Grants from NCCF’s philanthropic network support nonprofits like Children’s Cancer Partners of the Carolinas
Every year, the North Carolina Community Foundation’s fundholders, affiliate foundations and giving circles make grants to nonprofits. In 2024 alone, over $24.7 million in grants were made.
One organization that has benefited from NCCF’s philanthropic network is Children’s Cancer Partners of the Carolinas, which has received more than $180,000 in grants from NCCF affiliates and generous fundholders since 2019.
“I’m grateful to the NCCF staff and those who have chosen to assist their local children,” said CCP executive director Laura Allen. “I don’t have a marketing budget to be able to spread the word, but when people have the opportunity to hear us one-on-one to learn what it is that we do, they are really moved.”
Cancer is the nation’s number one disease killer of children, and Children’s Cancer Partners aided more than 2,400 children fighting cancer in the Carolinas in 2024, a majority living in North Carolina. CCP depends on philanthropy to help pay for patients to get to lifesaving treatment at pediatric cancer hospitals not just in the Carolinas, but throughout the country, while providing financial assistance for their families’ travel, food, lodging and other expenses.
The main mission of NCCF affiliates and giving circles is for their grants to support their local communities, and that includes Moore Women – A Giving Circle. In November, the NCCF program awarded CCP a $14,000 grant, the most money ever granted by the Moore County giving circle.
“It’s kind of unusual to write a check for $14,000, but that was the impact we wanted to make,” said Ann McAllister, a grants committee member for Moore Women – A Giving Circle.
Even though Children’s Cancer Partners’ headquarters are in Spartanburg, S.C., McCallister learned through CCP’s locally tailored application that it was assisting 25 children in Moore County. “It was not a hard sell. Their grant was very well-written,” she said.
Laura Beasley, an advisory board member of the Bertie-Hertford Community Foundation, found out during the NCCF affiliate’s grantmaking process that CCP was supporting the family of her two-year-old great nephew who traveled from Ahoskie to Duke University Hospital for cancer treatments before he passed away in October 2024.
“(Allen) knew exactly who they were, and (CCP) had been so helpful for my niece and her family,” Beasley said. “They were very supportive at the hospital, and they provided a lot of toys, which he loved.”
Allen emphasizes to potential donors that CCP doesn’t have multiple offices throughout the Carolinas to keep overhead costs low. In addition to the office in Spartanburg, they have donated office space in Durham. She highlights how 85 cents of every dollar donated goes into CCP programs.
“We may not have an office in your community, but we are right there with your children. We are sitting by their bedside at UNC or at Duke. We are bringing that child into our program at the time of diagnosis, and we’re staying with them until they turn 21,” she said. “Every child with a cancer diagnosis is welcome to our program. To think about the kids who are rural and poor, they’re at three times a greater risk of a late diagnosis, or missed appointments, or relapse, and that’s not okay by my watch.”
That’s a message that hit home for Bertie-Hertford Community Foundation board member Guy Holley when the board awarded CCP with a $1,000 grant in June.
“They’re already intertwined within our northeastern North Carolina community, which was really good to see and hear that our local children were already able to benefit from their services,” Holley said. “They were able to articulate their story more to our community and the work that they do.”
While Allen is thankful for previous grants and donations from NCCF, she is often traveling the state to seek more. “We have a long way to go,” she said, “but I can rest assured that these children, until there’s a cure for cancer, have access to the best possible care.”