2023 Georgia Preservation Grants Awarded
POMFRET, Connecticut
12 grant recipients announced
The 1772 Foundation, partnering for the first time with The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, awarded historic preservation one-for-one matching grants totaling $100,000 to twelve private nonprofit organizations maintaining historic sites in Georgia. Four sites were previously included on the Trust’s list of Georgia’s most endangered historic places, Places in Peril. The grants ranged in amount from $3,500 to the grant maximum of $10,000, with seven organizations receiving the latter amount.
Grants were provided for exterior work: painting; surface restoration; fire detection/security systems; repairs to/restoration of chimneys, porches, roofs, and windows; repairs to foundations and sills; and masonry repointing. Projects were evaluated by Georgia Trust staff, with an in-depth knowledge of the needs of Georgia’s heritage organizations. The Georgia Trust will manage the grants. Each grantee was required to have matching funds for its project.
According to Mark C. McDonald, president and chief executive officer of The Georgia Trust, “The Georgia Trust is delighted to partner with The 1772 Foundation to bring financial assistance to twelve Georgia preservation projects. The fact that we had 51 letters of inquiry and 22 applications certainly demonstrates the need for funding assistance in Georgia and the great interest in historic preservation. We are deeply grateful to The 1772 Foundation for this program.”
President of The 1772 Foundation Margaret Waldock commented on the importance of these grants to the preservation community. “With these grants, The 1772 Foundation continues its investment in preservation efforts that protect assets of community importance. While the individual grants may seem small, we have found they leverage considerable local resources and opportunities — community-provided matching dollars, support for local businesses and tradespeople, and the longterm power of incremental, small-scale capital investments in roofs, windows, and structural improvements that protect and maintain the value of assets over time.”
Grant recipients were Augusta Jewish Museum (Augusta), Eatonton-Putnam County Historical Society, Inc. (Eatonton), Friends of Harrison Park, Inc. (Ellijay), Friends of Johns Homestead (Tucker), Friends of Oconee Cemetery (Athens), Jack Hadley Black History Museum (Thomasville), Jekyll Island Foundation (Jekyll Island), M.H. Mitchell, Inc. (Athens), McDaniel-Tichenor House (Monroe), Marietta Educational Garden Center (Marietta), Ossabaw Island Foundation (Ossabaw Island), and We Love Cuthbert (Cuthbert). Grants were also awarded in each of the six New England states.