2023 Louisiana Legends Festival Partner Grant Presentation
January 9, 2024
Claiborne Unite Foundation, Inc. recently conducted the 2023 Car Giant Louisiana Legends Festival Partner Grant presentation. The funds for the annual grant are generated through the net operating profit of the Car Giant Louisiana Legends Fest. The Claiborne Parish fund-raising organizations that receive the grant are registered participants in the Louisiana Legends Fest Partner program.
The Louisiana Legends Fest is produced by Claiborne Unite Foundation. The mission is to bring visitors to Claiborne Parish, promote economic development, and to provide a catalyst to raise money for Claiborne Parish fund raising organizations. “The Louisiana Legends Fest was designed to provide new ways for Claiborne Parish fund-raising groups to participate and to share in the success, says Jack Hightower, President of Claiborne Unite Foundation. “There are four ways for Claiborne Parish organizations to generate funds, the Louisiana Legends Fest Partner Program and the Charity Food Court are unique opportunities for the festival and the festival partner.” The Charity Food Court is a fund-raising only opportunity that utilizes a restricted menu to promote cooperation with all funds going directly to the registered Claiborne Parish fund-raising organization. The Festival Partner allows organizations to register and then encourage as many volunteers to involved in festival planning and activities. Each scheduled and worked activity generates points that are accumulated based on the individual registration. Once the books are closed on the festival, Claiborne Unte Foundation can declare a grant out of the operating proceeds. The LLF Partner Points are then assigned a dollar value based on total points earned and pro-rated to each registered Festival Partner based on the organization points.
The 2023 Car Giant Louisiana Legends Partner grant was $15,000. This is a record grant 7.1% increase over the 2022 grant. The grant represents 197% of LLF grant receivable net proceeds and 63.5% of estimated grant receivable proceeds. There were 20 Festival Partner organizations in 2023 and 219 volunteers earned partner points. The Partner Grant recipients organizations include: Haynesville Celebration of Butterflies, Haynesville High School FBLA/Cheerleader; Haynesville Jr. Sr. High School; Homer High School Alumni Association; Claiborne Unite Foundation, Claiborne Parish NAACP; Claiborne Healthcare Foundation; Claiborne Parish Daughters of the American Revolution, Lighthouse Church, First Baptist Church- Homer; Claiborne Academy; Boys and Girls Club of Timber Ridge; Athens Fireman’s Fund; Homer High FBLA; Homer High Student Council; Main Street Homer; Community Coordinating Council; Men of Courage; and the Homer Garden Club.
Thanks to our terrific sponsors and to our resolute volunteers, the Louisiana Legends Festival brought over 5,000 visitors to Claiborne Parish. This event, partnered with the unique coalition between local charities, business, and civic organizations the three-year-old festival has help generate over $40,000 of food sales for local organizations and the LLF Partner grants have presented over $37,000 in direct grants. The three years of Legends Fest has generated over $78,500 for Claiborne Parish charities. Legends Fest is a unique opportunity for local fund-raising groups to work to generate funds from festival visitors.