Dubois County Chamber expands quarterly grant program

The Dubois County Chamber of Commerce is now splitting its quarterly grant program into two awards: $1,000 for a chamber-member business and $500 for a nonprofit serving Dubois County. That is a change from the chamber’s 2025 business-only version, which offered $1,500 each quarter to locally owned businesses.

The business grant is aimed at current chamber members, and the application digs into whether a company is rooted in the county. It asks when the business was established in Dubois County, how many part-time and full-time employees it has, why the owner chose Dubois County, what community-based organizations the business is affiliated with and whether it has received other grants or funding in the past 12 months.

A separate quarterly nonprofit application now gives the chamber a way to back service groups as well. The first-quarter nonprofit grant went to Girls Inc., which received $500 to help enhance its Celebratory 5K on April 25. That kind of award shows how a small chamber grant can support a visible local event without requiring a large outside funding package.

The chamber’s local focus is reflected in the places it highlights on its website, including Jasper, Huntingburg, Ferdinand and the Dubois County Courthouse. Those are the same communities where a modest grant can matter most, whether it helps a storefront keep pace with customers, a small employer cover a needed update or a nonprofit put on a county event that draws residents into town.

The chamber also has a new executive director, Angie Sanchez-Hostetter, and board president Amy Gehlhausen is identified in chamber material welcoming her to the role. The grant expansion fits that broader effort to keep chamber programming tied closely to local business needs and to give more of Dubois County’s small operators and nonprofits a shot at practical, short-cycle support.