Sixty nonprofit groups will share $565,000 in grants from Coastal Community Foundation’s Beaufort Fund, to be awarded on Friday, February 8.

The fund invites applications annually for grants of up to $15,000 from nonprofit organizations in Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper counties.  This is the 15th year that awards will be made.  Grants made since 1999 total more than $5.6 million.

From an initial field of more than 100 applicants, 60 finalists were named by a 10-member review committee.  Each finalist submitted a complete proposal and was visited by a member of the committee, and every one of the finalists was recommended for awards of varying amounts.

Fred Washington, Jr. of Beaufort chairs the Review Committee, whose members all live in the four-county area served by the program.

Of the 60 grant recipients, five were named to receive three-year awards:  Child Abuse Prevention Association (CAPA), Citizens Opposed to Domestic Abuse (CODA), Collaborative Organization of Services for Youth, Hope Haven of the Lowcountry, and the Care Mobile of Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Edna Crews, Regional Vice President for the Community Foundation, said, “The long-term intentions of the anonymous donor who created The Beaufort Fund years ago are being fulfilled. The Beaufort Fund is an endowment that will generate grantable dollars in perpetuity to benefit the non-profit sector as it evolves in serving this four-county service area. Of the 60 groups receiving grants this year, a third of them didn’t even exist when The Beaufort Fund was created.”

Following a meeting of Coastal Community Foundation’s Board in Beaufort on Friday, February 8, grant checks will be presented at an early evening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. at The Shed in Port Royal.
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