current funds

The Bill Greenup Charitable Fund

This fund is a dedication to H. William, ‘Bill’, Greenup's love of books, reading and to those giving back to their community in the public library profession. He was an avid reader, passionate history buff, and long-time supporter of Fredericksburg City Public Schools.  

Bill loved his family, friends, and community and gave back by serving as a member, leader and volunteer of numerous organizations including Fredericksburg City Council, Fredericksburg City School Board, Virginians for High Speed Rail, Potomac & Rappahannock Transportation Commission, Virginia Municipal League Cities Section, Virginia Transit Association, Public Safety and Crime Prevention Steering Committee (NLC), Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center and St. George’s Episcopal Church Vestry. One of his proudest accomplishments on City Council was to help bring the Virginia Railway Express to Fredericksburg. He was a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and retired in 1997 as director of the Marine Corps Research Center at Quantico. 

Bill was famous for storytelling, and always had reading materials at hand, be it one of his multiple newspaper or magazine subscriptions or a checkout from the local library. He would often tell his daughters, “If you can dream it, you can do it” and believed in public education as an excellent pathway towards one’s goals. In one of his last interviews with the Free Lance-Star as Mayor of Fredericksburg he was quoted saying, “I’d like to be remembered as someone who tried to leave his community a better place than when he came.”  

An Ohio native and proud alumnus of The Ohio State, Bill discovered Fredericksburg in the late 1950s while enlisted in the Marine Corps. After a blind date with a student at Mary Washington College, he fell instantly in love with the woman who came to be his wife for over 55 years, Mary Elizabeth. They happily made Fredericksburg their home where they raised 2 daughters; Elizabeth and Taylor, and were delighted grandparents to 3 grandsons; Pearson, Turner and Ryelan. He passed away at the age of 80 in 2015, a year after losing his wife.  

His daughter, M. Taylor Greenup, conceived of the idea for a fund when she was home for a high school reunion. “Both of my parents loved Fredericksburg and my dad was a voracious reader and we enjoyed that together.” Taylor liked the idea that so many children can be reached through the library. Each year, grants will be made to support public-school library media specialists and library professionals employed by Fredericksburg City Public Schools. 

Grant Opportunities

Please review The Community Foundation’s overall grant guidelines by visiting our Grant Guidelines page. 

Please refer to the Competitive Grant Opportunities page for important dates for all our competitive grantmaking. 

For support in designing a proposal that makes best use of available grant funds, we encourage you to contact Director of Donor Services, Casey Hu (casey.hu@cfrrr.org) or 540-373-9292 x123.  

In addition to The Community Foundation’s overall grant guidelines, details for this fund include:

Dates:

• Applications open September 15, 2025.
• Applications will not be accepted after 5:00 PM on October 20, 2025.
• Outcomes will be announced ~November 24, 2025.
• Funds should be used within 10 months from the grant award.

Donations may also be mailed to:
The Community Foundation
The Bill Greenup Charitable Fund
PO Box 208
Fredericksburg, VA 22404-0208

Please make your check payable to:
The Bill Greenup Charitable Fund