2142 Boyce Street, Suite 402
Columbia, SC 29201
Phone: 803.254.5601
JoAnn Turnquist
When JoAnn Turnquist joined Central Carolina Community Foundation in 2009, the organization had seven staff members, $67 million in assets, and had awarded more than $50 million in grants and scholarships. Her charismatic leadership has been instrumental in propelling the Community Foundation forward. Today, the nonprofit’s assets total nearly $220 million, and it has awarded more than $270 million in grants and scholarships.
JoAnn is proud to have helped spearhead three especially significant initiatives at the Foundation. Under her leadership, the Foundation launched Midlands Gives, a region-wide philanthropic initiative that demonstrates the power of collective giving. Since its inception in 2014, donors have raised more than $24 million for Midlands nonprofits.
After the thousand-year flood devastated South Carolina in 2015, JoAnn assisted then Gov. Nikki Haley in establishing the One SC Fund, which awards grants to nonprofits providing disaster relief and recovery during state-declared emergencies. The fund has awarded more than $10.1 million in grants across our state, helping more than 865,000 South Carolinians.
JoAnn’s vision, warmth, and ability to unite people helped her secure a partnership with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, bringing a team from Gehl Studio Architects to Columbia. The Gehl team collaborated with the city’s planning department and Foundation staff to conduct a “Public Space, Public Life” study that helped guide nonprofit initiatives across the city. More than $3.9 million invested by the Knight Foundation in the region can be attributed to JoAnn’s foresight.
JoAnn will retire this month after 15 years of leading the way in collaborative philanthropy. She and her husband, Ernie Csiszar, plan to stay in the Midlands, and JoAnn will continue uplifting philanthropy through her community involvement and donor-advised and designated funds at the Foundation.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to serve the Midlands of South Carolina. It has been a tremendous honor to lead the Foundation,” says JoAnn.
