Being For Others announces $500k in grants impacting Dubois and Orange counties
Being for Others Health and Wellness Foundation (BFO) announced Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools and Team OC (Our Community) as recipients of the 2026 Community Collaboration Grant program.
The $500,000 investment will support two collaborative projects: “Screens in Balance: Dubois County Digital Wellness” and “Orange County Bridge to Stability Housing Collaborative.”
In 2025, BFO worked with consultants from Bank of America on a strategic planning process to better understand how philanthropy can support bold solutions to community challenges. Together, BFO and its partners explored national best practices, reviewed examples of innovation in grantmaking, and engaged a diverse group of community volunteers from across the region to ensure local voices helped shape the path forward. From this process, the BFO Community Collaboration Grant program was born.
“Through this new program, BFO hopes to serve as a national model of how philanthropy can support meaningful change in rural communities,” states Christian Blome, BFO President.
The 2026 process began with a Letter of Intent (LOI) window, followed by an invitation-only application phase and in-person finalist presentations. BFO received 21 LOIs from across its eight-county region, making the Grant Committee’s final selection highly competitive.
From that expansive pool, four finalists were ultimately chosen to present in person, with two standing out for the strength of their proposals and their potential to create meaningful regional impact.
The goal of Community Collaboration is to bring people and resources together around large-scale challenges, using expert facilitators to explore the challenge, map gaps and resources, and devise a plan for change informed by the community and research. Grantees will receive up to $250,000 per collaboration over a three-year period. BFO will serve as a strategic partner providing oversight and support throughout the process.
The two programs selected are Screens in Balance: Dubois County Digital Wellness and Orange County Bridge to Stability Housing Collaborative.
Screens in Balance: Dubois County Digital Wellness is a collaborative initiative bringing together Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools, Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest Dubois County School Corporations, the Dubois County Health Department, Crisis Connection, and the Dubois County CARES Coalition. This partnership is working to build a community-wide culture of balanced and healthy digital use among children and families across the county.
The initiative aims to improve the overall health and well-being of Dubois County’s youngest residents by tackling the growing risks tied to excessive screen time, including anxiety, sleep disruption, and attention challenges. By strengthening protective factors like emotional regulation, healthy routines, and positive social connection, the program seeks to help children focus, engage, and thrive both academically and socially — while giving families the tools and confidence to support healthier habits at home.
The Orange County Bridge to Stability Housing Collaborative is a broad community effort led by Team OC, uniting an impressive array of partners including Hoosier Uplands Economic Development Corporation, the Orange County Council, Springs Valley Bank and Trust, the Orange County Community Foundation, Orange County Habitat for Humanity, Orleans Community Schools, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Southern Indiana Community Health Care, Orange County CASA, the Paoli Police Department, the Paoli and Orleans Chambers of Commerce, Old National Bank, Raymond James Financial, Orange County Recycling, and Orleans and Beechwood Christian Churches.
Together, this coalition is working toward a future where every individual and family in Orange County has access to safe, stable housing as a foundation for lasting health and well-being. By taking a coordinated, community-wide approach that targets the root causes of housing vulnerability, the collaborative aims to reduce instability, prevent homelessness, and drive meaningful improvements in physical and mental health, economic stability, and family strength across the county.
Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools and Team OC will each receive $50,000 in their first year to support a facilitated planning process. During this phase, they will bring together partners from multiple sectors to better understand the selected challenge, identify existing assets and gaps, and create a community-driven implementation plan. Each effort will then be eligible to receive up to $200,000 over a two-year implementation period. Both groups are actively seeking additional community partners committed to helping address the designated challenge.
“We were intentional about flipping the traditional funding model that often requires matching dollars up front,” said Tonya Heim, BFO Board Chairperson. “Instead, we designed this program to provide seed funding with the hope it will help attract additional investment to this important work.”
As part of BFO’s long-term commitment to the Southern Indiana region, the Foundation plans to continue funding the Community Collaboration Grant program over the next five years. Two additional rounds of selections are planned, with the next LOI window expected to open in January 2027. An additional round is also anticipated in 2028.
