Organizers of the African American Empowerment Fund of Delaware (AAEFD), a new philanthropic initiative of the Delaware Community Foundation, will officially launch the fund in Sussex County at the Sussex County Association of Realtors (SCAOR), 23407 Park Ave., in Georgetown, from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

The effort mirrors the successful Fund For Women, a Delaware Community Foundation fund created to improve the lives of women and girls in Delaware.

Lee County's community-based organization, Envision Opelika, has announced the implementation on the Community Foundation of East Alabama, Inc.

"The basis of the foundation is to build funds for philanthropic purposes and non-profit organizations based on identified community needs," board member Barbara Patton said. The needs will be changing, and the community foundation will be here."

The community foundation will work to preserve resources for different types of scholarships: the arts, social philanthropic groups and other types of organizations.

"We don't have any specific organizations chosen just now," said Dora James, Chairperson of the CFEA.

James also said the most successful community foundations were those who reached out beyond just one county to their whole area.

A recent round of grants is alleviating some of the stress local nonprofits are feeling in the tough economy.

The Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County Thursday granted a total of $744,750 to 53 local nonprofits that provide safety-net services.

"The effects of the recession hit nonprofits particularly hard," said Luis Chabolla, community and education officer for the foundation.

It wasn’t a day at the beach that occupied Karen Troop’s hot Saturday, but the Simi Valley Realtor probably had more fun working in the warehouse sorting goods for a new thrift store than if she’d hit the waves.

The Simi Valley store, Treasure Hunters Boutique, will open in mid-September and will serve as a fundraising arm for the Simi Valley Community Foundation, a nonprofit organization raising money to help the city’s needy and address other community needs.