Celebrating 2016-2017
A letter from Community Foundation president, Pete McCown, and board chair, Dzung Nguyen:
For 28 years the Community Foundation of Elkhart County has focused on connecting generous people to community causes.
If you talk to leaders of the nonprofit agencies (NPOs) in Elkhart County, they speak about the remarkable generosity and volunteerism in our community. If you talk with those involved as donors and volunteers with these organizations, they speak about the passion and dedication of the staff at our local NPOs. Those who view Elkhart County from the outside speak with admiration of what happens here including the strong esprit-de’-corps they observe among our nonprofit executives. Here at the Community Foundation we take seriously our efforts to help create this ecosystem and nurture these connections.
The results of these connections are remarkable, and the future of Elkhart County is bright. Construction is winding down on a number of new buildings that will serve our community for years to come including the new Joy Rose Center at CAPS, the new Humane Society, the new Boys and Girls clubhouses in both Goshen and Elkhart, and the new ETHOS facility, as well as the completion of the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail. We are thrilled for these organizations and applaud those who led the fundraising and planning campaigns for each of these important projects. In the coming year we look forward to the progress of yet another set of projects including the WaNee 2020 vision, renovation of the Goshen Theater and construction of the Elkhart Health, Fitness, Aquatics and Community Center.
The Community Foundation is privileged to have partnered with each of these projects through grants from the Fund for Elkhart County. In addition, many individual and corporate donors have directed their giving through the Community Foundation to support one or more of these projects as well as other important causes. As you will note in this year’s report, these donors contributed more than $26 million to various funds managed by the Community Foundation in fiscal year 2016-2017. Furthermore, this was an excellent year with respect to the investment performance of the foundation’s endowment resulting in an annual return of nearly 13.5%. As a result, assets under management grew from $232 million to $272 million. At the same time, grants from the Community Foundation totaled more than $18 million, including more than $2 million in scholarship awards.
Needless to say, the 28th year of the Community Foundation of Elkhart County was exciting and fulfilling. We are honored to serve you and all those who seek to make this community a better place.
To read more stories of generosity and how each of us if a link in our community, click here to view our 2016-2017, annual report.
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