Three nonprofits share $10,000 in Women In Philanthropy Fund grants

FLORENCE — The Naomi Project, Mercy Medicine Clinic and the Johnson Foundation for the Dillon County Partnership 4 Kids Project each have received a portion of $10,000 in grants from the Women In Philanthropy (WIP) Fund of the Eastern Carolina Community Foundation.

The fund is a giving circle created this year to maximize women’s leadership in philanthropy by engaging and informing its membership, increasing charitable contributions and improving the Pee Dee through the power of collective giving, according to a press release from the foundation. It is comprised of women who donate to pool resources, enabling a greater impact in charitable giving in the Pee Dee.

More than nonprofit organizations applied for a total of more than $110,000 in response to the grant cycle.

“Being our first year, it was wonderful to give back to our community as women. We don’t realize how much we actually help others by giving,” Starlee Alexander, chairwoman of the Executive Committee of WIP, said.

The grants were announced Thursday night during a gathering of members and guests of the fund at the Floyd Conference Center of Carolinas Hospital System.

Dr. Linda Salane, executive director of the Leadership Institute and special assistant to the president at Columbia College, spoke during the event and encouraged the women present to grow as a group of investors and to continue to work for positive change in our community.

The WIP Fund was formed to give grants that are capacity-building, enabling nonprofits to grow their skills and resources. Membership is available to any woman, and the group represents varying ages and backgrounds. Each member has one vote on how the grants are awarded. The group has elected Linda Russell as incoming chairwoman for 2010.

“We proved that collectively as a group we could make a difference and that going forward we want to make a greater impact,” Russell said. “We will be diligently seeking new investors to increase our giving.”

The foundation is a public charity established in 2006 as a collection of charitable funds built with gifts and bequests from people in the eastern part of the Palmetto State. Its mission is to improve the quality of life in the Pee Dee through inspired philanthropy.

For more information on Women In Philanthropy or the Eastern Carolina Community Foundation, call (843) 667-1131 or e-mail staff at .