Cobb Community Foundation's unique structure assists both nonprofits and individuals, paving the way for countless influential stories and palpable changes in the lives of Cobb County kids and families. Its story is one worth telling.
How It Started
In the early 1990s, member Jim Rhoden encouraged East Cobb Rotary to create a charitable fund at what is now the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. After establishing the fund, some of Cobb County's most prominent business leaders joined Jim in creating a another charitable fund that encouraged everyone to give charitably in Cobb. In 2005, Cobb Community Foundation became an independent foundation. It's been changing Cobb County for the better ever since.
How It Works
Cobb Community Foundation manages to be timely in their outreach while supporting as many local organizations and nonprofits as possible.
All funds fall into two categories: advised or discretionary. Of the Foundation's $30 million in assets, 30% is held for charitable organizations, 60% is held in donor-advised funds, and the remaining 9% makes up a combination of scholarship funds and funds designated for charitable organizations. In each category, donors are responsible for distributing their funds as they see fit. The remaining 1% goes to the Foundation for unrestricted use and discretionary grant making.
Shari Martin, President and CEO, assures "We consider it our job to understand the needs of the community, who is meeting those needs and what gaps still remain."
Cobb Vital Signs, a new initiative, will allow the Foundation to collaborate with Kennesaw State University, government agencies and nonprofits to obtain new and relevant information for better-informed grant making decisions and, hopefully, the chance to make a bigger impact with fewer dollars. Along with this roll out, the Foundation has big plans to grow the discretionary grant making pool to $5 million by the end of 2028.
In the meantime, Cobb Community Foundation focuses its efforts on childcare and early learning, mental health, poverty reduction, and nonprofit capacity building. It also actively leverages discretionary funds to create awareness among funders and the community, which, in the last year, helped keep 50% of grant dollars in Cobb County and 71% in metro Atlanta.
Supporting Kids and Families
Along with their support via discretionary grant making, nearly everything Cobb Community Foundation does directly contributes to the betterment of local children and families.
The organization was instrumental in securing Friends for East Cobb Park an ongoing stream of income; it organized the first Cobb Food Fleet during COVID, which continues providing meals to rows of cars with sleeping children in their backseats each week; it's actively subsidizing counseling services through Cumberland Counseling Center; and it gets the word out to local families about how they can support their neighbors in need.
“Thank you for your part in creating a safe place where I can ride my bike, play on a playground and even see a concert,” said Addilyn Mason, a local kid particularly touched by the Foundation's work on East Cobb Park.
"How do we benefit children in East Cobb? We’re supporting organizations that are
improving their quality of life," explains Shari Martin. "But beyond that, my greatest hope is that we are instilling in them the knowledge that they CAN they make a difference in their
community while also creating in the desire to do so."
Learn more about supporting Cobb Community Foundation, and in turn, how you can support Cobb County's most pertinent causes, at cobbfoundation.org.
"I believe that a rising tide lifts all ships. We're rising the tide in Cobb County." - Shari Martin