Community Funding
Our Impact
The Thornburg Foundation’s Community Funding program seeks to contribute to organizations that exhibit strong leadership, good financial management, a spirit of entrepreneurship, a commitment to excellence, and a history of making a difference in their field or community.
Community Funding Focus Areas
The Foundation’s Community Funding Program supports organizations in the following fields of interest: human services, education, racial justice, homelessness and policy.
Human Services
At the Thornburg Foundation, we support organizations that promote the health of youth, families, and communities by assisting individuals and families with essential needs like food, housing, critical social services, and more.
Education
The Thornburg Foundation dedicates funding to support statewide, high-achieving arts mastery program schools, high quality, impactful youth programs and support services for students. The Foundation recognizes that combining students’ passion for the arts and hiqh- quality education keeps students engaged and teaches tools of resilience that are long term determinants of educational success. We also recognize the importance of supportive services for keeping students in school.
Racial Justice
Since 2020, the Thornburg Foundation has made $100,000 in grants each year to nonprofits dedicated to advancing racial justice. These organizations lead the demand for a change in policing, legal representation for minorities, and addressing other needs of diverse and underserved communities. Click here to read our full statement on racial justice.
Homelessness
Currently, Santa Fe is in a housing shortage crisis along with a spike in housing costs. Making sure that there is adequate housing stock available to transition people out of homelessness and into affordable housing is paramount to achieving Functional Zero. Click here to learn more about our work in housing and homelessness.
Policy
We support organizations that research, develop and foster evidence based policies that make state government more equitable, accountable, and representative. We support organizations that educate the public to engage around these policies.
Highlighted Grantees
Communities in Schools leverages evidence, relationships, and local resources to help students stay in school and graduate. Through their school-based site coordinators, they bring community resources into schools to remove barriers for vulnerable students who are at risk of dropping out to keep them in school and on the path to graduation.
Our funding supports: General Operations
The Santa Fe Public Schools (SFPS) Adelante Program provides advocacy, direct support services, and basic needs services for children, teens, and their families experiencing homelessness in Santa Fe. SFPS Adelante plays a crucial role in educating the community about child homelessness, and advocates for our families’ needs with schools, human service agencies, and the community at large.
Our funding supports: General Operations
Reading Quest provides free structured literacy tutoring and social-emotional support for hundreds of striving readers. They tutor 380 students a week, all of whom are referred by their teachers and in collaboration with Santa Fe and West Las Vegas Public Schools, Native American Student Services, Communities in Schools, and the Adelante program for homeless youth.
Our funding supports: General Operations
St. Elizabeth Shelter assists homeless individuals and families by providing emergency shelter, food, case management, counseling, supportive housing, and referrals to partnering human-service agencies. Their ultimate goal is to end the cycle of homelessness.
Our funding supports: General Operations
The Food Depot is ending hunger in Northern New Mexico by providing food to a network of over 75 partner nonprofit agencies throughout nine counties. Partner agencies such as food pantries, meal programs, homeless shelters, youth programs, and senior centers distribute food received from The Food Depot to people who are experiencing hunger. The Food Depot, northern New Mexico’s only food bank, has provided hunger relief for 26 years. Due to the sharp increase in food insecurity, The Food Depot distributed over 10 million pounds of food in 2022—700,000 meals.
Children. Working families. Seniors. Someone you know is experiencing hunger right now.
Gerard’s House is your Santa Fe center for grieving kids, teenagers and families, providing free grief support services since 1997. Our staff, board and volunteers share a common passion and goal: to offer meaningful help, comfort and relief to children, teenagers and families whose lives have been changed by the death of a loved one or by other significant losses. To meet this goal, Gerard’s House offers more than 25 grief support groups each week, serving 600 youth, ages 3-21, along with hundreds of adults. Because of the generous support of our partners, 100% of Gerard’s House services are free of charge to families.
La Familia Medical Center is dedicated to providing excellent, affordable, comprehensive medical, dental and health promotion services to everyone in our community. La Familia Medical Center provides services to all individuals and families, regardless of income or ability to pay. Services are offered on a sliding fee scale, according to family size and income. We accept Medicare, Medicaid, all insurances, HMOs & workers’ compensation.
The Interfaith Community Shelter (ICS) is a largely volunteer agency consisting of 40+ faith and community groups and nearly 2,000 volunteers. ICS’s mission is to provide safe, hospitable shelter, food and clothing to men, women and children experiencing homelessness, and to promote self-reliance by providing a point of entry to the other services necessary to make the transition from homelessness to stable housing. ICS is the only “come-as-you-are” or “minimal barrier” shelter in Northern New Mexico, which means the Interfaith Community Shelter, including the Women’s Summer Safe Haven (WSSH), accepts everyone, regardless of condition or circumstance, including their pets. From 2021-2022, with the help of our amazing corps of volunteers, ICS served 31,529 meals and provided 8,337 total nights of overnight shelter.
Our Mission
To reduce the risk of youth suicide in Santa Fe County and Northern New Mexico
“Our commitment to youth who are at-risk for suicide must be an invitation to hope and to life. This will take the concerted effort of us all.” (Eggert, et al, 1995:xv)
Our History
The New Mexico Suicide Intervention Project (NMSIP), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, was established in 1994 in response to growing concern about the increasing number of youth suicides in Santa Fe County and Northern New Mexico.
Our Commitment to Community
Since its inception, NMSIP has implemented cutting edge prevention and intervention services to decrease risk behaviors related to suicide and increase resiliency and family support. NMSIP offers a model of collaboration that promotes the health of youth, families, and communities. NMSIP’s services are recognized “best practices” by the Centers for Disease Control and the New Mexico Department of Health.
Leslie Garcia
Community Funding Officer, Administrative Director
Leslie Garcia is the Community Funding Officer at Thornburg Foundation. Born and raised in New Mexico and cultivating a profound connection to community, she is deeply committed to collaborating with stakeholders who share a common goal of serving its diverse population. She brings with her a deep understanding of relationship management, operations, and human resource expertise. She earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from the College of Santa Fe and holds a SHRM-CP Certification. She is currently pursuing her master of business administration at Eastern New Mexico University.