Here's a Roundup of Orsinger's Texas Grantmaking

Founded in 1997, the Genevieve and Ward Orsinger Foundation is dedicated to helping people through education, cultural enrichment and human resources. The foundation was founded by the late Genevieve McDavitt Orsinger, a San Antonio native, who was married to the late Ward Orsinger, founder of Orsinger Motor Company.

The Genevieve and Ward Orsinger Foundation supports outfits in Bexar County, Texas that "foster lifelong learning and self-reliance, use the fine arts to enhance quality of life, and support healthy lifestyles". In Bexar County, this focus currently means supporting:

Programs related to early childhood that emphasize health and wellness, the fine arts, outdoor activities and/or literacy.

Community service learning projects planned and operated by youth.

Programs for adults that support self-sufficiency and/or enhance their capacity to care for their families.

Programs for elderly persons that use the fine arts to enhance quality of life and/or support health and wellness.

Outside of Bexar County, in Central Texas (Comal, Guadalupe, Hays, Kendall, and Travis Counties) the foundation focuses on programs delivered to children ages 0 to 5 years old that utilize fine arts in curriculum. The foundation states that overall it gives "strong preference to existing programs/projects or general operating support that have funding from other sources, rather than new programs or the expansion of existing programs. " Collaboration is also favored.

Before going any further, we should also note that the foundation only considers grant requests up to $10,000 and requires that grantees are matched dollar-for-dollar. This is a relatively new requirement of the foundation and may limit the foundation's viability for all grantseekers.

In a recent tax year, the foundation gave away a little more than $660,000. Past grantees include Assistance League of San Antonio, Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas, City Year Inc, Communities in Schools of Central Texas, San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio Symphony, Cooperative Ministries in Higher Education, Junior Achievement, United Way of Greater Austin, and San Antonio Museum of Art. A grant to Kinetic Kids funded sports and recreation programs for children with special needs and a grant to Mainspring Schools funded early childhood fine arts programming.

The Orsinger Foundation requires LOIs from applicants.