'Ambush philanthropy': Spartanburg County Foundation brings surprise funding to 5 nonprofits

On Valentine’s Day, a delegation of staff and donors from the Spartanburg County Foundation showed some love to five up-and-coming nonprofit organizations.

A day-long bus tour included stops to learn more about the groups’ missions and to award $2,500 grants from the Foundation’s “Just Because” fund, complete with oversized ceremonial checks and Foundation CEO Troy Hanna dressed in a giant heart costume.

The foundation calls the periodic events “ambush philanthropy,” a chance to present organizations with some surprise funding to help them build and serve others.

“With today’s ‘Just Because’ grants we focused on organizations that are doing good work in the community, but that may need some additional funding and awareness to really amplify their mission, to build their capacity,” says Ashley Whitt, the foundation’s Vice President of Grants and Community Impact.

All of the “Just Because” grantees are organizations that are relatively small and recently founded. It’s a stage where a little extra help can make a big difference.

“This grant funding of $2,500 takes the pressure off, so they can focus on their programs and best serving the community versus fundraising,” Whitt says. “That’s something a (small) nonprofit’s executive director has to balance constantly – raising the funds to do the work while making sure the work gets  done to serve the community.”

Spartanburg County Foundation grant helps 'keep doors open' and more

The Foundation, through its Robert Hett Chapman III Center for Philanthropy supports the growth of community organizations, providing training, leadership development and network-building.

“These five organizations have all had a relationship with the Spartanburg County Foundation,” Whitt says. “They have met with one or more of our community leadership staff, they have come to our Nonprofit Connect lunch and learn sessions, where we talk about topics related to the nonprofit field, or they have participated in our nonprofit capacity-building boot camp, which focuses on the infrastructure of running a healthy nonprofit.

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The presentation also gave leaders of each organization an opportunity to talk about their work and to meet donors and foundation staff face-to-face.

“The increased awareness for that organization can be as beneficial as the financial resources,” Whitt said.

- Donna Smiley, executive director of Help for Our Elderly, said that the grant will “keep our doors open for three months.”

Smiley’s all-volunteer organization was founded in 2019 to help provide the elderly and disabled with essential products for health, hygiene and cleaning that may be beyond their limited budgets.

The group runs on a shoestring out of a small office and storeroom on E. Main Street near Spartanburg High School. Smiley says that the group assists about 250 people per month.

- Jennifer Jones brings her personal experience to Beauty Marks for Girls, which connects girls whose mothers are incarcerated with mentors who provide academic and social support.

The goal is to provide the tools and the means for the participants to attend college, Jones says. Currently, three Beauty Marks participants are in college at Francis Marion, Coastal Carolina and Lander.

With the “Just Because” grant, Jones says she can get five more girls introduced to the program.

“It will be amazing for them to know that the community is backing them,” Jones says.

- At AVK Scholars, founder Arialle Kennedy-Smith is working to help young people pursue education and careers in creative fields such as dance performance, musical theater and videography and photography.

She said that the grant will allow the organization to reach more students from elementary to high school.

Scholars have studied with Julliard-sponsored regional programs and have had their visual work exhibited at Mayfair Studios in Spartanburg.

- At Guiding Reins, founder Diane Prewitt has developed an equine-assisted wellness program that helps veterans and first responders, their families and caregivers cope with challenges and trauma by learning to care for and cooperate with horses over 8- or 16- week programs.

The grant will allow Prewitt to add more participants to a newly formed group, she said.

Prewitt says that the interaction between the horses and the program participants results in a remarkable amount of healing.

“If we get the other humans to be quiet and get out of the way, the horses do 99 percent of the work,” Prewitt says. “I’m amazed every day by what we see.”

- The Opportunity Hub, on Saxon Ave., serves Spartanburg’s homeless population as a day shelter and a centralized facility for laundry, showers, meals, receiving mail, storage of personal items, and to make connections with local service providers. There is also a clinic and a clothes closet.

The aim is to help those who are without shelter get what they need to begin a journey to independence.

Hoyt Bynum, the center’s Executive Director and a third-generation pastor, says that the grant will help the center extend its work.

“It will help us continue to extend our support to those who are homeless in many different ways,” Bynum said.

Chuck Milteer is editor of Spartanburg Magazine, which is published quarterly in the Herald-Journal. Reach him at cmilteer@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: Spartanburg County Foundation brings surprise funding to 5 nonprofits