Hillsborough Township Mayor Frank DelCore recently announced that the Hillsborough Township Credit Card Advisory Committee will be accepting grant applications.
The applications began on March 4 for the first round of grants for the year.
“Applications will be made available on the township website (www.hillsborough-nj.org) or can be picked up in the administration office for any township based non-profit, senior or youth organizations to apply for grants up to $2,000 funded through the Hillsborough Rewards Credit Card Program,” DelCore said.
Township officials said that completed applications must be submitted by April 1 to the administration office to be considered for eligible grant funding.
To date, officials said the Hillsborough Rewards Credit Card Program has awarded close to $70,000 in grants to community based non-profit organizations that serve township youth and seniors.
Hillsborough Township has partnered with the Affinity Federal Credit Union (AFCU) to offer a Hillsborough Rewards Visa Credit Card. Administered through the Affinity Federal Credit Union – Hillsborough Branch, individuals and businesses are invited to sign up for a special Hillsborough Township Rewards Visa Credit Card.
Similar to other reward based cards, card users of the Hillsborough Rewards Visa Credit Card receive a point for every dollar spent which they can then redeem at any future time for various reward options such as cash back, travel, gift cards, merchandise and much more.
The unique feature of the Hillsborough Rewards Visa Credit Card, through AFCU is that a percentage of the purchases (card usage) is returned to the Hillsborough Credit Card trust fund. Township officials said that funds deposited to the trust fund are then distributed to various township non-profit senior citizen groups and youth organizations through the credit card grant application process.
According to township officials, these grant opportunities are self-funded through the account and do not cost the taxpayers of Hillsborough any tax resource dollars.
The program allows individuals or businesses to sign up for the special Hillsborough Township Rewards Visa Credit Card that gives back a portion of every charge, in the form of grants, to nonprofit local youth and senior citizen groups as recommended by the Credit Card Advisory Committee and approved by the Township Committee.
According to township officials, all past recipients completed the application process and were recommended by the Credit Card Advisory Committee, based on the various criteria outlined in the application for the awarding grants.
Recipients of previous grants have included Boy Scout Troop 1776, who were rewarded funds to purchase camping equipment including tents and kitchen supplies. The Woodfern Home and School Association received a grant to purchase digital cameras for fundraising. The Hillsborough Rockettes & Rocket were able to purchase costume accessories with funds from the grant.
Other groups that have received funds are the Hillsborough HEAT baseball team and the Family YMCA. The HEAT baseball team received funds to purchase batting helmets and the YMCA was able to invest in aquatic swim equipment with the funds from the grant.
Affinity is the largest credit union headquartered in the state of New Jersey with 16 branches, more than 135,000 members from thousands of businesses and organizations, and total assets in excess of $2.8 billion.
Affinity began its charitable branch in 2005. Since its inception, Affinity has distributed over $1 million to local Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York charities and communities.
For more information on the Affinity Hillsborough Rewards Visa Credit Card visit: https://www.affinityfcu.com/credit-cards/hillsborough-rewards-visa.aspx, call the Member Service Center at (800) 325-0808, or stop by the Hillsborough Branch of the Affinity Federal Credit Union.