The grants went to support projects that include growing minority-owned businesses, erecting wind turbines on Lake Erie and nurturing a cutting-edge electronics industry.
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View full sizeAn industrial designer for AlphaMicron, Inc., works on electronically controllable sunglasses. The company is part of an emerging cluster of firms that NorTech wants to promote in the region.CLEVELAND - Cleveland Foundation doled out $2.8 million in economic development grants Tuesday, welcome news for nonprofit leaders who feared that funding would dwindle for efforts to boost the regional economy.
The money supports projects to erect wind turbines on Lake Erie, increase minority-owned businesses and nurture a cutting-edge electronics industry.
The development grants were among $17.4 million allocated at the foundation's quarterly board meeting.
The grants reduced the stress levels of development leaders, who feared that a nasty fallout between the Cleveland Foundation and the Fund for Our Economic Future last year could mean less money for them.
For a variety of reasons, the Cleveland Foundation decided to greatly reduce the money it funneled to the future fund, a multicounty, philanthropic pool of money that has been a big source of capital for key development groups like NorTech, JumpStart and Team NEO.
At the time, the Cleveland Foundation said it probably would cover any shortfalls in money those organizations received from the future fund this year -- if the groups performed well.
The foundation appeared to make good on that commitment Tuesday, covering the 25 percent to 35 percent gaps in funding and then some.
Team NEO, the region's business-attraction group, recently received $825,000 from the future fund, some $275,000 less than last year.
On Tuesday, Team NEO received a $515,000 grant from the Cleveland Foundation board.
"We're thrilled with the Cleveland Foundation commitment," said Team NEO spokeswoman Carin Rockind. "It speaks to their confidence in us and more than makes up for the quote-unquote gap."
The Cleveland Foundation knew what the groups had received from the future fund and other philanthropies, among a number of variables considered before awarding grants, said Robert Eckardt, the foundation's senior vice president for programs and evaluation.
He estimated that the future fund and foundation awards combined were 10 percent more than the development groups received last year.
Cleveland Foundation's awards continue a trend of "remarkable" philanthropy across the region, despite the down economy, said future fund President Brad Whitehead.
Team NEO's Rockind said most of the foundation's $515,000 grant will go toward attracting companies that complement regional strengths in advanced energy and medical devices.
Some $75,000 is to continue an effort to attract minority-owned businesses, Rockind said.
Among the Cleveland Foundation's other development grants:
•$700,000 to NorTech, which fosters high-tech industries.
The money will help build the region's advanced-energy cluster, which includes more than 400 manufacturers, energy providers and consultants.
And the money will help promote the region's emerging, flexible-electronics sector, which includes about 30 to 50 companies.
NorTech received $500,000 more for the launch of the Lake Erie Energy Development Corp.
LEEDCo is teaming with the General Electric Co. to install turbines on Lake Erie and promote an off-shore wind industry here.
•$400,000 to the Minority Business Accelerator 2.5+, which fosters minority-owned businesses that do at least $2.5 million in annual sales.
About $150,000 of the money will go toward an "Access to Capital" fund, which will be used to help minority-owned businesses secure lines of credit, said Andrew Jackson, executive director of the Commission on Economic Inclusion.
•$750,000 to JumpStart, which invests in and nurtures early-stage companies that promise fast growth.