In 2022, the Association continued its focus on educational endeavors. The Board of Directors for Connexus Association voted to continue providing funding and scholarships for the local schools we support at the same level as previous years. We continued to partner with EVERFI to bring free digital education to schools in our community and free financial literacy courses to our members.
We donated over $20k to other institutions to support STEM and reading programs. We directly support financial literacy education including $17,500 to various Junior Achievement offices with thousands more dollars granted to organizations which would indirectly support financial literacy education.
Despite the economic uncertainties, Connexus Association continued its support of education and financial literacy programs. Connexus donated over $25,000 to ten local schools for educational purposes. We continue to partner with EVERFI and local Junior Achievement offices to bring financial literacy education to schools in our community. We opened up our scholarship fund at the local Community Foundation to one more school, making seniors at 18 different high schools now eligible to apply.
This year we also made a $10,000 donation to Colossal Fossils, a non-profit designed to provide interactive natural history programs to schools and communities of Wisconsin. The donation will be used towards life-sized traveling whale exhibit.
Although many of the organizations we support had to cancel fund raising events for 2020, Connexus Association was able to honor all commitments regardless of an event occurring. These are organizations such as the Women’s Community, Aspirus Hospital, and Junior Achievement which have helped support those most impacted by COVID-19.
Many organizations have revamped 2020 fundraising events into virtual events. Most recently Connexus Association has become a sponsor for a virtual auction to raise money for Big Brothers Big Sisters and a virtual Gala to raise money for Community Matters/Education Matters.
As always, education remains one of our most important missions.In the last months of 2020, the Board of Directors for Connexus Association voted to continue providing funding and scholarships for the local schools we support at the same level as previous years. We will also continue to partner with EVERFI to bring free digital education to schools in our community. They recently made a historic announcement – investing $100M in K-12 education courses and will be rapidly expanding their K-12 course catalog in topic areas that address 12 of the most critical life skills for young people today.
During 2020 Connexus Association awarded a $25,000 grant to Mid-State Technical College (MSTC) which serves the educational needs of several Central Wisconsin Communities with campuses in four cities. The grant money will be used towards the capital campaign to build a new Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering Technology, and Apprenticeship Center which is expected to train over 400 students annually to help infuse central Wisconsin with highly skilled workers, address the workforce shortage, and sustain and grow our area businesses.
This year Connexus Association began to support additional local high schools and another technical college increasing our total grant dollars awarded to assist educational institutions to over $40,000. Another one of our missions, providing financial literacy education, was represented through several large grants to organizations. Junior Achievement, a proponent of financial literacy, also received grants totaling $30,500 which reached several different geographic segments.
Connexus Association continued to increase the dollar amount of grants awarded to programs that fit into our mission to provide scholarships for education, to assist educational institutions and to provide financial literacy education. During 2018 we continued to support local high schools with grants totaling over $20,000. We alsodonated $50,000 to help fund the development of Northcentral Technical Colleges' Garden to Table Program. This donation will be utilized to help fund the development of a Garden-to-Market technical diploma. Junior Achievement, a proponent of financial literacy, also received grants totaling $16,500 which reached several different geographic segments.