By Stephen Smoot
For three decades, the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation has supported philanthropy and the generous donors in the region that make it possible. Last week, Foundation leadership greeted the community at Taggart Hall in Romney for an open house.
Board member Scott Roach shared that “my Dad was the founding president of the Foundation.” He added that “our slogan is gather and grow,” then stated “working through donors, that’s what we do.”
As Executive Director Amy Pancake noted “in 1995, the journey began with a gift of $100,000. Today the foundation stewards nearly 400 individual component funds and more than $60 million in charitable assets resulting in grants totaling more than $16 million.”
EWVCF works as an umbrella organization and also works through County offices. Hardy County has its own Community Foundation under EWVCF. Pancake related that “thirty-four of our component funds are specific to Hardy County” which joined in 2009. Morgan, Berkeley, and Jefferson counties’ funds are administered through an office in Martinsburg, while Hardy and Hampshire are run in the Romney office.
“Those funds comprise $3 million of the collective endowment and have funded over $1 million in grants and scholarships in Hardy County,” she said.
A lot of the giving gets directed from donors. Roach explained that a donor does not need a massive sum of money to make an important impact. “You don’t need a lot of money to set up a fund,” he said. Once one is set up, the Foundation acts as the steward in growing the fund to its potential and managing responsible distribution.
Pancake told of how the process works, saying “we grow the gifts through a collective endowment and wise investment, working with world-class trust departments and professional money managers of seven local/regional banks.”
Because the banks serve the same communities, “they are committed to growing your investment so that you can grant more to the community and the causes you care about.”
A broad spectrum of sources come to the Foundation as donors. Funds can come from donated cash gifts of some sort, real estate, individuals, families, or businesses. Non profits that have federal 501 © 3 status can set up agency funds through the Foundation.
Overall, the effort and focus center on, as Pancake describes, the job to “inspire philanthropy, serve donors, strengthen communities, and improve the quality of life in Eastern West Virginia now and for future generations.”
