North Myrtle Beach, SC - The South Carolina Department of Parks Recreation and Tourism (SCPRT) awarded the North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce Convention & Visitors Bureau, a $130,950 matching grant as part of its Tourism Partnership Fund (TPF) program for the 2011-2012 fiscal year.
In making the award, SCPRT reported that 31 grants were awarded across the state of 68 grant applications requesting $2.9 million in funding assistance for the $1.3 million budgeted by the state.
The TPF program is a competitive matching grant program with a goal to fund the very best grant applications while distributing the benefit of the program as widely as possible. Each of the applications were read and scored by a panel of five judges. The highest and lowest scores were dropped and then each application was ranked by the average of the remaining three scores.
The average score for the North Myrtle Beach grant was 97.00. A low of 94.00 and a high of 100.00 were dropped leaving the three remaining scores of 98.00, 98.00, and 95.00 resulting in the 97.00 average. The North Myrtle Beach grant request was for $150,000 and the 97.00 average resulted in the $130,950 award.
Marc Jordan, President & CEO of the North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce Convention & Visitors Bureau commented, “We are extremely pleased with the TPF award, and praised Marilyn Rinehart, the chamber’s Director of Marketing, for her work in completing the grant application."
"Our grant received one of the highest scores for any applicant in the state and the total was almost double what we had budgeted and anticipated. Over the last several year’s Marilyn has consistently been awarded similar scores by the state’s judges. For this we are very proud and appreciative,” he continued.
The grant funds will be used to enhance the CVB’s interactive marketing budget, increase the pay per click campaign, targeted e-blasts, and social media marketing programs.
For more information on the North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce CVB please visit www.NorthMyrtleBeachChamber.com.
###
