JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WITN) – Onslow County and the City of Jacksonville held an educational workshop for local nonprofits on Thursday.

This comes as the March 1st deadline for nonprofits to apply for grant funding approaches.

Onslow County government says it is actively seeking requests from nonprofits in the community for the annual budget process.

Funding for the grant program comes from two sources, tourism funds and the general fund of the county.

Last year the Onslow County Board of Commissioners approved more than $800,000 in grants for area nonprofits including organizations like the Boys and Girls Club of Southeastern North Carolina.

“I think we got at 30,000 but every dime of that goes towards lowering our cost. Anything that the kids need one thing that I’ll never do is turn a child away from an enrollment or field trip or an event or special event that we’re having that requires a little bit of money so we always need extra funding for any of those type of activities,” said director, Keith Williams.

Onslow County gave over $1.2 million in tourism grant funding to nonprofits in 2022.

For places like the Boys and Girls Club and other nonprofits in Jacksonville, Director Keith Williams says these funds help in areas as simple as transportation costs to more complex expansion projects.

The importance for organizations is to present a proposal that benefits the community and meets a need for county government.

“What the county needs to hear about your organization and your event is how does that impact our citizens what does it save the county if there is a need in the community that’s not being met county government is generally tapped with that responsibility so if a nonprofit is out there meeting a need that would otherwise have to be met by the county then it’s to everyone’s benefit that we support that,” said Assistant County Manager, Sheri Slater

All funding applications are due on March 1.

Applicants will have the opportunity to provide a short presentation for their funding request before the budget county’s budget team on March 23.

You can find more information on how to apply on the Onslow County website.