By Paige Havens | The Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia (CFNEG) is awarding $160,217 in grants to 33 non-profit organizations in our community as part of the Foundation’s 30th Anniversary celebration. These awards are part of the Foundation’s annual discretionary grant disbursements that are gifted to help non-profit organizations further key projects, programs or community initiatives.
Julie Keeton Arnold, 2015 Grants Committee Chair shares: “Our goal was to award at least 30 grants to honor the Foundation’s 30th anniversary, but we had to stay within our granting budget. Ultimately these 33 grants rose to the top and the committee is very pleased with the final decision.” Arnold continues, “It is always humbling and extremely educational to go through this granting process. It shines light on real needs in our community that many of us don’t know exists. While it’s never an easy task to decide where our limited resources should go, it is so rewarding to know that our dollars are invested in ways that make a real impact in the lives of so many across our community.”
Randy Redner, CFNEG executive director says: “We are able to invest in and help forward the mission of so many worthy organizations. Sustaining grants like these are the lifeline to the day-to-day work of these non-profits. We are always excited when we can infuse the Foundation’s resources back out to the community, because we directly impact lives and enhance quality of life for us all.” Redner continues: “This $160,217 will bring exponential return back to our community and will change the course of many lives for the better.”
Six awards this year were issued as challenge grants, which allows those agencies the opportunity to leverage their grants with other giving to double their fundraising efforts via a dollar-for-dollar match. Redner explains: “As part of the grant application each agency was asked if their project lent itself to a challenge opportunity. Those projects we felt best fit were given this opportunity. Challenge grants are very impactful as they motivate organizations to seek out new support and enable them to show their donors a greater return on investment. The $30,000 we are granting these organizations will be the catalyst for a total of $60,000 in giving back to our community.”
The Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia was founded in 1985 by a group of community-minded citizens to receive and disburse charitable funds for an improved quality of life across northeast Georgia. The Foundation focuses on serving the needs of 10 counties – Gwinnett, Barrow, North Fulton, Forsyth, Clarke, Jackson, Madison, Greene, Oconee and Walton. CFNEG manages funds held in trust, donated by individuals, organizations and businesses. Over the past 30 years the Foundation has given over $56 million back to the community. The Foundation will celebrate its 30th anniversary later this summer on August 22nd at the Gwinnett Center. To learn more about the work of the Foundation, visit www.cfneg.org.
- To see a list of the agencies getting grants, click here. Agencies marked with an asterisk are given challenge grants to multiply their grants.
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