Giving Tuesday 2023
Big Grove Brewery announced today plans to award six grants totaling $48,000 to Polk, Johnson, and Linn County nonprofits. The grant application window is open now through December 31, 2023. Nonprofit recipients will be selected by February 15, 2024.
As part of the Big Grove For Good philanthropy program, grant donations play an integral role, helping to “remove the barriers people face within our communities, that to me is the important part,” said Doug Goettsch, co-founder of Big Grove. Charities that demonstrate how the donation will have a direct impact or are trying to get their nonprofit up and running are provided special consideration.
Sustained connections with local nonprofits have been a unique way Big Grove has chosen to give back. Since opening its doors in Solon, Iowa, over a decade ago, the brewery found “keeping direct support in our communities and helping the people that make our business possible made sense,” said Goettsch. Today, the brewery’s primary giving tenets focus on environmental, equity and equality causes, and neighborhood ‘backyard’ nonprofits where taprooms are located.
“Big Grove wants to be in our communities serving up delicious brews and food while also being a force for social good,” Lindsey Rawson Van Wyk, the Des Moines community coordinator for Big Grove, said. The brewery’s third location opened in 2022 in Des Moines and launched its first grant program in 2023. As a newcomer in the community, Van Wyk said, “this allowed Big Grove to make meaningful contributions and continue support with volunteering and ongoing connection.”
Last year, Big Grove received 40 applications from nonprofits in Polk County and Johnson County, and “we look forward to extending the program to Linn County in 2024,” said Mikala Demet, Big Grove eastern Iowa community manager. Coworkers can volunteer on committees to help select grant recipients, and staff also have the option to volunteer for the selected organizations. “Our grant program is an intentional and meaningful process for our staff and the communities we serve,” said Demet.
Big Grove awarded four $8,000 grants for the 2023 year to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Iowa, Central Iowa Shelter Services, Iowa City’s Free Lunch Program, and Iowa City Coralville (ICOR) Boxing Club. To learn how these four impactful organizations used their grant funding, head to biggrove.com/pages/big-grove-for-good.