Ann Irish Tabor

Dear Friends:

They said it couldn't be done and we did it! As Bill Creason reminds us, in the early years of the Foundation, the Board asked for advice from the national experts on community foundations and were immediately advised that "no community under 250,000 in population" could ever support a community foundation. Thank goodness that neither E.V. Erickson, Dottie Johnson nor John Carlyle paid any attention to this advice!
" Today the national Council on Foundations lists this Foundation as 6th out of the Top 100 Foundations in the country in "per capita giving."

• We are the 11th largest Foundation of Michigan's 56 Foundations.
• Last year, in the middle of one of the worst recessions in decades, contributions to all our Funds reached $7.5 million.
• The Assets of the Foundation total $55 million
• Our Legacy Society is one of the largest in Michigan and the United States
• Our flexible Greatest Needs dollars have helped hundreds of families in the Tri-Cities deal with unemployment, home foreclosures, family stress and basic needs such as food and shelter during this turbulent time in the world economy
• $3 to $4 million a year is distributed each and every year in grants to the community
• The endowment idea is working! Our Youth Fund started in 1991 with $1 million dollars. The young people have granted out over $1 million to youth programs and the Fund is now almost $2 million in size.
• And, $40 million has gone out in grants to the community in the last 40 years...

$40 million back to the community in 40 years! That is quite an accomplishment for a community that was "too small to support a community foundation!"
So thank you to all of you for helping build the Foundation. This is a remarkable community and you've built an amazing vehicle for good. Won't it be fun to see where we go in the next 40 years? The Foundation is here For Good…For Ever!