Grants from the Jimmy Durante Children’s Fund and Child Abuse and Children’s Aids Project are made available throughout the year. Grants are allotted to the states/provinces based on the amount raised the previous year.

Under the Articles of Incorporation of the Jimmy Durante Children’s Fund and to satisfy the Internal Revenue Service, grants from the fund can only go to establishments and/or institutions caring for and/or treating mentally and physically impaired and/or abused children; and to hospitals treating or researching the diseases of children. Grants cannot be given to individual children, used for salaries, administrative costs or teachers’ continued education classes. Grants cannot go to any individual, whether they are an Eagle member or not, for medical treatment or to an Aerie as a club.

If an establishment treats both children and adults, it may qualify providing the grant money is used strictly for children. “Children” means under the age of eighteen (18) – a fact that must be acknowledged in the letter of request.

Under the Children’s AIDS, grants will be used for AIDS awareness and medical research; to increase information for at-risk families; and to educate young people about the dangers of the AIDS virus.

Aeries/auxiliaries requesting grants must submit a grant application and a letter of request from the recipient stating their general purpose, and explaining what specifically the grant will be used for. The letter must be signed by an official of the organization. (Brochures will not be accepted.) An IRS tax-exempt number from the recipient organization must also be written on the grant form

Earmarked Fund Grants

• If an earmarked donation is requesting back additional funds, the donation check and Grant Request Form must be sent to the state secretary. The state will approve or deny the additional fund request, and will then forward the donation and grant request to the Grand Aerie for processing.
• If only the amount sent in with the grant is being requested back, send the donation and grant request directly to the Grand Aerie.

Grant applications that are incomplete or do not meet all the requirements will be returned to the state/province secretary for further handling.
Presentation Date: The grant form has a space for the presentation date if it is known. This will allow grants to be approved in advance, and for the check to be issued and mailed directly to the local aerie at the appropriate time. All checks must be presented and cashed by the recipient within 60 days. ALL STATE CONVENTION GRANTS MUST BE SUBMITTED ONE (1) MONTH PRIOR TO CONVENTION.

The reason I started the posts of the charities with this one is that those of us that become members of the Tracy Aerie/Auxiliary, need to decide what local charity we want to give the grant to. While researching local charities I came across McHenry House — Children of the House. This charity would fall within the parameters of the Jimmy Durante Children’s Fund.

Jimmy Durante’s Eagle Work

Jimmy’s love for children continued through the Fraternal Order of Eagles, who among many causes raise money for handicapped and abused children. At Jimmy’s first appearance at the Eagles International Convention in 1961, judge Bob Hansen inquired about his fee for performing. Jimmy replied, “don’t even mention money judge or I’ll have to mention a figure that’ll make ya sorry ya brought it up.” “What can we do then?” asked Hansen. “Help da kids,” was Durante’s reply. Jimmy performed for many years at Eagles conventions free of charge, not even accepting travel money. The Fraternal Order of Eagles in his honor changed the name of their Children’s Fund to the Jimmy Durante Children’s Fund, and in his memory have raised over 20 million dollars to help children.