The Beaufort Fund Awards $578,450 to Local Nonprofits, Celebrates 20 Years of Grantmaking

Reception united nonprofits, supporters representing Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper counties

BEAUFORT, SC: March 5, 2018 – Coastal Community Foundation, a philanthropic organization serving coastal South Carolina, is pleased to announce that its Beaufort Fund is celebrating 20 years of grantmaking. This fund has awarded a total of $8,624,090 in grants over the past two decades to nonprofit organizations serving Beaufort, Jasper, Hampton and Colleton counties.
$578,450 was awarded from The Beaufort Fund’s 2018 grant cycle, benefiting 52 nonprofits from the southern Lowcountry. This year, 23 nonprofits – almost half of all grantees – received general operating support, an important building block of nonprofit capacity.
The Celebration
The organizations were lauded at a February 22nd anniversary celebration bringing together supporters and nonprofit leaders from the community at Tabby Place at The Beaufort Inn.
Remarks were made by Coastal Community Foundation staff members Veronica Hemmingway and Gloria Duryea, as well as Fred Washington, Jr., retiring longtime Chair of The Beaufort Fund Committee. Mr. Washington attributed the success of The Beaufort Fund to the ability of a diverse group of stakeholders to come together around what they have in common in order to create solutions in an efficient way. “I truly appreciate the years that I have served,” said Washington. “This has been one of the highlights of my life.”
Mr. Washington was recognized for his two decades of service to Coastal Community Foundation and his dedication to the betterment of the southern Lowcountry. “I have the best job in the world because I get to work alongside folks like Fred who are passionate about and deeply committed to their communities,” said CCF President & CEO Darrin Goss, Sr.
Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling said of Fred, “You took over as leader of the Beaufort Fund when it was little more than a dream – and have led it to grow and serve more community agencies than one could have ever imagined. Your steady hand at the helm has created something our community deeply needed.”
“Tonight represents 20 years of leadership, 20 years of impacting thousands of lives across the four-county region this fund supports,” said Goss. “Twenty years later, The Beaufort Fund continues to be a catalyst for philanthropy in the Lowcountry.”
He recognized the many nonprofit leaders in the room who “are out there every day doing the hard work to make our region better. They are doing the difficult and sometimes thankless work in the trenches every day…of changing people’s lives, teaching people to read, giving people hope, of giving them access to healthcare. This is the hard work that sometimes goes unnoticed. We are grateful and you inspire us.”
Goss highlighted the power of endowed philanthropy, and the role of the Community Foundation as a steward of values and resources, and a collaborator, convener, and community leader. “I want to ask you to think about the next 20 years, because The Beaufort Fund will be here forever. As long as the community has needs we will be here to meet those needs, and that is a powerful statement on the forethought of endowed philanthropy.”
The Grantees
“We are honored that the Beaufort Fund enables us to work alongside so many worthy people and organizations,” said Veronica Hemmingway, Program Officer at Coastal Community Foundation. “The impact of the grants made in the past twenty years is an inspiring reminder of the power of community.”
The Beaufort Fund supports a wide array of nonprofit programs through special project and general operating support. The total grants also include awards granted last year to 12 three-year grantees, organizations receiving renewable support in recognition of a highly effective program and business model.
One of those three-year grantees is Hopeful Horizons, a newly formed nonprofit formerly operating as two entities—Hope Haven and CODA (Citizens Opposed to Domestic Abuse). According to Shauw Chin Capps, the organization’s CEO, “With help from organizations like Coastal Community Foundation, we were able to take an important step this year that has allowed us to begin serving the Lowcountry as a team. Now, Hopeful Horizons is able to provide collective support for the community as a children’s advocacy, domestic violence and rape crisis center.”
List of 2018 Grantees by Location
(Organization name, initials of county/ies served, focus area of grant request)
*indicates three-year grantee
Beaufort County
Alzheimer’s Family Services of Greater Beaufort (B, Human Needs)
Beaufort County Library (B, Museum/Historical Site)
Bluffton Self Help (B, Financial Literacy)
Burton Fire District (B, In-school Student Care)
Collaborative Organization of Services for Youth (COSY) (B, Social Problems)
Extra Mile Club of the Lowcountry (B, Youth Enrichment/Development)
Good Neighbor Free Medical Clinic (B, Physical Treatment/Care)
Neighborhood Outreach Connection (B, Poverty)
Meals on Wheels, Bluffton-Hilton Head, Inc. (B, Food+Water)
South Carolina Coastal Conservation League, Inc. (B, Conservation)
Santa Elena Project Foundation (B, Museum/Historical Site)
Thumbs Up, Inc. (B, Thumbs Up Early Literacy Program)
Under One Roof Services, Inc. (B, Housing)
Young Life (B, Neighborhood + Community Development)
USC Beaufort-Center for the Arts (B, Arts Education)
Adaptive Golf (B,H,J,C, Therapy)
American Heart Association (B,C,H,J, Student Training)
YMCA of Beaufort County (B,J, After School/Summer Camp Programs)
Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Coastal Empire (B,J,H, Physical Treatment/Care)
Family Promise of Beaufort County (B,J, Shelter/Temporary)
Arts Center of Coastal Carolina (B,C,H,J, Performing Arts)
Lowcountry Legal Volunteers (B,H,J, Poverty)
Alzheimer’s Respite and Resource (Memory Matters) (B,J, Respite Care)
Friends of Caroline Hospice of Beaufort, Inc. (B,C,H,J, Respite Care)
Bluffton Jasper County Volunteers in Medicine (B,J, Physical Treatment/Care)
Pregnancy Center & Clinic of the Low Country (B,J, Health)
Reach Out and Read, Inc. (B,C,H,J, Pre-School)
Second Helpings (B,H,J, Food+Water)
South Carolina Environmental Law Project, Inc. (B,C,H,J, Preservation)
Technical College of the Lowcountry Foundation, Inc. (B,C,H,J, Adult Education)
Volunteers in Medicine (B,J,H,C, Physical Treatment/Care)
Lowcountry Land Trust, Inc. (B,C,H,J, Conservation)
Med-I-Assist, Inc. (B,J, Physical Treatment/Care)
Operation Sight (B,C,H,J, Physical Treatment/Care)
Mount Carmel Baptist Church Med-I-Assist (B,H,J,C, Physical Treatment/Care)
Born to Read, Inc. (B,C,H,J, Literacy)
Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation (B,C,H,J, Legal Services, Technical Assistance, Forestry Education)
American National Red Cross (B,C,H,J, Disaster Relief)
*Child Abuse Prevention Assoc. (B,H,J,C, Human Needs)
*Citizens Opposed to Domestic Abuse (B,H,J,C, Human Needs)
*Hope Haven (B,H,J,C, Human Needs)
*Little Red Dog Foundation (B,H,J,C, Human Needs)
*Beaufort County Open Land Trust (B, Environment)
*Beaufort County First Steps (B, Education)
*Beaufort County Hospital- Ridgeland Med-I-Assist (H,J, Health)
*Circle of Hope Ministries (B,H,J, Neighborhood + Community Development)
*Young Life (B, Neighborhood + Community Development)
*HELP of Beaufort (B,H,J,C, Human Needs)
*NAMI of the Lowcountry (B,H,J.C, Health)
*Lowcountry Habitat for Humanity (B, Human Needs)
Hampton County
Fennell Elementary School (B,C,H,J, Access to Education)
Palmetto Project, Inc. (H,C, Pre-School)
Lowcountry Food Bank, Inc. (B,C,H,J, Food+Water)
Hampton County Literacy Council (H, Literacy)
Colleton County
Colleton Center (B,C,H,J, Performing Arts)
Teach for America, Inc. (C, In-School Program)
Colleton County Council on Aging (C, Food+Water)
Colleton County First Steps (C, Child Care Training)
Colleton County Historical & Preservation Society (C, Community Development)
Colleton County Memorial Library (C, Children’s Education)
Colleton Habitat for Humanity (C, Building Improvement)
Jasper County
Helping Hand Center, Inc. (H,J, Human Needs)
KT Destiny Center Inc. (J, Recreation/Exercise)
New Destiny Center (J,H,C,B, Housing for At-Risk Children)
Grants are recommended by a diverse committee of community leaders drawn from across the four counties. Special thanks to the following current and past community partners:
The Beaufort Fund Committee
Fred Washington, Chair
Bill Singleton, Vice Chair
Tracy Johnston
Jim Marks
Louise Rawlings
Kathie Smith
Sharon Stewart
Vicki Verity
Charley Webb
Marcia Wood
Former Beaufort Fund Committee Members
Ann & John Ballantyne
Zander Campbell
Audrey Bittner
Earl Bostick
Dot Gnann
Harriet Keyserling
Marie Lewis
Bruce McBratney
Betty Ann Mead
Joanne & Alan Moses
Wyatt Pringle*
Vicki Verity
(*deceased)
The Beaufort Listening Network
Wendy Zara, Chair
Patsy Collin
D.C. Gilley
Gordon Granger
Katherine Lang
Jim Marks
Beverley Porter
Peter Post
Woody Rutter
Jerry Schulze
Vicki Verity
The Colleton Fund Committee
Grey Holmes
Sabrina Johnson
Tracy Johnston
David Smalls
Kathie Smith
The event and ongoing anniversary celebration are made possible in part by sponsorships and in-kind contributions from Levin Gilley & Fisher LLC, Verity Investment Partners, The Beaufort Inn, The Beaufort Gazette/Island Packet, The Island News, and The Colletonian. (The complete album of event photos can be found at http://bit.ly/BeaufortFund2018.)
For more information about The Beaufort Fund, contact Veronica Hemmingway, Program Officer, at veronica@coastalcommunityfoundation.org. To learn more about supporting Coastal Community Foundation’s work in the Southern Lowcountry, reach out to Gloria Duryea, Stewardship Officer, at gloria@coastalcommunityfoundation.org.
About Coastal Community Foundation: Coastal Community Foundation empowers individuals, families and organizations to make a lasting impact through permanent, endowed funds for charitable giving. The Foundation serves Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Georgetown, Hampton, Horry and Jasper counties. To learn more, go to www.coastalcommunityfoundation.org or call (843) 723-3635.

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