Celebrating 25

Help wanted: Community foundation director.

It was a newspaper ad in September 1995 that drew Doug Inman’s attention.

“I remember reading the posting and thought, ‘That sounds like my skill set. I think I’m going to apply for this job,’” he said.

The job was executive director of The Portland Foundation. Today, Inman celebrates 25 years in that role.

Inman was just a year removed from earning a bachelor’s degree (his second) in accounting from Indiana University’s School of Business when he saw the ad. He was working as a public accountant at the time, driving back and forth from home in Portland to Ashman, Taggart, and Manion in Fort Wayne.

But he wasn’t looking to make a career change.

The ad just spoke to him.

“I think that’s me,” he said, recalling the moment he read the qualifications.

When Inman started, the foundation’s office was located in the former chamber of commerce building tucked between Portland Auto Parts NAPA and The Tire Center on the east side of Meridian Street. He was its only employee. Its endowments totaled about $5.5 million. There were about 100 endowment funds.

In the two and a half decades since, the foundation has made two moves — first to 112 E. Main Street in 1999 and then just a couple of years ago to its current site on the south side of John Jay Center. The foundation now has a staff of four, with program officer Jessica Cook, philanthropic services officer Cassi Alberson and office coordinator Jennifer Smith joining Inman. Its assets now total nearly $40 million, and there are about 400 endowment funds.

“It’s just been amazing to watch what Doug has done,” said Jack Cole, who preceded Inman in the position and was its first full-time executive director. “The foundation has really blossomed. It has really taken off.”

The Portland Foundation has awarded about $9 million in community grants and $5 million in college scholarships since 1995. It was responsible for the bulk of the $300,000 in scholarships from local sources that were presented during Jay County High School’s Honors Day ceremony in May.

Inman said the project he’s most proud of during his time at the helm is the creation of Freedom Park, a facility on the east side of Meridian Street in Portland near East Jay Elementary School that honors military veterans. Close behind on the list is its involvement in the creation of John Jay Center for Learning in the renovated Weiler Building. The largest grant The Portland Foundation has given was its $250,000 contribution in 2015 toward the construction of Portland Water Park. It has also been involved in major projects at Arts Place and Jay County Fairgrounds, and has provided funding to a long list of other local projects and initiatives.

The foundation had always been good, Inman said, at building endowments and making grants and scholarships since the announcement of its formation in December 1951, at the time the state’s second such organization. It’s growth in community leadership — the other priority for community foundations — that he said he’s seen change over the years.

That includes spearheading the Jay County 20/20 Vision project, a 2009 effort to set out and follow through on long-term goals. And in January, The Portland Foundation will lead an effort to develop a strategy to “combat the interrelated issues of the opioid epidemic, high child poverty, low post-secondary educational attainment and low workforce development skills” through the Lilly Endowment’s Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow (GIFT VII) initiative.

“When I first started, we were really good at the first two legs of the stool — we raised endowment dollars and we gave away grants and scholarships,” said Inman, who is also board secretary of the Youth for Christ of Adams, Blackford, Grant, Jay and Wells counties, has been elected as a Jay County Commissioner and Jay School Board member and has served on the boards of John Jay Center for Learning and Jay County Pee Wee Football. “We’ve evolved over time to become a leader in the community.”

Cole, who went on to become director of membership outreach with Indiana Philanthropy Alliance for nearly 10 years before his retirement in 2016, said he’s been proud to see the growth of The Portland Foundation. He noted Inman’s efforts not only locally but as a leader for community foundations throughout the state and to lobby Congress in support of philanthropy.

Inman said his goal after a quarter-century as The Portland Foundation’s executive director is to continue to carry on the mission of the foundation that was formed by Jon Jaqua, Hugh Ronald and W. Haynes Starbuck 69 years ago.

“If there was a legacy that I want this foundation to leave in this community, the legacy that I would hope for is that people know that this is a place of integrity,” he said. “That what we said we would do for this community and donors and grantee organizations, that we’ve done that, and we will continue to do that. Treat others the way that we would wish to be treated ourselves and serve this community to the best of our ability.”