The Magnolia Community Foundation has helped raise more than $100,000 to fund local projects for students and benefit other nonprofit groups in the area since 2009.

“Our purpose is really to be like an umbrella group for the nonprofits so that we can host large events and raise money [all at once] instead of everybody going door-to-door to all of the same businesses around here,” Magnolia Community Foundation President Deborah Rose Miller said.

The volunteer-run organization has 13 board members, each of whom have a background of involvement within the community. Miller said most of the board members’ work and resources directly benefit local students.

One of the foundation’s biggest goals is to create opportunities for other nonprofits to raise money on their own, Miller said.

For the past four years, the foundation has partnered with the Texas Renaissance Festival to host a communitywide fundraiser. A drawing is held at the foundation’s annual Nonprofit Summit to select 15 local organizations. Each group is given two weeks to sell tickets for the festival and are allowed to keep 40 percent of the proceeds.

“Most of the organizations raise enough to take care of their needs for the year,” Miller said.

Miller said another aspect of the foundation is hosting events to expand tourism and entertainment efforts in Magnolia. However, foundation officials have not been able to maintain the same fundraising momentum this year as in previous years, she said. As a result, the foundation’s annual Summer Fest was canceled this year because of lack of interest and financial support.

Miller said the cancelation did not deter the organization from trying to host other events within the community. This year, the foundation will host a Casino Night in the fall, and group members have also revived the Miss Magnolia Pageant.

“What separates Magnolia from Tomball, The Woodlands and Conroe is that they have their own tourism organizations,” Miller said. “All of the events that are put on in Magnolia are all done so by volunteers. I think that speaks really well of our community.”