Tellico Community Foundation Announces 2025 Grant Recipients

The Tellico Community Foundation (TCF), an affiliate fund of East Tennessee Foundation (ETF), is proud to announce the recipients of grants for 2025. This year, 10 nonprofit organizations have been selected to receive funding in recognition of their innovative work and commitment to advancing childhood development in Loudon and Monroe Counties.

The 2025 recipients are:

• Adopt-a-Class TN (Loudon) – Funding for age-appropriate, science-oriented, monthly magazines for students in the Philadelphia and Greenback schools
• Boys and Girls Clubs of the Ocoee Region (Cleveland) – Funding the Great Futures Program for Monroe County youth
• CASA Monroe (Madisonville) – Supporting parenting classes on a variety of topics
• Eaton Elementary School (Lenoir City) – Funding the development of teaching kits for parents to use at home to support learning
• Lenoir City Elementary School – Replacing old and obsolete books in the school library
• Loudon County Education Foundation (Loudon) – Supporting the Books for Imagination Library program
• Monroe County Schools for the benefit of Tellico Plains High School – Supporting a media arts program to inspire career choices using alumni and student successes
• Monroe County Imagination Library (Madisonville) – Expanding capacity to purchase new books for children
• Tellico Players (Tellico Village) – Funding to continue performance reading and book donations within Loudon and Monroe County elementary schools
• Tennessee Educational Cooperative (Loudon) – Funding for teachers to mentor underserved students in after-school programs

“We are thrilled to support this year’s grantees, whose work exemplifies the spirit and values of our mission,” said Marsha Keiser, Tellico Community Foundation Board Chair. “Their dedication and creativity are truly inspiring, and we look forward to seeing the impact of their projects.”

This year’s selection process was highly competitive, with applications submitted from Loudon and Monroe County nonprofits. The TFC board reviewed and evaluated each submission based on its mission of supporting and funding programs that support childhood development in our community.

“The Tellico Community Foundation represents the East Tennessee Foundation’s commitment to community-led philanthropy,” said the ETF President & CEO Keith Barber. “Funding for these grants comes from individuals and families whose lives have been positively impacted by the greater Loudon and Monroe area, and they pay it forward by giving back to the community. We are grateful for this group of leaders for volunteering their time, raising funds, and leveraging their local expertise to help us award grants making generational impacts across the community.”

About Tellico Community Foundation

Since 2017, the Tellico Community Foundation, as an affiliate fund of the East Tennessee Foundation, has contributed over $375,000 to nonprofits serving Loudon and Monroe Counties, with a focus on support for seniors and childhood development. Through a short-term grants fund and a long-term endowment fund, the Tellico Community Foundation is committed to building a sustainable future for its community. The East Tennessee Foundation receives and manages contributions on behalf of the Tellico Community Foundation fund and facilitates the awarding of grants from TCF funds.  For more information about how to be involved with Tellico Community Foundation, please contact Dara Worrell, Senior Director of Regional Advancement, at dw******@*tf.org. To donate online, visit www.etf.org/Tellico.

About the East Tennessee Foundation

The East Tennessee Foundation (ETF) is a 501(c)(3) public charity and nationally accredited community foundation focused on serving a 25-county region in East Tennessee. As a community foundation, the ETF operates as a collection of hundreds of distinct charitable funds and supporting organizations established by individuals, families, businesses and other nonprofits. The ETF builds endowments, creating a permanent source of philanthropic funding for the East Tennessee region. For more information, visit www.easttennesseefoundation.org.