Organizations will get chance to win $25,000 grant through State Farm

WASILLA — Mat-Su State Farm Agent Mike Devine is continuing a program that’s run the last seven years that help 40 local organizations receive grants of $25,000.

Anyone over the age of 18 years old can submit a “cause” to be considered for the grant. While a person can submit only one cause, several people can submit the same cause if they wish. Any cause that helps the community in some way can be submitted.

The submission phase starts June 6 and continues through June 15 or until 2,000 entries are submitted. Submissions will be accepted on a first come, first serve basis.

The grant application doesn’t require pages of information. Instead, the request submission form is pretty easy to fill out:

How much does your cause focus on unmet needs?How would the $25,000 help meet that need?What lasting impact would the grant have?

Each of those questions is limited to 1,000 characters and State Farms asks that the applicant upload three really good pictures that help put a visual to the effort.

State Farm is looking for:

Education: Causes that further education of any kind in our community.Safety: Causes that make neighborhoods saferCommunity Development: Anything that benefits existing programs and projects

After the submission phase is over, a State Farm Review Committee will read and narrow down the submissions to the top 200 finalists. From the top 200, people will vote on the cause they most want to win. The voting phase is from Aug. 15 through Aug. 24. Each person will get 10 votes per day, every day.

The top 40 causes with the most votes will each receive a $25,000 grant from State Farm. Winners will be announced Sept. 25.

Devine said that the grants are State Farm’s way of giving back to communities.

“This is one way State Farm is a good neighbor, by giving back and making a difference in neighborhoods.

“We have a lot of great organizations and good causes in our community” he added. “I think there are a lot of places that could use this $25,000. So many people out there have so many good ideas and there are so many good projects, they just need the funding. This is a great way to hopefully get them some funding.”