There was a lot of happiness during the Promontory Foundation’s annual grant reception – called The Happiest Hour – where $400,000 in grants was awarded to Park City-area nonprofits.
PC Tots received the second annual $50,000 Promontory Promise Grant. The nonprofit provides subsidized early childhood education to workforce families in Summit County. Executive Director Sue Banerjee said there are 120 children enrolled in their programs and the grant funding will go toward child care scholarships.
“I feel like this is an impactful issue to everyone that either lives or works in Park City and Summit County," she said. "If you use our amazing trails, if you dine at any of our fantastic restaurants, you are being served or being helped or being supported by someone who works here, who probably has a child here, and the reason they can give you the amazing service and work that they're that they're giving you, is because their child is in a loving, safe environment.”
In all, 48 organizations applied for a share of the record $400,000 Promontory had to share and 32 were awarded grants. The 2024 amount surpassed the foundation’s previous funding record of $372,500 set in 2023.
Other 2024 Promontory grant recipients include Recycle Utah, which will use the funds to support local glass recycling. Nuzzles and Co. plans to use its funding towards domestic animal care for local residents who cannot afford basic services. Funding awarded to the Christian Center of Park City will support its local food pantries.
Established in 2006, the foundation is the charitable arm of the Promontory Club, a private, gated community east of Park City. Each July, Promontory residents hold a community charity event to raise money for the foundation’s grants.
According to the foundation website, overall, more than $3.2 million has been raised for local non-profits, and with matching grant requirements, the total impact to the Park City community non-profits is $8.9 million.
The Foundation’s Executive Director Meryl Van Der Merwe oversaw the 2024 fundraising efforts. Van Der Merwe has a background in fundraising but she's new to the nonprofit world, and got emotional as she talked about the process. “About a couple weeks out, it kind of hit me where I thought, ‘Wow, I cannot let these people down.’ And I felt the weight of the community on me. I mean, it really, really hit me. So, I'm really proud of what we did and what we managed to do as a community here at Promontory. And I'm very grateful to the members for stepping up.”
KPCW was among the recipients and plans to use its $10,000 grant to expand its Spanish language and community-centric programming.
A full list of grant recipients is available at PromontoryClub.com.
