Ohio Philanthropy News - January 23, 2026

The Coshocton Foundation provided a $42K grant to the Coshocton County EMS to upgrade its radio communication system (MARCS). 

The Defiance Area Foundation awarded a $1K grant to the Defiance County Furniture Bank to purchase new beds and bed frames. 

The Muskingum County Community Foundation announced Lisa Karling as the 2026 recipient of the Brian T. Wagner Leadership Award. 

The Pallottine Foundation of Huntington announced Ashley Payne as the new program officer and Abbi Davis as the new program associate for the organization’s grantmaking team.

The Osteopathic Heritage Foundation gifted $16.2M to Ohio University for the construction of its Heritage Translational Research Center, to be completed by the end of the year. 

The Ashtabula Foundation provided $5K to the students of the GV Youth Philanthropy Club to select grant recipients.  

The Rich Center for Autism raised $1.5M for its first phase of renovations, of which $500K of the funds came from the Hine Memorial Fund of the Youngstown Foundation. 

The Schooler Family Foundation supported free admission to the Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum on Sundays for Coshocton County residents. 

The Yellow Springs Community Foundation, in collaboration with Yellow Springs Development Corporation, purchased downtown buildings at 252 and 254 Xenia Avenue with a loan of $630K in the interest of economic development in the downtown corridor. 

The Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, in partnership with its donors and affiliate foundations, is accepting applications for more than 50 scholarship funds supporting the educational and career goals of students in the 32-county region. 

The Ottawa County Community Foundation is accepting grant applications for the 2026-27 grant cycle. 

The Community Foundation of Shelby County distributed $1.3M in Match Day gifts to 32 participating charities on Jan. 14 at the Sidney High School Auditorium. 

The Greater Fostoria Community Foundation awarded grants totaling $367K across all component funds to several organizations during the second half of 2025. 

The Women’s Fund of the Richland County Foundation provided a grant to fund the Richland Academy of the Arts’ free program aimed at supporting the mental and physical health of young female athletes in Richland County, “StrongHER TogetHER”. 

GIVE 365 Wayne County, the dollar-a-day philanthropy initiative of the Wayne County Community Foundation, is now accepting grant applications from local nonprofit organizations. 

The Foundation for the Tri-State awarded $54K to several nonprofits in Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio.

The J.W. & M.H. Straker Charitable Foundation distributed more than $6M in 2025 that supported a wide range of projects and updated its grantmaking processes. 

Other Member News

The Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley awarded $717K through its fourth and final competitive grant cycle of the year for work ranging from the construction of a school library to state-level advocacy work.  

The Greater Cincinnati Foundation is partnering with the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation to make concentrated investments, starting with $1M, in the areas that make Northern Kentucky a vibrant place to work, live and experience. 

Google committed over $1M into Central Ohio nonprofits including the Fairfield County Foundation, Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, New Albany Community Foundation, The Now Foundation, Nationwide Children's and several others.