On the heels of reaching over $100 million in assets, the Wabash Valley Community Foundation has announced plans to restructure its Vigo County competitive grants process.
“This is a significant part of celebrating our growth in assets,” explained Beth Tevlin, President & CEO of the Wabash Valley Community Foundation. “We want to ensure that the grants provided by our donors’ generosity create meaningful and lasting impact. Therefore, it is an important time to review our procedures, compare them with those of our peers, and determine what changes we can make to enhance the grants the Community Foundation awards.”
The review process will be completed during 2025 and implemented with the spring 2026 grant cycle. During this time, competitive grants will continue to be awarded in Clay and Sullivan counties, while those in Vigo County will be paused during the spring and fall 2025 cycles to allow time for the restructuring work.
“Only the competitive portion of our grants will be paused in Vigo County,” added Tevlin. “Vigo County will still have significant grants and scholarships awarded during this time.”
The restructuring aligns with the National Standards Accreditation Program for community foundations. The program, directed by the Community Foundation National Standards Board with support from the Council on Foundations, represents a community foundation’s commitment to rigorous, sector-driven best practices that exceed federal and state law requirements, and demonstrates accountability and excellence to communities, policymakers and the public. The Accreditation Seal is only achieved by those foundations that comply with 26 distinct standards of excellence.
“Our accreditation indicates our commitment to quality in operations and service,” said Tevlin. “As we grow and community needs evolve, we want to evaluate what changes would help boost our impact in benefiting the communities we serve. This is a component of our goal of continuous improvement.”
The Community Foundation’s Program Director, Kelli Miller, will be facilitating the review process in conjunction with Tevlin, other Community Foundation staff and the Community Foundation’s Board of Directors.
The timing of the restructuring is also in anticipation of increased resources that will be available for grants following the successful completion of Lilly Endowment Inc.’s GIFT VIII initiative. Running through the end of 2025 (or earlier if matching dollars run out), the initiative provides a $2 match for every $1 donated to a new or existing unrestricted community endowment fund. Meeting this goal would increase these funds by nearly $5,000,000 in Vigo County, which would generate around $200,000 annually for additional grants.
“We are making progress on meeting this challenge that the Endowment has generously provided,” added Tevlin. “The impact of an additional $200,000 to award annually would be significant and have a profound effect on the grants that could be made. This is an exciting time to complete this restructuring and for our community to triple the impact of their donations.”
Individuals or corporations interested in helping Clay, Sullivan or Vigo counties meet their matching goal should contact the Community Foundation at 812- 232-2234.
