Find Grants and Funding For African American Preservation in SC

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Grants & Funding

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Every project needs resources to come to life. Explore our database of over 100 local, state and national organizations that provide financial assistance for preservation efforts. From grants and awards to preservation tax credits and revolving loan funds, use our funding database to find specific organizations, programs and resources that match your needs.
Using the database is simple. Select the type of funding and the geography of your funding search and our database will provide you with the most likely matches for your specific project. Looking to go broader? You can also navigate through all grant and funding programs and organizations to explore who’s active in historic preservation.
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Abandoned Buildings Revitalization Act

SC State Abandoned Building Credit is available for rehabilitation of abandoned buildings and the surrounding site. Incentive provides either an income tax credit or property tax credit for the renovation, redevelopment or improvement of abandoned building sites operated for income-producing purposes.

Abbeville City + County Bailey Bill Historic Tax Incentive

This ordinance allows the City to offer a property tax abatement to encourage the rehabilitation of historic properties. To qualify in the City of Abbeville, a property must be either: Inside the City's Historic District and be at least 50 years old (or) Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The property owner must then submit an application outlining the planned rehabilitation of the property and must be the qualifying expenditures. If a property owner's application is approved by the Historic Properties Protection Commission (HPPC), then the assessed value of the property is frozen for 10 years at pre rehabilitation levels. This link includes application information and forms.

Abbeville Historic District Building Improvement Grant

The City of Abbeville is proud to have a Historic Overlay District which is governed by the City Council and the Historic Properties Protection Commission. In addition to the Governance Structure, numerous grants and other incentives are available to Downtown Building and Business Owners. For the Historic District Building Improvement Grant, the City will fund up to $10,000 of project costs on a reimbursement basis. Applicants must match a minimum of 25% of project costs.

African American Civil Rights Grants

The African American Civil Rights (AACR) documents, interprets, and preserves sites and stories related to the African American struggle to gain equal rights as citizens. Grants will fund a broad range of planning, development, and research projects for historic sites including: survey, inventory, documentation, interpretation, education, architectural services, historic structure reports, preservation plans, and "bricks and mortar" repair.

African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund

Grants from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund are designed to advance ongoing preservation activities for historic places such as sites, museums, and landscapes representing African American cultural heritage.

Aiken Facade Improvement Grant

A grant program authorized annually by City Council to encourage the renovation of building facades in the downtown area. Any property zoned DB (Downtown Business) and located in the Old Aiken Overlay District or listed individually on the Aiken Historic Register.

Backing Historic Small Restaurants Grant

Now in its fourth year, American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation are doubling the number of Backing Historic Small Restaurants grant awardees to 50 small or independently owned restaurants across the country. Each restaurant—all places that contribute to their neighborhood's unique history and identity—will receive $50,000 in funding to help them improve their businesses and positively impact their communities.

Bailey Bill Tax Abatement Program

An incentive for owners of historic buildings, this City of Columbia program may allow you to keep your building’s assessed value at the same amount for 20 years. The property owner is required to make an investment of 20% in qualifying expenses to be eligible for the property tax abatement.

Battlefield Preservation Fund

Grants from the Battlefield Preservation Fund will serve as a catalyst to stimulate efforts to preserve battlefields, viewsheds, and related historic structures and to leverage fund-raising activities.

Camden Bailey Bill Program

The Bailey Bill allows cities and counties in South Carolina to provide property tax incentives for improvements to historic structures. In 2015 Camden City Council approved an ordinance to authorize these tax incentives within the City of Camden. Property owners can have the value of the structure locked in for a period of 15 years for improvements that are approved that meet historic preservation standards. Property owners must invest at least 20% of the fair market value of the structure to qualify. In order to be eligible to receive the Special Assessment, a property must be granted a historic designation by the City Council.

Cayce Facade Improvement Program

The Facade Improvement Program is a commercial storefront improvement grant initiative administered by the City of Cayce. The purpose of the program is to encourage and assist property and business owners located in the City’s Program Area to restore and improve the appearance of the facades of their buildings. Applicants are eligible to receive up to 50% of the project cost (max $5,000), depending on the scope of the project. This grant program may be used in conjunction with other programs.

Challenge America

Challenge America offers support primarily to small organizations for projects that extend the reach of the arts to underserved groups/communities. Challenge America supports arts projects in many artistic disciplines including Artist Communities, Arts Education, Dance, Design, Folk & Traditional Arts, Literary Arts, Local Arts Agencies, Media Arts, Museums, Music, Musical Theater, Opera, Presenting & Multidisciplinary Arts, Theater, and Visual Arts.

Chapman Cultural Center Annual Grant Fund

Chapman Cultural Center provides annual grant funding opportunities to Spartanburg County-based nonprofit arts organizations and museums that have been established for 3 or more years. Our General Operating Support Grants are nearly-unrestricted funds that can be used by organizations to expand their missions and programming, hire new staff, pay their rent, purchase new equipment, provide staff benefits, and more. For small or emerging organizations, ($150,000 in operating income or less) requests for up to 25% of the organization's operating budget will be considered. Medium organizations ($150,000-399,000 in operating income) may request up to 20% of income from the organization's previous fiscal year. Large organizations ($400,000+ in operating income) may request up to 20% of income from the organization's previous fiscal year.

Cheraw Bailey Bill Tax Incentive

The Bailey Bill is a tax incentive program to encourage the rehabilitation of historic buildings by freezing the assessed value of the property for ten years. The tax incentive is obtained by investing a minimum amount into the rehabilitation of a historic building.

Cheraw Historic Building Rehabilitation Grant Preliminary Application

This grant aims to help encourage the rehabilitation of historic commercial buildings within Cheraw and are available to tenant or property owners who make a substantial investment into a historic commercial building. Historic commercial properties are defined as any that contribute or may contribute to the Cheraw Historic District and are located in the Downtown Development Incentive Area as defined in Ordinance 2019-12. Funding availability may vary. Properties used as single family or duplex residential are ineligible.

Clover Main Street Grant Program

The purpose of the Main Street Grant is to provide financial assistance to property and/or business owners to promote facade renovation and preservation.

Columbia Commercial Facade Improvement Program

The Façade Improvement Program is only available to targeted corridors within the City limits of Columbia. These corridors are determined annually based upon Neighborhood Redevelopment Service Areas assigned by the City’s Department of Community Development. This highly successful OBO program offers commercial property and/or business owner (tenants) forgivable, matching loans, amortized over a set number of years, as long as the property remains in compliance with the program agreement for maintenance and ownership. Loans are an 80/20 match, with the City paying 80% and the applicant paying 20%, of the total project cost.

Common Cause Loan Fund

The cost of maintenance for older homes – particularly in traditionally underserved communities – can limit the homeowner’s ability to remain in their home. The Common Cause Loan Fund was established by Historic Charleston Foundation and the Charleston Redevelopment Corporation in response to this growing problem.

Conserving Black Modernism Fund

Conserving Black Modernism, a part of the Action Fund's national grant program, is designed to empower and equip preservationists and stewards with funding and technical support to preserve the material heritage, innovation, and legacy of modern architectural sites designed by Black architects.

Cultural and Community Resilience

The Cultural and Community Resilience program supports community-based efforts to address the impacts of climate change and COVID-19 by safeguarding cultural resources and fostering cultural resilience through identifying, documenting, and/or collecting cultural heritage and community experiences.

Dillon Historic Preservation Grant

This grant aims to help encourage the rehabilitation of historic commercial buildings within the Downtown Dillon Historic District and are available to tenant or property owners who make a substantial investment into a historic commercial building.

Disaster Recovery Grants

After a disaster, Congress can appropriate additional funding from the Historic Preservation Fund to assist impacted communities via grants. All funded repair work must substantially mitigate the threat from disasters and include steps to mitigate future damages.In addition to assisting with the immediate needs of historic property owners, the Disaster Recovery Grants is designed to foster partnerships between local, state, and federal community planners in order to ensure that important cultural resources are integrated with statewide hazard mitigation planning efforts.

Downtown Florence Business Redevelopment & Historic Building Grant Program

The Redevelopment Grant Program consists of three application types and is a competitive grant program, meaning that applicants will be scored against a matrix established by the City of Florence to include NAICS listing priorities, potential job creation, estimated tax revenues for the City, preservation of key historical or architecturally significant building elements, and whether the proposed project meets a desired or unique niche in the marketplace that diversifies the economy of the City. Redevelopment grants are awarded based on City staff recommendation and approval by City Council.

Downtown Florence Facade Grant Program

The Facade Grant program grants up to $10,000 for property owners or tenants to improve the exterior appearance and functionality of the facades of buildings. Grants require a minimum of a 50% match by the property owner or tenant, and the grant is allocated by tax map ID number. Grant funds are limited to $10,000 per building. Facade grant program funds can be used on any exterior portion of the building that is visible to the public.

Downtown Myrtle Beach Bailey Bill

The City desires to incentivize the redevelopment of Historic Properties. Upon approval of the Reviewing Authority the Historic Property Development Incentive (HPDI) freezes the tax value of rehabilitated structures and the real property on which the structure is located for up to 10 years. To be eligible for the HPDI, historic properties must receive preliminary & final certification.

DREAM Building Improvement Grant

The DREAM Building Improvement Grant program (B.I.G. IDEA) will provide financial assistance on a cost reimbursement basis to commercial property owners and business owners in the Historic Downtown District that qualify for façade improvements. The purpose of the program is to support the revitalization of the downtown area by stimulating private investment in high-quality improvements that enhance the appearance of buildings and properties and eliminate blight and non-conforming design standards.

Edmunds Endangered Property Fund

Through this Property Fund, we seek to purchase, stabilize and re-sell historic properties with protective covenants. Our first revolving fund work was directed toward the Ansonborough neighborhood on the peninsula. Over several decades, the program helped rehabilitate more than 80 structures throughout the neighborhood. We continue to purchase and protect important historic buildings across the Charleston historic district and beyond to ensure their preservation in perpetuity. Lauded nationwide, our program also serves as a model for other preservation organizations throughout the country.

Facade Grant

The grant is open to owners of commercial properties and owners/managers of businesses located in the designated historic district as a way to support your vision for facility upgrades.

Facade Grant Program

The Facade grant program is available to business and/or building owners that are located in the designated Facade Grant area of the City of Sumter. The main objective of the program is to provide a strong financial incentive for the rehabilitation of the exterior and interior of building structures in downtown Sumter.

Facade Grant Reimbursement Application

To help maintain the appearance of the Town's commercial buildings, the Town offers façade grants of up to $1,500.00. These grants are issued on a first come, first serve basis and require a 50% match. The Town also offers smaller grants for new signs and the replacement of existing signs.

Facade Improvement Grant

Fort Mill Town Council adopted a Façade Improvement Grant Program to encourage reinvestment in, and revitalization of, the downtown commercial district.

Federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit

Owners and some lessees of historic buildings used to produce income may be eligible for a federal income tax credit equal to 20% of their rehabilitation costs under the Tax Reform Act of 1986.

Goose Creek Facade Improvement Program

The City of Goose Creek’s Façade Improvement Program (FIP) provides financial assistance to commercial property owners and business owners in The Super Incentive Zone for qualified façade improvements. The purpose of the FIP is to support the revitalization by stimulating private investment in high-quality improvements that enhance the appearance of buildings and properties and eliminate blight and nonconforming design standards. The program provides for a one-time reimbursement, up to $5,000 per project, for eligible façade improvements. The applicant is responsible for a dollar for dollar match on the grant award. The grant will be made in the form of a reimbursement to the applicant once the project is complete and all appropriate documentation has been made.

Hart Family Fund for Small Towns

Grants from the Hart Family Fund for Small Towns are intended to encourage preservation at the local level by providing seed money for preservation projects in small towns with populations of 10,000 or less. These grants help stimulate public discussion, enable local groups to gain the technical expertise needed for particular projects, introduce the public to preservation concepts and techniques, and encourage financial participation by the private sector.

Hartsville Bailey Bill

The Bailey Bill (SC Code of Laws §4-9-195 and §5-21-140) authorizes local governments to offer a special property tax assessment for rehabilitated historic buildings. The main feature of the Bailey Bill is to assess property on the pre-rehabilitation fair market value for up to twenty (20) years. This means the owner of a historic structure continues to pay property tax on the pre-rehab value of the property, but does not pay tax on the increased value due to the renovations for up to twenty (20) years. A minimum of 20% of the fair market value of the building must be spent on qualified rehabilitation expenditures.

Hartsville Downtown Facade Grant Application

The City of Hartsville has developed and implemented a Downtown Façade Grant Program to encourage reinvestment in, and revitalization of, the Downtown Historic District. This program provides reimbursable grants of up to $2,500 to help offset the cost of exterior improvements to a property owner or tenant's commercial building. The Downtown Façade Grant Program Grant will reimburse project costs up to a maximum of $2,500.

HBCU Cultural Heritage Stewardship Initiative

Provides funding to HBCUs to develop Cultural Heritage Stewardship Plans to ensure they are equipped to preserve and maintain their historic campuses and historic assets.

HBCU Grant

This grant program was established to identify and restore historic structures on Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) campuses considered to be the most historically significant and physically threatened. These grants work to preserve the historic structures on HBCU campuses, many of which are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

History of Equal Rights Grant Program

Funded through the Historic Preservation Fund, the History of Equal Rights grant program preserves sites related to the struggle for any or all people to achieve equal rights in America. This program funds physical preservation work and pre-preservation planning activities for sites that are listed in or determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places or as a National Historic Landmark. Should a site not be listed, or not listed for its association with equal rights, then a new nomination or amendment must be created as part of the grant project. Eligible costs include: architectural services, historic structure reports, preservation plans, and physical preservation to structures.

HOME Community Fund

Home Telecom, a telecommunications company based in Moncks Corner, created the HOME Community Fund at Coastal Community Foundation in 2002 to support the surrounding community in Berkeley County. In 2021, the fund expanded support to nonprofits in Charleston County and Dorchester County as well. Applications are accepted from organizations of all fields-of-interest that serve residents of Berkeley, Charleston and/or Dorchester counties.

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