When you give to the YMCA of Greenville Foundation, your support impacts lives long after your gift is made. A percentage of the investment income from the Endowment Fund is used to help sustain our commitment to healthy living, youth development, and social responsibility by supplementing the Y’s projects, programs, and services.
Designated Endowment Funds
Naming an endowment fund at the YMCA is easy – you can decide to make an outright gift or build the fund over time. As with all endowments, it is a permanent fund set aside for a special purpose: it creates an opportunity to provide support for a YMCA program or service that is meaningful to you and your family. Because the annual distributions of support come from the income and earnings, the fund becomes a growing, perpetual source of income for the YMCA program you have chosen to support.
Bob Coleman’s love of his country and his dedication to helping others succeed led him to encourage our YMCA to develop the Youth in Government (YIG) Program in South Carolina. Our state now has the fifth largest YIG Program in the country. Because of Bob’s leadership, thousands of students have grown in their understanding of the importance of principled discussion and compromise to achieve goals that improve our community. This Designated Endowment Fund ensures access for all students to the amazing YIG Program. The Christopher Brian Capps Memorial Fund also supports our YIG Program.
For more than a decade, Gally has committed his valuable time to read to our preschool children at our YMCA Judson Community Center. We have a commitment to ensuring that the lives of the Judson community children of this generation, and the next, and dozens after that, will have access to a caring center that promotes excellence. This Designated Endowment Fund makes a difference every year.
Our YMCA of Greenville is known for its excellent aquatics programs. Our YMCA teaches children to stay safe around water. Entire families learn how to swim here. Our Y pools offer fantastic wellness opportunities for people of all ages – swimming and exercising in our Y pools is a life-long activity. This Designated Endowment Fund generates annual grants to improve and expand our many aquatics programs.
For more than fifty years, our YMCA on Cleveland Street has fulfilled our mission of building a healthy spirit, mind, and body for all. Growth has brought many improvements over the decades, but our Y promise of never turning anyone away due to the inability to pay remains solidly constant. This Designated Endowment Fund makes annual distributions to the Annual Campaign for Open Doors Scholarships. The following people and families have made gifts for scholarship support: Family of Buck Mickel; Frank & Shirley Halter family; Carol Clement family; Frank S. Poe, Jr.; Laura & Marvin Quattlebaum, Jr.; and Carol Gallitzin and Family.
Perhaps the greatest example of multi-generational YMCA programming is the magic that happens on the mountain at Y Camp Greenville for the past century and counting. Gifts to this Designated Endowment Fund result in perpetual annual scholarships for children with financial need to join their classmates in a life-changing experience of learning about nature, growing their independence, and building friendships. Frank S. Poe, Jr. and the Jude Watson Memorial Fund have supported these annual scholarships.
Soon after Thomas "Tommy" Sinn, II passed away in 2018, his family and friends made memorial contributions to the YMCA of Greenville to honor his dedication to supporting our Y cause of building a stronger community. Tommy was on the board of advisors of the Caine Halter Family YMCA, a youth soccer coach, and was "the glue that holds everyone together."
Tommy found his own team as an adult in 2009 when he joined the Poets & Pirates group at the Caine Halter YMCA. This group who shared more than 10,000 miles with Tommy have run for fun, friendship, exercise, and now for Tommy's legacy. Tommy sparked a movement with the Poets & Pirates' "40Men4Change" initiative, which encourages everyone to "Go Play," and it is his legacy that will continue to encourage everyone to "Go Play" at the Y regardless of their ability to pay.
It is a privilege to honor Tommy Sinn with a YMCA of Greenville Foundation Endowment Fund to support youth programs and Exercise Is Medicine Greenville®. This Endowment Fund will be funded in large part with the support of the Poets & Pirates, which is the community within the Y Tommy found that provided not only a running group but fellowship.
Youth programs encourage our children to stay active, learn sportsmanship, set goals, and persevere when obstacles arise. That's something Tommy showed daily. At the YMCA of Greenville, we hope to encourage the benefits of teamwork and camaraderie and inspire our local youth to excel through sports, swimming, and camps as an opportunity for children to make friends, develop confidence, and learn discipline and leadership skills. By opening our doors to every child, regardless of financial resources, our YMCA ensures an experience in a supportive environment. When children are nurtured, regardless of athletic ability, our YMCA promotes a love for the exercise and encourages lifelong participation.
As Tommy battled a stage IV brain tumor with surgeries and chemotherapy, he continued to persevere and exercise daily. Tommy embodied the health initiative, Exercise is Medicine Greenville®, a commitment to physical activity to promote better health in the prevention and treatment of many medical conditions. Tommy had a support system around him, and we will honor Tommy by providing annual scholarships and support for those wishing to join EIM with the YMCA of Greenville.
The Tommy Sinn Endowment Fund will generate a perpetual source of income to provide annual grants to our youth programs and Exercise is Medicine Greenville® for the YMCA of Greenville. This endowment funding will be awarded annually, thus, the funds will be used in the area of greatest need as determined by volunteer members of the Board of Directors of the YMCA of Greenville Foundation, Inc.
Samuel Cary Beckwith III, or Cary to those who knew him, dedicated decades supporting the YMCA of Greenville’s youth sports program. From a teenager on through his adult life, Cary gave back countless hours as a volunteer coach for our YMCA youth sports teams. Never one to give less than his full effort, Cary went to extraordinary lengths to make his players’ experience special. He painted his football players’ helmets, stitched numbers on his basketball players’ jerseys, and mowed the grass for the perfect infield for his baseball teams.
Soon after Cary’s death in 2017, his family and friends made memorial contributions to the YMCA of Greenville Foundation to honor his dedication to supporting our Y cause of building a stronger community. It is an honor to recognize Samuel Cary Beckwith III with a YMCA of Greenville Foundation Endowment Fund to support Y youth sports. The Beckwith Endowment Fund will be funded in large part with ongoing donations from Abacus Planning Group, the firm that merged with Cary’s business before his death.
Cary knew that helping Greenville’s boys and girls with their athletic dreams would build a community of leaders who know the value of teamwork, the importance of diligent practice, and the joy of competing – win or lose.
Youth sports encourage our children to stay active, learn sportsmanship, set goals, and persevere when obstacles arise. Participating in youth sports and being part of a team provide wonderful opportunities for boys and girls to make friends, develop confidence, and learn discipline and leadership skills. By opening our doors and playing fields to every child, regardless of financial resources, our YMCA ensures a sports experience in a supportive environment. When children are nurtured, regardless of athletic ability, our YMCA promotes a love for the sport and encourages life-long participation.
The Samuel Cary Beckwith III Endowment Fund will generate a perpetual source of income to provide annual grants to our youth sports programs at all of our YMCA of Greenville locations. The funds will be used in the area of greatest need as determined by volunteer members of the Board of Directors of the YMCA of Greenville Foundation, Inc.