News

Athens Area Community Foundation Awards First Grants
to Local Non-Profit Organizations

The Athens Area Community Foundation has awarded grants totaling $25,000 to help 11 local non-profit organizations address needs in such areas as job creation, violence prevention, health care, transportation and youth development.

The grants, ranging between $915 and $3,000, are the first awarded by the foundation, which began operation last year as a vehicle for philanthropic investment, meeting critical needs, and engaging families and businesses in strategic grantmaking.

The foundation issued a call in January for applications for its first round of Discretionary Grants and received 43 requests totaling $180,419. For the spring cycle, the foundation had only $25,000 to award, forcing the team of foundation board members who reviewed applications to make difficult choices, said Steve Jones, foundation chairman.

“For our first grant cycle, this level of demand is excellent,” Jones said. “Virtually every application addressed a serious issue in the community and was worthy of funding. We wish we had more money to award, but we believe this demonstrates very strongly the need, and the opportunity, for a community foundation.”

All applicants had to be tax-exempt organizations that primarily serve citizens of Clarke, Oconee, Madison, Barrow, Jackson and Oglethorpe counties. The grants must be used for programs that “support creative approaches” to addressing community needs and have measurable outcomes.

Jones said decisions on awarding grants were based in part on whether the proposals helped address poverty, improve quality of life, increase access to community resources, attract volunteer resources and support, address the underlying causes of local problems and build the applicant organization’s capacity and sustainability.

Jones said the foundation has a goal of raising $1 million in the next four years to fund its Discretionary Grantmaking program and hopes to have more money for grants in the future. Grants will be awarded twice annually and the next cycle will be this fall. The foundation will continue help families and businesses establish Donor Advised Funds, from which the Donor Advisor can make grants throughout the year.

The Athens Area Community Foundation is an affiliate of the North Georgia Community Foundation and a member of the Southeastern Council of Foundations and the Council on Foundations.

Click here for grant recipients and how they will use the money.