New fund dishes out $346k in grants

(CNS): R3 Cayman Foundation has given out its first series of grants and Literacy for Life is the biggest recipient, receiving CI$150,000 to buy laptops for over 350 local kids. In addition, five charities focused on feeding families in need will share CI$110,000, a vocational scholarship progamme was given $56,000 and the YMCA summer camp received $30,000.

In a press release about the first series of grants given by the R3 fund, which was founded by Ken Dart with a seed donation of $1 million, the charity’s chairman, Bryan Hunter, said the decisions on this first payment were based largely on the results of the recent needs assessment survey.

“R3 Cayman Foundation wants to ensure our grants have the maximum positive impact in the local community and the survey helped clarify the most urgent needs,” said Hunter. “Our first grants seek to address the urgent humanitarian issues of hunger and access to education.

The $150,000 grant to Literacy Is For Everyone (LIFE) is in support of its Education for Everyone programme, which, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, provides children in need with laptops and internet access to enable distance learning. R3’s grant will cover the cost of
about 357 laptops, which will be distributed directly to students through their school principals.

Meanwhile, $110,000 was donated to Cayman’s Acts of Random Kindness (ARK), Meals On Wheels, Feed Our Future, Cayman Food Bank and Resilience Cayman to support the “vital efforts to provide nutritious meals and food vouchers to families and individuals in need”, a release from R3 stated.

To support what R3 said was the reskilling of unemployed Caymanians displaced by COVID-19, $56,000 was given to Build Your Future Cayman, a new non-profit created by Michael Myles to give scholarships for the training he provides for locals to pursue vocational and technical qualifications at Inspire Cayman Training. This will cover ten full scholarships for Caymanians who lost their jobs.

With summer camps able to operate from 5 July, the charity is also giving the YMCA $30,000 to provide free or deeply discounted placements for underprivileged children as their parents try to return to work.

“The board felt the urgency of the needs in the areas of education, food relief, reskilling and childcare support required immediate action,” Hunter said.

“We seized the opportunity to provide children with the desperately needed technology to facilitate remote learning and make sure children of lower income households don’t fall further behind in their studies, and to help prepare unemployed Caymanians to take part in our country’s economic recovery, and ensure no one in our community goes hungry,”he added.

Following these first grants, local organisations, individuals and community groups can apply online for the next round of funding from R3, Hunter said.

Dart’s first million dollars was matched by donors in the community, giving the foundation $2 million in the first instance. However, the charity has not revealed the current balance of cash and it is not clear if any further donations have been made. CNS has contacted officials and is awaiting a response.

But the billionaire developer and investor has said that if the wider private sector comes up with $4 million in donations, he will match that, giving the fund a potential $9 million to dish out.

Organisations and individuals seeking funding from R3 can visit its website here to download the application form.

To donate to R3, please email info@r3foundation.ky