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Our Community's Foundation - the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation (PACF) and the Regional Affiliates of Doddridge, Jackson, Little Kanawha Area (Calhoun and Wirt), Mason and Ritchie Counties - celebrated the start of its 45th Anniversary Year with its Annual Meeting on January 25th at the Grand Pointe Conference Center in Vienna.
Approximately 220 persons attended the Foundation's annual luncheon joining Foundation supporters, regional leaders, and past and present Foundation Board members.
From a humble beginning in 1963 with a contribution of $5,000, the Foundation has grown substantially, today administering more than $24 million in assets held in more than 300 different named charitable funds.
Since beginning 45 years ago, PACF has awarded nearly $9 million in grants to 550-plus organizations region wide and scholarships to over 2,800 students.
The Foundation has experienced rapid growth in recent years, tripling its asset size since 1999. PACF and the Regional Affiliates awarded approximately $1.3 million in grants and scholarships during the 2007 fiscal year, a 30% increase over its 2006 year.
The Parkersburg Area Community Foundation is now known as "Our Community's Foundation," according to its Executive Director, Judy Sjostedt. While it continues to represent the local Parkersburg - Wood County area, it also encompasses regional affiliate organizations that operate similar to subsidiaries in Doddridge, Jackson, Calhoun, Mason, Ritchie, and Wirt Counties.
The Little Kanawha Area Community Foundation (LKACF), an affiliate of PACF, was established in 2004, and since that time has built its assets from $0 to over $84,000.
The Board of LKACF has also successfully completed two challenge grants from the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, and is currently working on a third. And, in that same time period, LKACF has awarded over $10,000 to nonprofit organizations in the form of grants.
LKACF is proud to be affiliated with PACF, given the organization's strong history of solid performance and service in our region.
Collectively, Our Community's Foundation is a non-profit public charity created by local citizens for the region's good. Its service area covers ten counties in West Virginia and one in Ohio.
It builds permanent charitable funds called endowments from which the earnings are used to make grants to meet local needs for nonprofits, civic groups, and public institutions and to provide students with educational support.
Locally, the LKACF affiliate covers Calhoun and Wirt Counties specifically, and our needs and opportunities.
Sjostedt noted that the Foundation's 2008 Anniversary Year meeting theme is "Investing in Futures."
The Keynote speaker for the event was James Denova, Ph.D., vice-president of the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Denova discussed why it is necessary to invest in education and particularly, why it is important for West Virginia's future to have a strong emphasis on education and to support it locally.
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