Life Change Ballroom, a Kirkpatrick Foundation grantee.

Oklahoma City, OK — The Kirkpatrick Foundation has awarded $1.25 million in large and small grants to area nonprofits in the first three quarters of 2011. Granting roughly $1.8 million dollars yearly to arts, culture, education, animal concerns, and the environment in central Oklahoma, the foundation has made gifts this year to the Oklahoma Zoological Society ($150,000; ultrasound equipment), Lyric Theater ($80,000; 2011 season support), Oklahoma City Museum of Art ($25,000; season support), Oklahoma City Philharmonic ($15,000; educational programming), Individual Artists Association ($15,000; IdeaLab project support), and more than fifty others.

Recent grants made in September include:

• Artspace at Untitled: $10,000
• Community Youth Outreach: $5,000
• LifeChange Ballroom: $15,000
• Oklahoma Humanities Council: $5,000
• OSU Foundation/KOSU-NPR: $10,000
• OVAC: Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition: $10,000

“The Kirkpatrick Foundation is recognized throughout the region for its support of quality-of-life institutions,” says executive director Louisa McCune-Elmore, “and our 2011 gifts reflect that decades-long commitment.”

Earlier this summer, the Kirkpatrick Foundation and the Kirkpatrick Family Fund, the largest affiliated fund of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation, announced a $1 million joint gift to the Oklahoma City Zoo for a new animal hospital.

The Kirkpatrick Foundation director says their next large-grants cycle takes place in spring 2012; small grants are considered on an ongoing basis. The Letters of Inquiry deadline for spring 2012 large grants is December 1, 2011.

“We are always looking for new ideas and fresh approaches in our giving, and qualifying non-profits should consider applying to the foundation for funding,” says McCune-Elmore. “We like high-impact, high-ROI projects and programming.”

McCune-Elmore says the foundation has prioritized their giving to meet the community where its needs are while staying mission-focused. “This looks like working with non-profit leaders who are focused on the highest standards in our categories of giving: arts, culture, education, animal concerns, and the environment.”