Help us move toward a more beautiful South Carolina
Want to help your community become more beautiful, but unsure how to move forward? Creating a local Keep America Beautiful affiliate gives you the tools to teach others how to take responsibility for their communities and do beautiful things across cities, towns or counties.
Joining an affiliate in your community means you:
- join a powerful national network of peers
- gain access to training opportunities, tools, resources & programs
- opportunity for community impact grants
What if there isn’t an affiliate in my area?
Anyone can start an affiliate! If you have the desire, KSCB will support your efforts in creating a local affiliate. Affiliates are normally set up as a government entity or a non-profit. They can be housed in various local government departments or serve in its own department. Affiliates can also be found in a chamber of commerce or soil and water conservation districts.
What about funding?
Keep South Carolina Beautiful, PalmettoPride and Keep America Beautiful offer various grant funding opportunities to address most of your projects related to litter, beautification and recycling.
KSCB offers a start-up grant to cover affiliate certification costs. The best part — KSCB covers the initial costs to Keep America Beautiful upfront so you can focus on starting the affiliate locally. Once you become certified, KSCB pays the remainder of the grant directly to your new affiliate.
How do I get started?
First, contact your state affiliate, Keep South Carolina Beautiful. They will navigate the application process with you, connect you with an affiliate mentor and assist with funding processes. KSCB will support your new affiliate during each step.
The affiliate certification process consists of two training sessions from your Keep America Beautiful Certified Trainer. The affiliate certification assists the director, team leaders, local governments and volunteers through each step for approximately one year.
During this time, the certification team will develop bylaws, a logo, a budget, a mission statement and other governance documents. The team will also select an advisory Board of Directors, study the local community litter issues, and develop solutions across multi-year plans.
On your last day of training, your affiliate birthday, you’ll be set with ideas of all the beautiful things that can take place in your community.
To get started or for more information on the affiliate certification process, contact the PalmettoPride KSCB Affiliate Services Manager Joseph Berry at jberry@palmettopride.org.
Find a KSCB affiliate near you
Keep It Beautiful License Plate Program
The “Keep It Beautiful” license plate was created by the South Carolina Department of Transportation in 1991 to raise funds for highway beautification in South Carolina. The initial emphasis was on the State Wildflower Program, but the program has now been expanded to include all types of enhancements.
The Keep It Beautiful License Plate Program allows everyone to take part in the state’s highway beautification efforts. Since the beginning of the program, more than 12,000 tags have been purchased by highway beautification advocates across South Carolina. Proceeds from tag sales are placed in the Keep It Beautiful Account to be used exclusively for highway beautification. Eligible projects include wildflower planting, gateway projects, landscaping and bike or pedestrian paths.