Grants for author visits – SC Lowcountry

by Adrienne Bashista

I’ve been talking to someone who wants me to come visit the South Carolina Lowcountry area ( Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper counties), probably in the fall. One cool thing about that section of SC is that I have relatives who live on Daufuskie, so as long as the school’s schedule jives with their schedule (they’re busy, traveling, retired grandparent types) I wouldn’t have to charge for a hotel stay.

The person who wants me to visit is not a school system employee, simply a friend of a friend, but she’s mentioned that she doesn’t think the school she’s connected to has any discretionary funds for an author visit.

This is what I’ve told her: in 15 years of working in schools, and many, many visits by authors and storytellers, I never used any school funds for an author visit! I always wrote grants to pay for visitors at my school.

To help her out, I did a quick search for grant possibilities to fund author visits in Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper counties, SC. I found many possibilities:

Target Arts Grants: http://sites.target.com/site/en/company/page.jsp?contentId=WCMP04-031819
Walmart Store Grants: http://walmartstores.com/CommunityGiving/238.aspx
Donorschoose is an excellent source for grants for teachers/schools. If a teacher has already written and received several grants through Donorschoose he/she can write a grant proposal for something outside of the Donorschoose stores.
Kiwanis clubs have literacy and reading for children as part of their mission. It’s possible that the local Kiwanis Club would sponsor an author visit.
The Community Foundation for the LowCountry
Beaufort County Schools Education Foundation (couldn’t find a website)
Colleton Education Foundation grants
Beaufort County Arts Council grants for teachers
On the Coastal Community Foundation website I found links to grants from The Beaufort Fund and the The Blackbaud Fund, both of which seem to have funds that could be used for author visits.
Hampton County Arts Council (the website www.hamptonarts.com did not get me anywhere, so I don’t know if they give out grants, but if you’re in Hampton county you probably know all about them)
Palmetto Electric Cooperative Bright Ideas grant (Beaufort, Hampton, and Jasper counties)

I’m sure there are many other possibilities that the educators in Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper counties know about already. If you’re a teacher, media specialist, librarian, lover of books or the arts in the LowCountry of SC and know of other ways to fund school visits, please let me know!