July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Building endowment, community (10/23/2008)
Editorial
Pennville gets it.
That much was clear on Saturday.
A couple of years ago, The Portland Foundation issued a challenge to the individual communities within Jay County.
Each town - Portland, Dunkirk, Redkey, Pennville, Bryant, and Salamonia - was encouraged to start its own endowment within the foundation. To sweeten the deal, the foundation offered to match funds an a dollar-for-dollar basis, setting an initial goal for each town of $5,000.
The idea was that with all of the competing demands for support from the foundation it made sense to have specific endowments that could be used to provide support for very target-specific local projects. Each endowment would have an advisory committee that would participate in determining how funds would be used annually. The foundation's board also believed that the very process of raising the endowment would be an exercise in community-building.
With a deadline of Dec. 31 looming, it looks like some communities have gotten the idea and others have not.
Portland, Dunkirk, Redkey, and Pennville have started on the process of building the endowment. But neither Portland nor Redkey has raised a significant amount of money.
Both Dunkirk and Pennville have met the initial goal of $5,000, but the two towns did it in strikingly different ways. Dunkirk's goal was met with a single check from one very generous donor. That's fine as far as it goes, but it doesn't do much for community-building or getting a sense of buy-in by the public.
Pennville, more than any of the others, gets it.
To build the endowment, a civic-minded group of individuals has been meeting monthly.
Last Saturday, the group held its second fall festival as a fund-raiser.
Hundreds of folks were on hand for an afternoon of low-key fun - bowling with pumpkins, playing checkers with pumpkins, sipping cider - all for a good cause.
The $5,000 challenge goal was met some time back, but Pennville continues to build its endowment, providing a meaningful legacy for its future. At the same time, the fund-raising effort has strengthened the Pennville community, bringing people together, providing new opportunities for individuals to lead, and renewing important ties between human beings.
It was impossible to walk through the Pennville park Saturday without smiling.
Something special was happening, and our guess is more special things lie ahead in the future. A strong community is on its way to becoming stronger. - J.R.[[In-content Ad]]
That much was clear on Saturday.
A couple of years ago, The Portland Foundation issued a challenge to the individual communities within Jay County.
Each town - Portland, Dunkirk, Redkey, Pennville, Bryant, and Salamonia - was encouraged to start its own endowment within the foundation. To sweeten the deal, the foundation offered to match funds an a dollar-for-dollar basis, setting an initial goal for each town of $5,000.
The idea was that with all of the competing demands for support from the foundation it made sense to have specific endowments that could be used to provide support for very target-specific local projects. Each endowment would have an advisory committee that would participate in determining how funds would be used annually. The foundation's board also believed that the very process of raising the endowment would be an exercise in community-building.
With a deadline of Dec. 31 looming, it looks like some communities have gotten the idea and others have not.
Portland, Dunkirk, Redkey, and Pennville have started on the process of building the endowment. But neither Portland nor Redkey has raised a significant amount of money.
Both Dunkirk and Pennville have met the initial goal of $5,000, but the two towns did it in strikingly different ways. Dunkirk's goal was met with a single check from one very generous donor. That's fine as far as it goes, but it doesn't do much for community-building or getting a sense of buy-in by the public.
Pennville, more than any of the others, gets it.
To build the endowment, a civic-minded group of individuals has been meeting monthly.
Last Saturday, the group held its second fall festival as a fund-raiser.
Hundreds of folks were on hand for an afternoon of low-key fun - bowling with pumpkins, playing checkers with pumpkins, sipping cider - all for a good cause.
The $5,000 challenge goal was met some time back, but Pennville continues to build its endowment, providing a meaningful legacy for its future. At the same time, the fund-raising effort has strengthened the Pennville community, bringing people together, providing new opportunities for individuals to lead, and renewing important ties between human beings.
It was impossible to walk through the Pennville park Saturday without smiling.
Something special was happening, and our guess is more special things lie ahead in the future. A strong community is on its way to becoming stronger. - J.R.[[In-content Ad]]
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