The Johnson County Community Foundation is set to award more than $100,000 in grants to 47 area nonprofit organizations at a luncheon on Jan. 8.

More nonprofits applied for larger grants this year than ever before, said Mike Stoffregen, the executive director of the foundation. The foundation was launched in 2000.

“You can tell the effect of the economy,” he said.

The organization gathers, manages, and distributes endowment funds for local nonprofit groups.

This year, 92 of these groups applied for grants totaling approximately $740,000, Stoffregen said.

“This was substantially more need than we were able to fund,” he said, and the foundation’s earnings this year did not increase.

The foundation has not released the names of nonprofit groups receiving the grants, said Stoffregen, and officials are waiting to publish the list until grant-status notification letters reach each group.

The foundation typically offers grants to health and human relations agencies, cultural organizations, youth programs, and environmental initiatives, among others, Stoffregen said.

— by Holly Hines