photo by: Kathy Hanks

The Ballard Center, 708 Elm St. in North Lawrence, is pictured in February 2019.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Thursday announced that 26 Kansas nonprofit organizations, including a Lawrence nonprofit, will receive more than $4 million in Community Service Tax Credits (CSP) to enhance fundraising efforts for education, health care, child care and housing projects.

The Lawrence organization is the Ballard Center, a child care and community center at 708 Elm St. The CSP funding for it is for HVAC upgrades that will provide better ventilation and air filtration.

“The Community Service Tax Credit program is an excellent tool we can use to support our state’s nonprofits and strengthen the essential services they provide to their communities,” Kelly said.

The CSP program provides a 70% tax credit to qualified donors in rural communities with a population under 15,000 and a 50% tax credit in larger communities, according to the news release Thursday from the governor’s office. For example, donors making a $1,000 gift in a rural community receive a $700 tax credit when they file their state taxes, making the net cost to the donor only $300. CSP is distributing $1 million in awards for child care and early childhood development projects, specifically for services to those under age 5.

CSP is a highly competitive program, the release said, and nonprofits were chosen through a competitive, score-based selection process. This year, 26 of the 55 projects that requested CSP funding received it.