Application Process | NYS & Bermuda Lions

Fellow MD-20 Lions: What project or need in your community can you meet with some additional financial support from your Foundation? Discuss your proposed project with your district Trustee! We are here to serve you and help turn your community project from a vision to a reality. We provide matching grants for any approved Lions Club or District project that supports an un-met need in your local community. We can support your club project starting with your application to the NYS&BLF for a matching grant (see our web site: www.nysblf.org). There have been some recent enhancements to our application process to assist you:

A. Only one (1) paper copy has to be mailed (no e-mails) to the Foundation at least 30 days prior to our next scheduled meeting (previously was 45 days). The application must be signed by a Trustee of the Foundation from your District.

B. Meeting dates are posted on our web site, as is the address to mail your grant application (see address below; must include a copy of the complete minutes of the cabinet meeting at which district approval of your application was obtained).

C. If the grant request needs to be submitted due to a deadline date before the cabinet minutes are available, a letter signed by your CS stating that the district cabinet approved the submission of a grant request by your Lions Club or District can be included with the grant submission. If the grant is approved, the matching funds will be released when the complete cabinet minutes are received by the Foundation office.

So should your club go through this process and what will you hope to gain? Here’s an example of a community need that was recently met by the Union Springs Lions Club. The village of Union Springs dubbed 2017 The Year of Frontenac Park as community organizations donated funds to renovate an old and unsafe playground. Union Springs Lions played a major role in fund-raising, securing matching grants from the NYS&BLF and providing hands-on labor.

Please remember that the matching funds that we provide for your community projects (up to $5,000) and emergency grants (up to $2,500) come from you through our annual fund-raising drawing (tickets are being sent to each club in the near future) and through your annual donations as individuals ($25), club memberships ($100) and sponsorships of Robert J. Uplinger awards ($300). Consider adding a legacy gift to the NYS & Bermuda Lions Foundation endowment for future community projects through your estate planning.

Thank you LIONS for everything you do to live up to the motto “We Serve” and for your continued support of the New York State and Bermuda Lions Foundation!