DAR Foundation $50,000 grant deadline approaches

The deadline to apply for a special $50,000 grant from the Mary Chilton DAR Foundation is rapidly approaching.

The Dorothy Day Davenport Grant will award funds to a Sioux Falls-based organization to make the city a better place through a project related to patriotism, historic preservation, or education. Applications are due on July 1, and the chosen grantee will be announced in mid July.

The range for Regular Grants issued throughout the year is $1,000 to $15,000. Applications for Regular Grants are accepted all year and are awarded three times a year, with the next awards in September. Mini-Grants for amounts up to $1,000 are awarded six times a year. The next round of Mini-Grants will be awarded in July.

“Several years ago, the Foundation decided to begin awarding the larger Dorothy Day Davenport grant to allow us to provide a greater impact specifically to a Sioux Falls-based organization,” Tammy Noordermeer, DAR Foundation president, said. “We look for organizations who provide us with detailed information about their project and how the funds from this grant will be applied to specific expenses the organization expects to incur.”

The grant honors the legacy of Dorothy Day Davenport, a founding member of the Mary Chilton Chapter of DAR, which is short for Daughters of the American Revolution. Her gift to the local DAR chapter led to the creation of the DAR Foundation in 1987. Ms. Davenport wanted to "make Sioux Falls a better and happier place" through her financial support of DAR's mission. The DAR Foundation's creation of the annual Davenport Grant helps honor her desire.

All DAR Foundation grants must go towards projects related to patriotism, historic preservation, or education and are available to nonprofit and governmental organizations throughout South Dakota.

One recent example of an organization using its DAR Foundation Regular Grant for historic preservation is the Menno Historical Society. With dreams of a new museum, the society turned to the Mary Chilton DAR Foundation in hopes of receiving funding where other grants didn’t allow for funds to be allocated towards construction costs.

“The grant from the Mary Chilton DAR Foundation is a tremendous boost to our fundraising endeavors,” Roberta Stoebner, Menno Historical Society board member, said. “After requests for grants from other sources were denied, receiving this grant greatly boosted our spirits and encouraged us to continue striving to raise the additional funds needed.”

The Menno Historical Society’s new 40-foot by 80-foot museum will create a space that allows viewers to step back in time and discover the history of the city of Menno. Right now, the Society does not have a safe, temperature-controlled place to store its artifacts or a location that is accessible for visitors. The new museum will be wheelchair accessible and environmentally controlled to regulate humidity and temperature.

“We will be able to host demonstrations and educational presentations because we will have the space to do that,” Stoebner said. “Currently, our displays consist of artifacts from the late 1800s to the 1950s. More space will allow us to display items from the 1960s and beyond.”

While the Menno Historical Society still has additional fundraising to complete before the museum can be built, the grant from the DAR Foundation helped support their overall $219,000 goal.

Nonprofit organizations or civic or educational causes that are interested in applying for a DAR Foundation grant can do so on the new website at mcdarfoundation.org. Applicants can either submit an online form or mail in a paper application. Both forms are available on the new website. Paper applications should be sent by U.S. mail to the Foundation at Mary Chilton DAR Foundation; PO Box 90716; Sioux Falls, SD 57109-0716.

Grants may not be used towards capital campaigns, multi-year projects or renewals, general operating budgets, endowments, administrative costs, or lobbying or political campaigns. For more information on grant policies, visit mcdarfoundation.org/grant-policies.

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About Mary Chilton, Dorothy Day Davenport, Mary Chilton Chapter NSDAR, and Mary Chilton DAR Foundation

The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) is a charitable organization established in 1890 to promote historic preservation, education and patriotism.

The Sioux Falls Chapter’s namesake, Mary Chilton, was a passenger aboard the Mayflower and is believed to have been the first European woman to step ashore at Plymouth Rock in 1620.

Dorothy Day Davenport was an original founding member of the Mary Chilton Chapter in 1915. Mrs. Davenport’s later bequest to the Chapter made possible the formation of its Foundation in 1987. The Foundation administers grants made possible by Mrs. Davenport’s gift. Members of the Mary Chilton Chapter have an ancestral connection to the men and women who had a patriotic role in the American Revolution.

Since 1987, the Mary Chilton DAR Foundation has made over 500 grant awards totaling more than $3 million. These awards have had a significant impact on local and statewide initiatives. They also have helped preserve South Dakota’s pioneer spirit and democratic past, honored veterans, and expanded educational horizons for students and others.