Boosting Students’ Dreams
The Columbia (SC) Chapter of the Links, Incorporated, boost their annual scholarship. The Columbia (SC) Chapter of the Links, Incorporated is a not-for-profit organization consisting of women of color who contribute to their communities through a variety of service projects and initiatives with a focus on the arts, health and wellness, and youth engagement. The group’s members work with communities to understand their needs and priorities and provide financial and volunteer resources to address them – an inclusive versus a directive approach. One of the chapter’s most important projects is their Links Scholars program, a scholarship program that awards financial support to deserving students of color. The first year the program was launched, two students received scholarships. Last year, ten students received awards. Since the creation of the Links Scholars program in the early 1990’s, Dr. Benetta Bell,
recipients of the links scholars program scholarship
“Working with Central Carolina
who might slip under the radar for other
Community Foundation, we have been
scholarships.
able to reach further into the community
“Our goal with the scholarship was not
Vice President of the Links Incorporated,
with our fundraising efforts and connect
Columbia (SC) chapter, has seen the
with corporations who know of the
nonprofit’s scholarship program double.
Community Foundation. Our corporate
“If I had to estimate a growth percentage
donors are comfortable giving to our
for our scholarship I would say we’ve experienced 100 percent growth,” Dr. Bell says.
scholarship knowing that the funds will be well managed.” Every year, the organization combs through applicants, looking for motivated students
necessarily to find the top person in a class,” Dr. Bell says. “It was to get the B-plus student, the A-minus student, the student who is not in the top five but is going to college and will be very successful. We wanted to expand this scholarship to reach more of these students and the Community Foundation magnified our impact to the point where we can do that.” continued on page 4
AGENCY AND DESIGNATED FUNDS | 2
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WE ARE A NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION SERVING 11 COUNTIES IN THE MIDLANDS BY DISTRIBUTING GRANTS AND SCHOLARSHIPS AND LINKING THE RESOURCES OF DONORS, NONPROFITS AND COMMUNITY LEADERS TO AREAS OF NEED.
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