Each year the Greater Beloit Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors award four, $500 grants to organizations in the Greater Beloit Region. We received over 14 applications this year from various non-profit Chamber members.
Go here to read more about grant criteria and instructions.

Beloit Meals on Wheels

Beloit Meals on Wheels recently celebrated 50 years of feeding at-risk, homebound seniors in our Beloit community. We can carry out our mission thanks to the support of the community and the dedication of our incredible volunteers, over 450 strong, who deliver meals 364 days a year. This year we celebrated our 10th annual Mushing for Meals 10k Run & 5k Run/Walk fundraiser. Since its inception, an army of dedicated volunteers have worked behind the scenes making this event the success it is today. We have been fortunate to have built sustaining sponsorships for this race and couldn’t have put this race on without the support of out community. Our race director, Jeff Johnson, has decided to step down in his role after ten years of dedicated service. We have a new race director, Brian Enright, who will be taking over this position ad having a new race director gives us an opportunity to rebrand the race as we move forward with another decade of this fundraiser. We are super excited about the new chapter of this fundraiser, and we are renaming the race and moving it to the third Saturday in the month of May. We will be using the Ambassador grant to help cover some marketing and rebranding costs of the race as well as help cover some of the race chip timing costs.

Community Action, Inc of Rock and Walworth Counties

Community Action, Inc of Rock and Walworth Counties has been serving the Beloit area since 1965. Currently, more than 20 different programs are offered to serve our mission to eliminate barriers and establish clear pathways to economic self-reliance. To this end, we invest more than any other nonprofit in the area to reduce the effects of poverty and we serve more than 5,000 people each year. Among these programs is our successful Fatherhood Initiative. Now going on its 15th year, it operates with an “employment-first” model. Enrolled participants work to gain skills necessary to obtain and sustain employment as well as work on character development and deal with the barriers that have prevented them from providing for their children. Most have been involved in the criminal justice system and have been separated from their families. As our area works to find willing applicants for a host of jobs, it is more crucial than ever to help support those with a desire to reenter the workforce, reconnect with their family, and build a stronger community. Funds from the GBCC Ambassadors will go towards supporting this innovative program.

Leadership Development Academy

The Leadership Development Academy of Rock County (LDA) is a nonprofit organization that empowers and inspires future leaders to build and strengthen our area and create a better place to live.

Good leadership in Rock County, now and in the future, is more important than ever. We need funds to help train the participants who are going through the program. This year the Leadership Development Academy is working with 31 participants (our largest class to date!) from all over Rock County who are learning leadership skills and engaging in our communities. This year’s LDA participants come from 24 different organizations (new companies from Beloit), including governmental agencies, nonprofits, education, and corporations both large and small. Many times these participants would never come in contact with each other in their day-to-day activities, but are able to through LDA.

Stateline Boys & Girls Club

Stateline Boys & Girls Clubs has been an impactful and integral part of youth development tin the Greater Beloit Area since 1955. We have been a safe haven for tens of thousands of young people where they can grow academically and develop character and leadership skills, all while developing a healthy lifestyle. We believe in investing in young people because the return on that investment for our community is exponential. We believe that every child has a GREAT FUTURE ahead of them. We will utilize the grant funds to enhance our after school & summer programs to help provide that GREAT FUTURE.