Mini-Grants For Children and Education

WHAT IS THE BNI-MISNER FOUNDATION?
The BNI Foundation is a non-profit program that supports charitable causes relating to children and education in countries where BNI is operating. The primary focus of the foundation is to provide small mini-grants ($500.00 or less) for educational projects. These grants are given out once a year, generally in September.


WHY WAS IT CREATED?
Because of the growth of BNI, the organization felt that it would be a good opportunity to give back to some of the communities in which BNI operates.


WHAT IS ITS THEME?
The BNI Int'l. Board of Advisors (made up of members throughout the world) has selected mini-grants relating to education and children to be the theme for this foundation. The BNI Foundation will make contributions to legitimate charitable organizations only. In the United States that includes organizations with the IRS designation of 501(C)(3) only. In addition public schools qualify for grant allocations.

FOUNDATION STRUCTURE
The complete name for this foundation is the BNI-Misner Charitable Foundation. This is a charitable fund that is part of a foundation that has been around for eighty years, and has recently been ranked among the top ten foundations in the world. The name of the parent foundation is the California Community Foundation. BNI has connected with this existing foundation to reduce the time and cost of creating a stand-alone foundation. For more information on the California Community Foundation, you may view their website at www.calfund.org.


DONOR ADVISED CONTRIBUTIONS
Contributions go towards education and children's programs. However, Regions and Chapters that make a $250 or more donation may make a "donor advised" request which can go to a legitimate charity of their choice within CCF guidelines.