The $500 grant was the start of something big.
When the Johnson County Community Foundation was able to award its first grant in 1992, it was still building its endowment. Leadership determined they could provide a few hundred dollars to the Johnson County Public Library to fund a literacy volunteer training program.
The grant had an immediate impact, allowing the library to go from one literacy volunteer to 27. And it showed the potential that the foundation had.
“That was the money they had to give at the time,” said Gail Richards, CEO and executive director of the community foundation. “Now, we’re pushing at least $1.25 million in grants and scholarships each year, while still maintaining an asset base of $39 million.”
The community foundation now regularly gives out more than $1 million in grants and scholarships each year, and that small first grant shows how much work has been done to build a strong organization.
After 30 years in existence, the Johnson County Community Foundation has become a dynamo, driving positive change throughout the county. The organization has awarded nearly $25 million in grants and scholarships since it was founded, and manages millions of dollars in assets.
Shrewd leadership has made the community foundation one of the county’s most important organizations, and their foresight has ensured that it remains so for years to come.
“It was tough starting out — you had to believe in your heart, someday, this is what we’re going to be. For right now, bear with us,” said Sandy Daniels, the organization’s first CEO and executive director. “What it’s become, and what it’s meant to so many people, is something to be proud of.”
On June 17, foundation leadership and supporters gathered for their annual celebration, enhanced by the fact that it’s the organization’s 30th anniversary.
The original group of founders were honored, with two of them, Marty Armbruster and Bruce Gale in attendance. Daniels was recognized for her longtime commitment to the foundation. Full tuition scholarships, with a $900 stipend, were awarded to three local students: Tatum Hacker of Center Grove High School, Lillian Lacy of Franklin Community High School and Naman Satsangi of Columbus East High School.
The event was an opportunity to look back at the past. But organizers also wanted to provide another example of the foundation’s impact as it moves forward.
With help from an incentive program from the Lilly Endowment, an Indianapolis philanthropic foundation, the organization was able to provide three local organizations with $30,000 grants each.
Gateway Services/Access Johnson County, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Johnson County and Great Harvest Food Pantry each received a grant, to use however they choose.
“For them, this money is a game-changer,” Richards said.
Back in 1991, no one could have imagined that kind of gift being given out.
The Johnson County Community Foundation grew out of a similar group founded just two years prior. In 1989, local leaders had established the Pride and Progress Foundation of Greater Greenwood, to support projects and activities that couldn’t be paid for through taxpayer funds.
But quickly, those behind the effort realized it would be beneficial to expand to the entire county. A need to pursue common interests in a growing county prompted foundation leaders to consider expansion, according to a 1991 Daily Journal story quoting Bud Herron, the former publisher of the Daily Journal and vice president of the foundation at the time.
Adding to the motivation to make it representative of the entire county came from the Lilly Endowment.
“Lilly started saying that if you went county-wide, and made it a community foundation for the future, we would give you money,” Richards said.
When it was founded as the Greater Johnson County Community Foundation, the goal was to solicit donations and create endowments, with the eventual goal to distribute those funds to nonprofit activities such as human services, education, religious and community partnerships, arts and cultural projects, and economic development.
In the first few years, the foundation awarded grants for an area youth ministry, after-prom events at seven local schools, the Just Say No to Drugs program and an infant mortality program by the United Methodist Women.
As more projects were funded, more people saw the benefit of the foundation and donated, and the organization’s endowment grew.
“We were not only building monetary capital, but we were building social capital, leadership and people who were about the whole community, both now and in the future,” Daniels said.
Daniels had started working with the foundation as a volunteer in 1991. With a long history of working in philanthropy and education, it seemed like a good fit for her.
When the foundation was looking for its first full-time director in 1994, she felt she was the right person for the job.
“It was very scary when I came home and told my husband that I was going to be the first executive director,” Daniels said. “I just kept looking at him and telling him, ‘I believe.’”
Daniels’ first office was a one-room space above the current Hilliard Lyons office in downtown Franklin. She was the only employee, and had only a typewriter. If she wanted to send a fax, she had to ask the Johnson County Development Corp. next door to use their machine.
But under Daniels’ leadership, the foundation grew steadily. During her first year, the foundation managed 11 funds and gave out $21,000 in grants. By 2011, the organization had more than 250 funds and a total endowment of $17 million.
“She was the one who made it. I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for her,” said Richards, who took over as CEO and executive director in 2009.
Last year, donors gave $2,184,664 to the community foundation, with 24 community partners giving another $60,000. The organization was able to bestow 382 grants totaling $1.25 million. More than 200 scholarships worth more than $500,000 were given to local students.
The foundation’s mural program has beautified buildings all over the county. Through 100+ Women Who Give, numerous nonprofit organizations have received vital funding. At this moment, an Employer Resource Network is being formed that places success coaches in the workplace of participating companies.
As the pandemic wreaked havoc on the county, the foundation announced its Emergency COVID Fund. Grants have gone to support food pantries as thousands of local residents struggle with hunger. The Ivy Tech Foundation was able to support students in need, while the Humane Society of Johnson County was able to spay and neuter animals during the virus lockdown.
The money has been used to feed the hungry, support a virtual preschool and purchase COVID testing equipment.
Those achievements have made this anniversary celebration extra special as it looks forward.
“It’s all about celebrating 30 years of community development,” Richards said. “Over that time, we’ve had so much impact. And we’re looking at that $39 million that’s going to be here in perpetuity.
“We can be a catalyst for changes and to meet needs.”
