Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina
Investing in rural communities to improve dental health
NORTH CHARLESTON, SC: A community foundation located on the coast of South Carolina engaged 1000 Feathers to assess opportunities for investment guided by the parameters of a donor-advised fund. Specifically, the question to explore was what strategies exist for investing in the dental health of people living in rural areas of South Carolina’s Lowcountry. 1000 Feathers used its traditional four-step approach to create recommendations aimed at maximizing the Coastal Community Foundation’s investments and meeting the communities’ needs.
Founded in 1974, the Coastal Community Foundation (CCF) manages $289 million in assets from over 700 charitable funds, making it one of the 75 largest community foundations in the country. CCF has a nine-county footprint and works to create communities rich in equity, well-being, and opportunity.
Like many community foundations, CCF is responsible for a number of donor-advised funds, allowing donors to direct resources to the issues and causes they care about. In this case, one donor at the foundation decided to invest resources in promoting dental health in the rural communities of Beaufort, Hampton, and Jasper counties. Before making any funding decisions, the foundation turned to 1000 Feathers to gain in-depth insight into the communities’ dental health needs and make investment recommendations.
Components of the seven-month project included a literature scan, interviews with dentists and other content experts, listening sessions with community organizations and coalitions, and a consumer survey of over 100 residents distributed by local healthcare providers.
Our team defined the challenge, engaged and connected with community members, and created a three-tiered set of recommendations that was presented to the CCF Grants Committee for further discussion and consideration. Topping the list were strategies to fund capital improvements and equipment upgrades at free and low-cost dental clinics and to pay for the fluoridation of all water systems in the three-county region. By listening to providers, local experts, and consumers, 1000 Feathers made investment recommendations that will have a real and lasting impact on people’s health and well-being.
Our final report categorized recommendations into three categories: Those things the foundation could fund and advance (without much further discussion), actions requiring them to convene and partner with others, and ideas that seemed promising but required continued learning.