March 28, 2024

 

The San Marcos Community Foundation is accepting grant requests now through November 3 for monies from the newly established “Wildlife Fund.” There is currently $9,000 available for grant making from that fund. Grants can be made to any non-profit organization serving San Marcos for projects to help with wildlife education or preservation.
The special fund was established in March 2010 following a surge of interest in “Molly the Owl,” a barn owl that nested in the San Marcos backyard of Carlos and Donna Royal. Molly subsequently had several owlets hatch on a live Web stream set up by the Royals. More than a million viewers from around the world have watched the coverage.

Following the coverage, the Royals began receiving several donations, which they generously diverted to the San Marcos Community Foundation. The foundation established the Wildlife Fund in order to ensure that the monies generated in response to Molly the Owl would go back into wildlife preservation and education in San Marcos.

“We are grateful to the Royal family for thinking of the community in this way,” explained Colleen Lukoff, president of the San Marcos Community Foundation. “They have done a wonderful job of educating millions of people around the world about wildlife, literally right from their own backyard.”

For more detailed information about the grant process, or to request an application, please contact Andrea Rouse at (760) 744-1050, ext. 3116 or arouse@san-marcos.net

About the San Marcos Community Foundation: Since awarding its first set of grants in 1988, the Foundation has provided more than $918,000 to non-profit organizations serving San Marcos. The Foundation acts as a non-profit public benefits corporation to provide financial and other assistance to programs that benefit the City of San Marcos. Such programs include senior programs, children and youth sports, drug and alcohol abuse prevention, day care for pre-school and latch-key children and support for cultural events or institutions within the City of San Marcos.