to find it.
Perkins County, you carry your history in your soil, in every field, and in every building over the small prairie town. You remind me that there is beauty in simplicity and that while you’ve changed and grown over the years, you are still the place I love.
You’ve shaped who I am today and I dream that many more will see what you have to offer and want that peace too.
Love, Jordan