Community Impact

Building Foundations for the Future

We are committed to improving health and well-being by putting children and their families at the center of everything we do. Through extensive research that included data analysis and listening to a variety of stakeholders about the changing needs of our community, we have developed a roadmap to achieve two outcomes: (1) women and infants are healthy, safe, and supported before, during, and after birth and (2) children meet age-appropriate developmental milestones. Our roadmap includes five strategies that are holistic, multi-generation, and evidence-informed ways to help us achieve these goals. The roadmap also outlines a variety of tools—including but not limited to our grant funding—that we use to create meaningful and lasting change.

Our Roadmap:

Our Tools:

We use all our resources and tools to strengthen the ecosystem surrounding children and families in Spartanburg County. Through strategic collaboration, nonprofit capacity building, research, policy and advocacy, local impact investing, and grantmaking, we work to create sustainable, community-wide change.

Grantmaking

The Foundation awards grant funding to community-based organizations that are improving health and well-being in Spartanburg County.

This approach recognizes that lasting change requires sustained effort, local expertise, and collaborative partnerships. Our grants are meant to serve as catalysts that help organizations expand successful programs and build the infrastructure needed for long-term impact.

Grantmaking allows the Foundation to partner with organizations that have deep community connections, proven expertise, and innovative approaches to addressing complex challenges within our community.

Policy and Advocacy

We believe that supporting systems-level change is one of the best ways to improve outcomes for children and families in our community. We engage in policy and advocacy efforts that align with our mission, and are currently focusing on policies that increase access to affordable healthcare and quality early learning environments.

As a private foundation, we cannot engage in lobbying. However, we take a strategic approach to support policy and advocacy efforts by:

Monitoring issues that impact our mission, focus on children and families, and the work of our partners.
Educating, convening, and sharing important data, resources, and tools with our partners and community.
Supporting partners that engage in policy and advocacy work through our grantmaking.

Nonprofit Capacity Building

By investing in strengthening the capacity of our partners, we help develop stronger, more resilient, and sustainable organizations that are equipped to achieve each of their unique missions. Some examples include:

Trainings
Capacity building grants
Technical assistance
Operational support
The Dr. George Newby, Jr. Community Health Fellowship

Collaboration and Convening

We bring together our partners—nonprofits, government agencies, businesses, and community members—to align efforts, share best practices, and create solutions that put children and families first. Some of our greatest successes have come from pooling knowledge and financial resources with local, regional, and national partners—like reducing teen pregnancy through innovative collaboration and improving the quality of childcare through the creation of Quality Counts.

Research and Thought Leadership

Data-driven insights inform decision-making, shape policy, and guide best practices. By highlighting what works and centering community voice, we support research and solutions that lead to lasting change—such as partnering with local initiatives like Strategic Spartanburg and Live Healthy Spartanburg, and conducting regular needs assessments to better understand health outcomes and service gaps.

Local Impact Investing

Local Impact Investing is an investment of our financial resources made to generate a measurable social impact in Spartanburg as well as a financial return. We provide local impact investments through low-interest loans and investments in businesses in exchange for equity. Unlike grants, local impact investments are repaid, allowing the funds to be recycled and continue benefiting the community. We view local impact investing as one of the tools in our toolbox, along with our grantmaking and other community impact initiatives, that helps us achieve our mission.