Fundraising drives for opening a new homeless shelter and providing day-care services are getting a major boost from the Kansas Department of Commerce.

The department announced Tuesday that each project — a new Lawrence Community Shelter, to relocate from downtown; and a new early-education and preschool center, to be run by Ballard Community Center — could distribute $250,000 in state income-tax credits as part of their respective campaigns to generate donations.

Donors giving at least $500 to either cause would be eligible for a tax credit worth up to 45 percent of their donations. An individual or business, then, could donate $1,000 and pay $450 less in state income taxes.

“This is huge, just huge for us,” said Loring Henderson, director of Lawrence Community Shelter Inc., which aims to generate $2.33 million in donations to relocate to the former Don’s Steak House site in southeast Lawrence. “It makes a gift really feasible for some people, and certainly more attractive in that way.

“It also communicates to the donors that we are being as creative and clever in our financing of this as anyone can be. We’re trying everything.”

The enticements allocated to the shelter and the Ballard Center are part of $4.13 million in tax credits made available to 20 projects statewide.

Such credits are considered a major boost for any organization looking to generate donations, because donors offset their costs of contributing by getting nearly half their money back — all while supporting a worthy cause.

“We’re excited to award tax credits to these deserving organizations,” said David Kerr, the state’s commerce secretary. “These tax credits are a great way to spur investment in community improvement projects across the state.”

The community shelter is busy formulating plans for moving its homeless shelter away from the current, cramped site at 14 W. 10th St. The operation would move to 2176 E. 23rd St., where the former steakhouse would be razed and replaced with a new building with room for 100 people.

The Ballard Center, meanwhile, has outlined plans for spending $3.9 million to establish a Petey Cerf Early Education Center for Children and Families. The center would have room for 88 youngsters, from infants up through preschoolers, and focus on assisting low-income families unable to afford market rates for such education and care.

The new center would be an eco-friendly, two-story structure to be built at 345 Fla., with exterior play areas, a rooftop rain garden and a ground-level learning garden.