Cash-strapped Ballina Shire community organisations take note: the Northern Rivers Community Foundation (NRCF)in New South Wales has just announced its 2009 Grants Round, and is inviting applications.

The Chairman of the NRCF’s Grants Committee, George Lewin, said he was pleased to report that this year the NRCF had something like $24,000 to distribute to worthwhile projects.

Bainbridge Schools Foundation was among this year’s biggest winners of grants from the Bainbridge Community Foundation and its partners.

It won $8,000, and will use the money to fund salaries of remedial-reading teachers in Bainbridge Island public schools, according to a statement from the Bainbridge Community Foundation.

That grant was among 24 Bainbridge Community Foundation grants totaling $91,700 given to nonprofit groups that provide essential services.