Discover and Donate: The Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia’s Grants Catalog Engages Fundholders

Making the numbers grow. That’s part of the magic of the Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia and is evident through its new fundholder initiative. Starting this July, the Community Foundation will release a Grants Catalog that features nineteen nonprofits in the Gwinnett, North Fulton and Forsyth communities. 

“We wanted to see how much more we could support the community and support the nonprofit organizations that we partner with, whether they are official fundholders or not,” said Lynn Nguyen, Fundholder Experience Manager for the Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia. 

“The Grants Catalog does two things: It helps us support nonprofit organizations in our community, and it allows us to further engage with our family fundholders who have a Donor Advised Fund.” 

Through this catalog current donor advised fundholders will be able to learn about and connect with nonprofits that they might not have been exposed to before. 

“It’s more than an introduction,” said Nguyen. “This will provide our fundholders with information to learn about organizations that they might never have encountered but still align with their personal giving values and strategies.

“Our tagline is ‘connecting people who care with causes that matter’ – this is doing exactly that! All of the nonprofits we’re including, and the causes that we care about, are local. They’re right in our neighborhoods, schools, etc. We’re connecting fundholders to nonprofits that are in their backyards so they can see the impact for themselves.”

The Community Foundation also thoroughly reviews and vets each nonprofit before connecting them with potential funders. 

“The majority of the featured nonprofits have been partnered with the Community Foundation before. We have existing relationships with them, we know of the work they do, and many of them are past grant recipients.

“Fundholders know that their donation is going toward healthy organizations with a stable future and that have a long term impact on their communities.

“Fundholders can trust that the nonprofit will continue to do good with the funds they provide,” said Nguyen.

The Community Foundation’s purpose is to support philanthropic people and organizations through financial planning and establishing giving goals. The organization serves as a bridge between nonprofits and donors. 

“Some of our fundholders are very strategic, and they know who they want to give to, how they want to give, etc. The majority of our fundholders know they want to make an impact, but haven’t chosen where to give. They don’t know what aligns with their giving goals or haven’t made goals. That’s where we come in, and that’s where resources like the Grants Catalog are incredibly helpful,” said Nguyen. 

“With the catalog, fundholders can shop for causes that they care about. It’s a unique way for them to give. We want them to be able to sit down with their families, flip through the catalog and pick out what they want to give to.” 

Resources like the Grants Catalog also allow donors, and the Community Foundation, to make a significantly larger impact on our community as a whole. Through the recent Good2Give Grant Cycle, the Community Foundation will distribute $255,000 into local nonprofits. 

Each of these grants are challenge grants, meaning funds raised by the nonprofits will be matched by the Community Foundation up to a designated amount. If all of the nonprofits meet their challenge goals, $625,000 will be poured back into our communities. 

The Grants Catalog amplifies this impact. 

“If all of the grants in this catalog are claimed by Community Foundation fundholders, over $925,000 will be awarded to worthy nonprofits – and that’s just a portion of the impact donors could have this year,” said Nguyen.

To learn more about the Grants Catalog and how you can participate through your Donor Advised Fund, please email Lynn Nguyen at lnguyen@cfneg.org.