The Sandy Springs Society started contacting the 42 nonprofit organizations that will receive part of the $370,000 in charitable donations the community nonprofit group will share this year.
A total of $3.56 million was requested by nonprofit organizations serving Sandy Springs, which the philanthropy committee had to whittle down.
“People were really optimistic in what they thought we could do. That’s awesome that they know about us and think we’re that great. But we had a really difficult job to get it down to 370, which is a phenomenal number, a record number,” said Philanthropy Chair Amy Forrestal during the charitable organization’s annual meeting on Tuesday, May 21.
Forrestal said checks would be hand-delivered to recipients as a “personal touch.”
In addition to those donations, the Rich Brown Fund provides $10,000 for philanthropy, the organization’s Sandy Springs Award winner gets $1,000 and the nonprofit group’s president handed out another $1,000 to bring the 2024 total to $382,000.
The charitable organization of women was founded in 1988 and has awarded more than $5 million to local service organizations that support Sandy Springs residents. It chooses to support non-profit organizations that promote the arts, heritage, education, the environment, and social services in the city.
Some funding sources for the nonprofit’s philanthropy include the $126,500 raised through sponsorships and donations, including presenting sponsor Northside Hospital. The Sunshine Fund, in which donations can be made in honor or memory of a friend or loved one, raised $4,667. The Sandy Springs Society cookbook sales brought in $5,230, with just 100 cookbooks remaining. Tossed Out Treasures, the nonprofit’s longest-running fundraiser, raised a record $139,000.
Mount Vernon School junior Collin Maher won the Spirit of Sandy Springs Award for his work creating a road race for runners to raise funds to buy shoes for students at local elementary schools. The award came with a $1,000 contribution to his 501(c)(3) charity to continue his work.
Sandy Springs Society President Beth Rousseau picked Solidarity Sandy Springs to receive a $1,000 President’s Discretionary Grant award.
“At the beginning of COVID, my sweet tennis friend Jennifer Barnes thought she was going to feed 10 families for two weeks while the world was shut down. Solidarity Sandy Springs is still running and is in a new spot,” Rousseau said. “And she misses a lot of tennis because she’s at the food pantry on Thursdays.”
The Sandy Springs Society had to scramble to find a new location for their annual meeting when Mount Vernon Baptist Church realized a month ago that the room used for the nonprofit’s annual meeting would be used as a polling place. Rousseau said she remembered Nowak’s Restaurant had donated a gift certificate for fundraising. So she arranged to hold the meeting and luncheon event at the Sandy Springs Crossing business with short notice.
See the full list of recipients below: