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The Community Fund Exceeds $1 Million!
Directed by the Foundation’s Board of Governors, The Community Fund was created as a way for its leadership to respond to the most promising opportunities for impact.
Thanks to a major gift from board member, fund holder and true community champion, Mary Jane O’Neill, The Community Fund is now more effective and more essential than ever.
What is the best way to protect our region and ensure that it thrives? Our community is full of solutions. Local nonprofits and community leaders are hard at work creating significant impact. They need and deserve our help to make a difference.
Last year’s Visionary grants are examples of the power of this unrestricted fund. To celebrate the Foundation’s 20th anniversary, four grants were awarded in each of four categories: Environment, Education, Health and Human Services, and Arts. A grant of $20,000 was given to the four nonprofits with the most compelling proposal for how to positively impact our community over the next 20 years.
Community Foundation board members created The Community Fund 15 years ago to prepare the Foundation to respond quickly and strategically to address critical needs in our region. Beginning with the Davis Initiative, a fund development campaign led by past Foundation President Bruce Davis and his wife Sandy, the fund has grown considerably over the last 2 years. Click here for a complete list of donors to The Community Fund of the Community Foundation.
Today the Community Fund has a balance of $1.28 million permanently invested to grow as a community asset. Meanwhile, a percentage of averaged balances from the thoughtfully invested fund is available each year for promising nonprofits.