Building Community, Creating Opportunity, Leaving a Legacy
The Cobb Sheriff’s Foundation, established in 2021, is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit created to strengthen relationships between the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office and the communities it serves while creating a philanthropic vehicle through which businesses, residents, charitable supporters, and community partners could make a meaningful difference. The foundation’s mission is to serve as an advocate for the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office and its community-engagement efforts by supporting education, health, social services, public safety, and charitable causes.
That mission is reflected through three guiding principles: Embrace the Community, Embody the Mission, and Engage the Team. In practice, that means supporting agency personnel and families during times of hardship, assisting residents experiencing critical needs, investing in youth and education, supporting public-safety initiatives, and creating opportunities that bring law enforcement and the community together.
For example, the Annual Cobb Sheriff’s Foundation Golf Classic brings businesses, community partners, sponsors, and individual supporters together and has become a signature fundraising and relationship-building event. Planning is underway for the 2027 event, and more information can be found at cobbsheriffsfoundation.org.
Although the foundation is independently governed (by Founder and Executive Director Robert G. Haley and a board of directors composed of respected business, civic, and community leaders), it works closely with Sheriff Craig D. Owens Sr. and the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office. The relationship is intentionally collaborative. The Sheriff’s Office provides valuable insight into the needs of agency personnel and the community, while the Foundation can bring together philanthropic resources, businesses, donors, volunteers, and community organizations to help address those needs.
That collaboration can be seen through initiatives such as Santa on Wheels, the Public Safety Cadet Program, back-to-school efforts, community engagement activities, support for agency personnel and families experiencing hardship, and public-safety enhancements. Each organization has a distinct role, but they share a common interest: building a safer, stronger, and more connected Cobb County.
Among its many community initiatives, the foundation currently is focusing on the following programs:
- Through the Care, Compassion & Fallen Fund, it provides a means of supporting agency personnel and families facing hardship, including circumstances involving line-of-duty loss.
- The Greatest Need Fund supports charitable assistance, community-engagement initiatives, and Cobb County residents experiencing critical needs.
- The Public Safety Cadet Program, introduced with the Sheriff’s Office in 2025, creates opportunities for young people to explore public-safety careers while developing leadership skills and a commitment to community service.
- As we approach the holiday season, Santa on Wheels remains one of the foundation’s signature initiatives. Through donor, volunteer, and community support, wrapped gifts and holiday goodwill are delivered directly to Cobb County children and families. It is one of the clearest examples of how generosity can become personal.
- Still in development, the proposed Youth Development Center represents a long-term vision for creating a place centered on education, mentorship, leadership, workforce exposure, positive engagement, and opportunity for Cobb County’s young people.
- Broader community efforts include educational and scholarship support, back-to-school initiatives, literacy and mentoring efforts, community partnerships, and support for numerous organizations serving Cobb County.
As a 501(c)(3), the foundation receives support through individual and corporate contributions, grants, sponsorships, fundraising events, community partnerships and donor-advised charitable giving. Another important resource is Georgia’s LESS Crime Act, which provides eligible Georgia taxpayers an opportunity, subject to applicable requirements and state approval, to receive a state income tax credit for qualifying contributions to approved law-enforcement foundations. Importantly, the foundation says that giving back does not always mean writing a check.
Residents can volunteer during community initiatives, participate in foundation events, support holiday and school-supply drives, introduce the foundation to prospective partners, and help increase awareness of its mission. Businesses can sponsor programs and events, provide in-kind resources, engage employees in volunteer opportunities, or explore partnerships around specific foundation initiatives.
According to the Cobb Sheriff’s Foundation, community participation takes many forms — contributing resources, volunteering time, sponsoring an initiative, mentoring a young person or simply making a connection that creates another opportunity. They want Cobb residents to see themselves not simply as donors, but as partners in the work.
The foundation is entering an important period in its evolution, the organization reports. The first five years were about building the foundation — establishing strong governance, creating trusted relationships, developing programs, raising resources, and demonstrating how a nonprofit organization can help connect public safety, philanthropy, and community engagement. The next chapter is about building legacy.
To learn more or make a gift, visit cobbsheriffsfoundation.org/donate or scan the QR code.
