The Noble REMC's Operation Round Up^® Trust fund is in its seventh year of bringing benefit to many in the REMC service territory. This benevolent program — made possible by the approximately 85% of participating member consumers — has distributed over $295,000 dollars via 229 grants.

Operation Round Up^® participants-who deserve all the credit for the program's success-allow Noble REMC to round up their bill to the next whole dollar and the change goes into a trust fund for grants approved by a volunteer grant review board. The contributions are tax deductible. The funds are transferred to the Operation Round Up^® Trust Fund at the Noble County Community Foundation, who distributes the funds and performs the accounting functions for the trust. Administrative costs for this program are minimal.

Non-profit community based organizations and school corporations serving the general area of our service territory-primarily Noble and DeKalb counties as well as part of Kosciusko, LaGrange and Steuben Counties are eligible to apply for grants for a project or service. Bylaws prohibit funding a grant above $10,000.

Applications for the next grant cycle will be accepted until January 8, 2009. An application is available for download on this web site (see below) or can be picked up at the REMC office. (Temporary entrance is on the south side of the building during our construction and remodeling project).

Attention educators: Operation Round Up^® has been receiving a growing number of applications from schools. We do not fund supplies, materials, etc. for a single classroom or teacher. We prefer to focus on a grant that could affect an entire building. An example might be books for all kids that will be there for years. We've had multiple applications from the same school system in a grant cycle and would encourage coordination through your central office.

Because of demand, all grant requestors are encouraged to only apply once per year. Those doing so will be considered after the others are reviewed.

The Operation Round Up^® Board is strictly voluntary and is currently comprised of five REMC members and two employees. Members have term limits and if you are interested in volunteering in the future, contact John English at 800-933-7362.

Operation Round Up^® was started by a rural electric cooperative in South Carolina more than 20 years ago. Leading rural electric co-ops have joined together in these programs generating millions of dollars for philanthropic causes at the local level. The success of the program is due to the generosity of the REMC members who allow us to round up their bill.

To obtain a grant application:

• Click on one of these links to open either a Microsoft Word file, or an Adobe Acrobat (PDF) file.
• Pick one up at the Noble REMC office or contact John or Kevin at 800-933-7362 to have one mailed.

Click to see Distribution pages for:
January 2008 | July 2008 |  October 2008 | or our Q & A page