By Logan Todd | Director of Grants
With an eye on long-term recovery, three major fundraising efforts decided to band together to form the Butte Strong Fund.
The Butte Strong Fund is a partnership of the North Valley Community Foundation, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and the Aaron Rodgers NorCal Fire Recovery Fund. The Butte Strong Fund was set up with the specific intent to work alongside communities for years after the fire. Through an assessment of recovery needs, the Butte Strong Fund issues grants in six categories: housing, business recovery, community development, health and wellness, children and youth services, and education.
Sierra Nevada raised millions by enlisting brewers nationwide to make Resilience IPA. More than 1,400 brewers signed up to make the fundraising beer. Sierra Nevada supplied a base recipe and asked its suppliers to donate ingredients to the brewers, with the request that the total price of each pint sold would be donated back Butte Strong Fund Committee Sierra, Ken and Brian Grossman of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. to the recovery effort. The Resilience effort resulted in roughly 4.2 million pints brewed.
The NVCF contributed money from its Camp Fire Relief Fund.
“There have been certain leaders and organizations who’ve taken extraordinary actions to help during the worst time in our communities’ history. Sierra Grossman is one of those leaders, and her family’s business, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., is one of those organizations,” said Alexa Benson-Valavanis, president and CEO of the NVCF. “They have always been there for our communities but no one could have imagined this level of care and support.”
Grant applications are submitted to the Butte Strong Fund. Sierra Nevada makes its own decisions on grant requests, while the NVCF portion of grants is approved by a committee of nine community members, several of whom lost homes in the Camp Fire. By the six-month anniversary, the Butte Strong Fund had awarded more than $6.2 million in grants. That number is now closer to $16 million.
Organizations can learn about how to apply for grant funding at www.buttestrongfund.org
The attached report shows every single grant made within the first 6 months after the fire. Running totals are available on our websites and a new, comprehensive report will be published at the 1-year anniversary of the Camp Fire
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