Community Focus.
Since 1993 Grandma’s Gifts has worked specifically with individuals and organizations residing within the Appalachian region. Specifically, we work to support individuals and organizations in “northern” and “central” Appalachia. This means that we support individuals in Appalachian counties in the states of Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New York, and Maryland. Yearly we prioritize our giving and use data to do this. Below you can read more about how we identify counties to assist.
Individuals.Individuals that receive goods from Grandma’s Gifts must reside within the Appalachian Region for at least 80% of the year (January – December) AND be an individual “in need”. Individuals “in need” are for example, children who qualify for federal free or reduced price lunch; individuals residing at a homeless shelter, domestic violence safe haven, or veterans hospital; individuals who have been screened to receive assistance from a food pantry or clothing bank; individuals who are able to receive free treatments from county or city health departments; etc.
Grandma’s Gifts works to insure that no person is excluded from receiving goods because of cultural heritage, race, national origin, ethnicity, age, gender, veteran status, sexual orientation, marital status, or religion. |
Organizations.Organization's that receive goods from Grandma’s Gifts to hand out to their clients must be an educational or nonprofit organization within the Appalachian Region of the United States as defined by the United States Government’s Appalachian Regional Commission AND serve peoples “in need”.
We do accept emails from Appalachian organizations year round that are requesting specific types of assistance (in the forms of gifts, not cash) that match our giving goals and philosophy. PLEASE KNOW that we DO review organizations 990 tax filings prior to giving where appropriate and discuss organization spending specific to operations, employee compensation, and results. We also on occasion call local government organization for references and information on organizations that we are new to partner with. Organizations receiving goods from Grandma’s Gifts are not to discriminate against current or future clients for reasons of cultural heritage, race, national origin, ethnicity, age, gender, veteran status, sexual orientation, marital status, or religion. Grandma’s Gifts works to protect its donors and gifts recipients from the unacceptable practices of the sale, barter, or exchange of donated items for other goods, services, or funds. Donations received by organizations from Grandma’s Gifts may not be sold, bartered, or exchanged by the receiving organizations with its clients for services, goods, or funds. We expect our partner organizations (and their associated agencies) to abide by our policies and guidelines and to report partners and agencies that do not. Contact Grandmas Gifts with requests, concerns, comments, questions, or to request more information: info@grandmasgifts.org |
Data & Identifying Individuals & Organizations In-need.
We specifically target assistance to Appalachian peoples and organizations in the lowest 25% of counties, nationally, according to the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), a federal government agency. The ARC uses an “index-based county economic classification system” to identify and monitor economic status. The system compares each counties averages for three economic indicators: three-year average unemployment rate, per capita market income, and poverty rate—with national averages. These data sets come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis; and the U.S. Census Bureau. The ARC website notes that, “the resulting values are summed and averaged to create a composite index value for each county. Each county in the nation is then ranked, based on its composite index value, with higher values indicating higher levels of distress.” Counties are then classified into five economic status designations, based on their national ranking: distressed, at-risk, transitional, competitive, and attainment. ARC designated “distressed” counties rank in the worst 10% of the counties in the ENTIRE nation while “at-risk” rank in the lowest 10% to 25%.
We focus support towards nonprofit and social service organizations (including school districts) as well as individuals in counties that are labeled as “distressed” and “at-risk.” We want to ensure Appalachian children have the resources and knowledge to follow their dreams, regardless of their parent’s socioeconomic status, their schools funding structure and access to quality teachers, and their counties ARC ranking.
For more information on the ARC ranking system methodology and data sets you can visit their website.
We focus support towards nonprofit and social service organizations (including school districts) as well as individuals in counties that are labeled as “distressed” and “at-risk.” We want to ensure Appalachian children have the resources and knowledge to follow their dreams, regardless of their parent’s socioeconomic status, their schools funding structure and access to quality teachers, and their counties ARC ranking.
For more information on the ARC ranking system methodology and data sets you can visit their website.