Waccamaw Foundation Has Big Year

The Waccamaw Community Foundation had a big year in 2014, increasing its assets to $29.5 million and awarding 633 grants totaling a record $2,105,616.

The foundation also hired two new staff members, allowing board chairman David Bishop to relinquish his day-to-day operational role as interim executive director. “I’m back to just being chairman,” Bishop says. He has been active in the two-county philanthropic nonprofit since its founding in February 1999.

Karen Bisko is the director of donor services and Shawna Mosley-Foster is donor services and office manager. Their titles reflect an “emphasis on improving our donor relationships,” Bishop says. The WCF motto is “Connecting donors with causes they care about.”

Donors may be as specific or as general as they like. They may direct scholarships to the University of South Carolina School of Law or to the golf program at Coastal Carolina University, or they may give unrestricted funds. The WCF added $11 million in new assets in 2014, including $9 million from one donor, the largest single gift in the foundation’s 15 years. “It was very much a milestone.”

WCF has 125 donors.

The grants awarded included $701,696 in education; $536,975 in community services; $344,776 faith based; $319,965 arts & culture; $131,609 health/general; and $70,595 environmental, wildlife & animal welfare. Two-thirds of the recipients were in Horry and Georgetown counties.

Applications for grants are received on a quarterly cycle. The WCF has four funds, including about $2 million from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which serves communities once home to Knight-Ridder newspapers such as The Sun News. The other funds are the WCF Trust, Scholarships and the Carver Fund for education.

The WCF board of directors has three committees: Grants, Development and Finance & Investment. Three board members serve on each of the committees. The board did have 11 members but was set at nine with the retirement of Dr. Hal B. Holmes and William Drew at the end of 2014.

Applicants for grants are vetted through interviews and site visits. Sometimes, Bishop says, an applicant will be turned down in one quarter but urged to apply in the next cycle when funds may be available. Or, an applicant’s information may be referred to a donor or donors who have an interest in that area.

The Knight Donor Advised Fund provided $150,000 to support the launch of Conway Innovation Center, an effort of The 5th T Group, Coastal Carolina University, Horry Georgetown Technical College and the city of Conway.

WCF’s first grants, in the fall of 1999, were $24,000 to help with hurricane relief efforts, according to the January 2015 newsletter. The $2.1 million in 2014 grants is impressive growth as is the increase in assets to $29.5 million. Over 15 years, the WCF has made 4,654 grants totaling $17.8 million.

Borrowing a line, the value to residents of Georgetown and Horry counties, and beyond: priceless.

This story was originally published April 14, 2015 at 3:35 PM with the headline "Waccamaw Foundation Has Big Year."