Marshall Street Armory non-profit center awarded $125K Consumers Energy Grant

The tenants of the renovated Marshall Street Armory have been in their offices for less than two months and plans are already underway for the next phase of investment. Thanks to a $125,000 grant from Consumers Energy, the Michigan Non-Profit Association will be making at least $250,000 in additional improvements to the innovative non-profit center.
 
“[Consumers Energy] approached a number of non-profits and asked what would be the best investment for the grant,” says Kyle Caldwell, President and CEO of the Michigan Non-Profit Association. “Many said the Armory is the best demonstration of how non-profits need to business now.”
 
The grant was awarded to the MNA as a part of Consumers Energy’s 125^th anniversary celebration. Lansing was one of 10 communities to be chosen to share $1.25 million from the Consumers Energy Foundation. Caldwell notes that of all ten communities, the Armory project was important enough to serve as the location for all ten awards to be announced.
 
“Consumers Energy could have announced this anniversary gift in anywhere in Michigan,” he says. “They chose Lansing because they though it really presented the innovation they were looking for.”
 
The MNA is now challenged to raise at least $125,000 to match the Consumers Energy grant. Their campaign will begin in the near future and extend until spring. With the raised and granted funds, MNA intends to invest in additional technology for the Armory, as well as programs to meet the needs of additional area non-profits there.