A local businessman and his wife presented a check for $500,000 to the Community Foundation for the CSRA, a non-profit organization that has distributed grants for more than 25 years.
The money from Beth and Jeff Annis Charities will go into the foundation’s Donor Advised Fund, a vehicle that allows donors to make a tax-deductible gift and then choose nonprofit organizations to receive a grant.
MORE: Business Column: Community Foundation awards thousands of dollars in grants
Annis, founder of Advanced Services Pest Control, said he likes to focus on local organizations.
“I’ve got a bent to stop blood cancers, and if you do get them, to make it easy to cure. Also, I love organizations that take care of patients, and I love organizations that also take care of the patients’ family’s needs,” he explained. “The other thing is angled towards children. It can include literacy; it can include things that help people have more availability of food. It’s got to do with everything, getting prenatal care, it’s got to do with the community being healthy, and healthy communities thrive.”
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The Donor Advised Fund is one of five categories managed by the foundation.
“We also have a lot of nonprofit organizational funds, that nonprofits who have done very well would like to kind of steward some long-term dollars, we help them do that,” said Libby Fennell, the foundation’s director of Development and Donor Services. “We also support causes around town that may not have their 501C3, but we stand in as their charitable backbone. So, Jeff’s gift plays into this in our mission to support the CSRA. And our mission is to engage individuals who have a philanthropic spirit.”
Since its inception in 1997, The foundation has distributed more than $11 million from its community grants fund to 865 nonprofit agencies across Richmond, Columbia, McDuffie and Burke Counties in Georgia and Aiken and Edgefield Counties in South Carolina. Much of the money donated to that fund comes from the Augusta National Golf Club.
The most recent distribution of grants was in December 2021. Fifty nonprofit agencies received a total of $626,000.
More information on the Community Foundation for the CSRA is available on its website.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
