Opportunity Overview
Connected Communities Grants from Central Carolina Community Foundation support innovative projects that strengthen community connections and improve quality of life across South Carolina’s Midlands. The current program expressly includes projects that improve access to health care facilities and services, alongside housing, recreation, jobs, and arts and cultural access.
Funding and Deadline
Applicants may request $10,000 to $60,000 for projects completed during a one-year grant period. Round One closes September 30, 2026. The Foundation’s current program page does not publish an exact closing time or timezone, so Atlas does not infer one.
Eligibility and Match
Organizations must be located in the Foundation’s 11-county Midlands region and participate in Midlands Gives. The current Foundation materials identify the service area as Calhoun, Clarendon, Fairfield, Kershaw, Lee, Lexington, Newberry, Orangeburg, Richland, Saluda, and Sumter counties. Eligible applicants include qualifying charitable organizations and certain public, educational, or faith-based entities under the Foundation’s rules.
This is a challenge grant requiring outside matching funds. The match is 20% in a project’s first consecutive funded year, 30% in the second, and 40% in the third. Up to 15% of an award may be used for general operating expenses. Routine programs, fundraising projects, debt reduction, endowment or capital campaigns, medical research, and certain travel/sponsorship costs are excluded.
Atlas Analysis
Atlas Opportunity Score: 86/100. The program is a strong South Carolina healthcare-access funding opportunity for eligible Midlands organizations because healthcare facilities and services are expressly within scope.
N9+ Fit Score: 68/100, conditional. A remote physical examination platform may fit a carefully designed healthcare-access project, but equipment and technology allowability must be confirmed for the applicant’s specific proposal. Atlas does not treat general healthcare eligibility as automatic N9+ allowability.
QC Healthcare Fit: 25/100, conditional. Clinical services may be adjacent to eligible healthcare-access projects, but staffing and professional-service costs must be supported by the applicant’s project and the Foundation’s current rules.
Match safeguard: Atlas will not advance a direct Dr. Miltie submission requiring the non-Federal challenge match without Marc’s approval or a definitive applicable waiver. Applicant-side pursuit also requires confirmation of the organization’s eligibility, Midlands Gives participation, project novelty, and ability to satisfy the match.
Official Source
Central Carolina Community Foundation – Connected Communities