CLA grants more than $500K to diversity-focused organizations

Top 10 Firm CliftonLarsonAllen announced on Thursday that its charitable division, the CLA Foundation, has granted $537,350 to 40 organizations across the country via its summer grant program.

The firm stated that the majority of this year’s grantees serve “populations who have been historically underserved or underrepresented as defined by race, disability, veteran status and socioeconomics,” with nearly 40 percent of the organizations funded led by people of color.

The CLA Foundation has now granted more than $4 million through 257 grants since its inception five years ago.

“In the midst of challenge, there is always opportunity,” said Jan Kruchoski, board chair of the CLA Foundation, in a statement. “Thank you to our CLA family members who nominate organizations aligned with our mission of creating career opportunities and who give their time and financial support to help those organizations advance.”

“Support from funders like the CLA Foundation is needed now more than ever, because many of the students we work with attend Title 1 schools and their families have lost jobs,” said Robin Payne, grants manager at Junior Achievement of Central Carolinas, a past CLA Foundation grant recipient, in a statement. “This is the time we rally together to show them there is hope and that with the skills and belief that ‘I Can,’ anything is possible.”

For more on the CLA Foundation, head to the firm’s site here.