Community Partnerships

Since our inception, CFBMC has collaborated with other community organizations to leverage resources and address critical community needs.

We collaborate to advance important causes and improve the quality of life in Monroe County.

A sampling of ways we collaborate across Bloomington and Monroe County are highlighted below.

Monroe Smart Start

Monroe Smart Start, a leadership initiative of the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County, works on behalf of our community’s youngest learners, helping to ensure children are ready for school and ready for life. Since 2009, the Community Foundation has invested more than $1.8 million to support high-quality, early learning in Monroe County through advocacy, training, education, parental engagement, and child-centered initiatives. Monroe Smart Start promotes early childhood education by increasing access to high-quality early learning experiences, professional development for educators, family engagement and community partnerships, early learning advocacy, and On My Way Pre-K enrollment support.

United Way of South Central Indiana

The Community Foundation is proud to partner with the United Way of South Central Indiana on leadership initiatives to improve the lives of those in Monroe County, such as early childhood education, Heading Home of South Central Indiana, and as conveners and facilitators to advance collaboration around other critical community issues.

Nonprofit Alliance of Monroe County

The Nonprofit Alliance of Monroe County enriches the local community by strengthening the nonprofit sector through communication, collaboration, professional development, and outreach. It is supported and staffed by United Way of Monroe County, the City of Bloomington, and the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County. NPA hosts a website, publishes a regular e-newsletter, organizes a couple networking events, and supports monthly gatherings of professionals and key volunteers in outreach, development, and advocacy so they can share best practices and challenges.

City of Bloomington

The Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County has forged a close partnership with the City of Bloomington. Together, both entities have supported innovation and impact in Bloomington.

The annual City of Bloomington Volunteer Network Be More Awards honor and applaud the significant contribution volunteers makes to the health and well-being of our community. Recipients receive checks from the Community Foundation for the charity of their choosing.

Serve IT Clinic

Often small nonprofits do not have the resources necessary to fulfill their information technology needs. The Laurie Burns McRobbie Serve IT Clinic is the bridge that connects IU students who have in-demand technology skills with the nonprofits who need them. Serve IT is a community information technology clinic housed in the IU School of Informatics and Computing. However, it is a collaborative effort involving many different partners within Indiana University and the greater Monroe County area.

Smithville Charitable Foundation

The Smithville Charitable Foundation is a private organization that works to support causes related to religion, education, health, poverty relief, and other issues. The Smithville Charitable Foundation and the Community Foundation often work collaboratively by leveraging our combined resources to fuel innovation that addresses our community’s more pressing needs and compelling opportunities.

Stride Coalition

In 2019, The Community Foundation joined the Stride Coalition, a group comprising public, private and nonprofit organizations to help our community address substance use disorders. As a member of the Stride Coalition, the Foundation made a multi-year grant commitment to bring a crisis diversion center to our community, addressing a gap in the local continuum of care.

CDFI Friendly Bloomington Logo
CDFI Friendly Bloomington

CDFI Friendly Bloomington is a 501(c)(3) organization that is implementing a new strategy developed for the unique challenges of smaller communities to increase flexible and affordable financing to businesses, housing developers, nonprofits, and others in Bloomington, Indiana, and surrounding Monroe County.