One drop touches the water, and the ripples reach far. That is how the Lake Burton Civic Association Foundation (LBCAF) works. When you give, your gift supports our volunteer fire departments, nonprofits, and students.

The LBCA and our community founded the LBCAF in 2000 as a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation. Money raised by the LBCA Tour of Homes and the Annual LBCA Golf Tournament comes back to our community. It supports the Lake Burton area volunteer fire departments (VFDs) and Rabun County nonprofits.

Our grants advance four goals: water quality, water safety, preservation, and community building. Together, the LBCAF and LBCA have given more than $2 million to the Rabun community.

Thanks to you, the LBCAF Grants Committee had one of its most rewarding and challenging seasons yet. Local nonprofits submitted 33 requests for more than $160,000, showing the trust your neighbors place in this Foundation. In the end, we awarded $101,075 to 25 nonprofits.

Our ten-member committee reviewed every application against our core mission of water quality, water safety, preservation, and community building. We are proud of the 2026 grants, including support for several nonprofits new to our program, as we reach deeper into the community.

We know we cannot fund every worthy project. The Committee is revising our grant process to better serve our growing Foundation and the LBCA community it represents.

Your generosity makes it all possible. Each gift is the first ripple, and together we can support more of the groups doing vital work in our community.

• Victory Home
• Camp Evergreen
• Headwaters Master Gardeners
• CASA
• Richard’s Kids
• Ferst Readers
• Georgia Forest Watch
• Lake Burton Fun Run
• Save Georgia’s Hemlocks
• Rabun 4-H
• BSA of Rabun County
• Mountain Ivy Garden Club

*2026 Impact Award recipient

The LBCA formed the LBCAF in 2000 as a supporting 501(c)(3) charitable foundation that can receive tax-deductible gifts. The Foundation receives money from the Tour of Homes, the Golf Tournament, Sustaining Memberships, and additional donations to support the Lake Burton area VFDs and other Rabun County nonprofits.

Gifts to the VFDs have paid for equipment, added insurance, and other needs the county does not fund. More than $115,000 in gifts to the LBCAF let us buy the Lake Burton fire and rescue boat, build the boathouse on Murray Cove to house it, and purchase a Georgia Department of Natural Resources ranger boat. Those gifts still ripple through the lake today.

The LBCAF is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable organization, so all gifts are tax-deductible consistent with IRS Section 170. Our EIN is 58-2535553.

Award presentation to the Rabun County Fuller Center