Berks County Community Foundation [1] is a public benefit organization located in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Foundation's mission is to promote philanthropy and improve the quality of life for the residents of Berks County, Pennsylvania.
Berks County Community Foundation is a member of the Council on Foundations.
The foundation was started in 1994 with grants from the Wyomissing Foundation, a local private foundation. [3] Like other community foundations, it works with people, businesses and organizations to set up charitable funds that make grants to causes they care about. It manages hundreds of charitable funds, Some people create funds while they are alive, others in their will. [4]
The foundation's articles of incorporation were filed June 7, 1994. The Wyomissing Foundation gave the fledgling Community Foundation $1 million in initial operating funds. The United Way of Berks County housed the Community Foundation for more than two years until the Community Foundation could afford its own space. [5]
Kevin Murphy was hired as the Foundation's first employee in 1994 and has remained president ever since. [6]
In 2015, a $100,000 grant from the Community Foundation's Hawley and Myrtle Quier Fund to the Reading Downtown Improvement District started the free Downtown Alive outdoor concert series . [7] n. [8]
In 2021, Berks County Community Foundation received a gift of $25 million to establish the Berks Nature Endowment Fund. [9] It is the largest designated fund administered by Berks County Community Foundation. [10]
Wyomissing is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States, established on July 2, 1906. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,114, compared to 10,461 at the 2010 census. The growth was significantly larger between 2000 and 2010 largely due to its merger in January 2002 with neighboring Wyomissing Hills. Wyomissing is the most populous borough in Berks County. The borough is recognized as a Tree City USA and selected as a "Contender" for the best places to live in Pennsylvania by Money magazine.
Tides Foundation is an American public charity and fiscal sponsor working to advance progressive causes and policy initiatives in areas such as the environment, health care, labor issues, immigrant rights, LGBTQ+ rights, women's rights and human rights. It was founded in San Francisco in 1976. Through donor advised funds, Tides distributes money from anonymous donors to other organizations, which are often politically progressive. It manages two centers in San Francisco and New York that offer collaborative spaces for social ventures and other nonprofits.
A foundation is a category of nonprofit organization or charitable trust that typically provides funding and support for other charitable organizations through grants, but may also engage directly in charitable activities. Foundations include public charitable foundations, such as community foundations, and private foundations, which are typically endowed by an individual or family. However, the term "foundation" may also be used by such organizations that are not involved in public grantmaking.
Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gather money for non-profit organizations, it is sometimes used to refer to the identification and solicitation of investors or other sources of capital for for-profit enterprises.
A financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of financial, real estate, or other investments for a specific purpose according to the will of its founders and donors. Endowments are often structured so that the inflation-adjusted principal or "corpus" value is kept intact, while a portion of the fund can be spent each year, utilizing a prudent spending policy.
The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation is a private foundation founded in 1926 by Charles Stewart Mott of Flint, Michigan. Mott was a leading industrialist in Flint through his association with General Motors.
Lilly Endowment Inc., headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, is one of the world's largest private philanthropic foundations and among the largest endowments in the United States. It was founded in 1937 by Josiah K. Lilly Sr. and his sons, Eli Jr. and Josiah Jr. (Joe), with an initial gift of Eli Lilly and Company stock valued at $280,000 USD. As of 2020, its total assets were worth $21 billion.
In the United States, a donor-advised fund is a charitable giving vehicle administered by a public charity created to manage charitable donations on behalf of organizations, families, or individuals. To participate in a donor-advised fund, a donating individual or organization opens an account in the fund and deposits cash, securities, or other financial instruments. They surrender ownership of anything they put in the fund, but retain advisory privileges over how their account is invested, and how it distributes money to charities.
The Flint Cultural Center (FCC) is a campus of cultural, scientific, and artistic institutes located in Flint, Michigan, United States. The institutions located on the grounds of the FCC are the Flint Institute of Arts, Flint Institute of Music, Sloan Museum, Flint Public Library, Buick Gallery & Research Center, Robert T. Longway Planetarium, The Whiting, and the Bower Theatre. The campus and some institutions are owned by Flint Cultural Center Corporation.
Community foundations (CFs) are instruments of civil society designed to pool donations into a coordinated investment and grant making facility dedicated primarily to the social improvement of a given place. Community foundations are a global phenomenon with 1700 existing around the world, of which over 700 are in the United States. Private foundations are typically endowed by an individual or a single family.
The Lyndhurst Foundation is a Chattanooga, Tennessee-based grant-making foundation organized in 1938 by Coca-Cola Bottling Company magnate Cartter Lupton. The Lyndhurst Foundation was the first private foundation in Tennessee, and it focuses on the enrichment and enhancement of the social, natural, and built environment in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the surrounding southeastern region.
A foundation in the United States is a type of charitable organization. However, the Internal Revenue Code distinguishes between private foundations and public charities. Private foundations have more restrictions and fewer tax benefits than public charities like community foundations.
Until 1969, the term private foundation was not defined in the United States Internal Revenue Code. Since then, every U.S. charity that qualifies under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service Code as tax-exempt is a "private foundation" unless it demonstrates to the IRS that it falls into another category such as public charity. Unlike nonprofit corporations classified as a public charity, private foundations in the United States are subject to a 1.39% excise tax or endowment tax on any net investment income.
Western Indiana Community Foundation ("WICF") was incorporated on November 30, 1990 for the betterment of Fountain County, Indiana and Vermillion County, Indiana and its citizens. The community foundation is a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) non-profit charity.
The Fremont Area Community Foundation is a philanthropic organization in Fremont, Michigan. Founded in 1972 to serve the people of Newaygo County, it is one of the largest community foundations in the United States on a per capita basis, serving a population of 50,000 with net assets of approximately $218 million. It comprises more than 400 separate funds, and has two supporting organizations and three geographic affiliates.
Wyomissing Foundation is a private 501(c)(3) foundation in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, United States. It was established in 1928 by three local businesspeople who had founded hosiery manufacturing company Berkshire Knitting Mills, later known as Wyomissing Industries. Grants from the foundation helped establish the Berks County Community Foundation, which was founded in 1994. In 2001, the Wyomissing Foundation donated a copy of Saving Pennsylvania, a video about the dangers of urban sprawl, to every public library in Pennsylvania. In 2008, the Foundation also helped support development of the Berks County Citizens Academy, a project to educate potential volunteer members of county and municipal advisory boards and authorities about local and county government issues.
UK Community Foundations (UKCF) is a registered charity that leads a movement of community foundations committed to positive social change in the UK through the development of “community philanthropy”. Community philanthropy involves people from all parts of a community working together locally to use the financial and other resources available to them to improve others’ lives.
The Chicago Community Trust is the community foundation serving Chicago, suburban Cook County, and the Illinois counties of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will. Established on May 12, 1915, it is the third largest community foundation in the country as of 2019, with assets of more than $3.3 billion. The Trust awards more than $360 million annually in grants and has awarded more than $2 billion in grants since its founding. The Trust received gifts totaling almost $469 million during the 2019 fiscal year.
Levi Preston Landis is an arts administrator, musician, manager and festival producer. Since 2016, he has been the Executive Director of GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, the largest visual art center in the country.
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