Charleston Gazette 05/14/2014, Page A03 Kanawha Valley Foundation gave $6M in ’13 By Douglas Imbrogno Staff writer The Greater Kanwaha Valley Foundation delivered its 13th annual Report to the Community on Tuesday in an event at the Clay Center. In 2013, the foundation distributed a total of about $6 million in Kanawha, Boone, Clay, Putnam, Lincoln and Fayette counties, said President and CEO Becky Ceperley. “Philanthropy as a sector is one growth area in this country that will continue to flourish,” she said. Philanthropy can be an “architect of social change,” said Ceperley, “not just responding to immediate needs and problems but also searching for ways to solve them once and for all.” American government “has largely turned power into paralysis. Though our needs in rural America are arguably greater than they ever were the response from government at all levels is increasingly limited and is armed with a one-size fits all mentality that is the opposite of what’s needed. “Philanthropy, on the other hand, is able to work with differences, to embrace radical solutions, to take risks, even fail and then try again, Philanthropy is the one sector fully capable of innovating solutions. But it won’t happen, however, without a serious commitment to do so. The board of trustees and the staff of the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation are dedicated to investing in the types of capital that will build our community’s wealth. We believe by building our community’s stock of capital those innovative solutions can be developed to shape, sustain and improve livelihoods throughout our region.” The meeting began with a presentation by Thomas Watson, executive director of Rural Support Partners, based in Asheville, N.C., who has been working with the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation to develop the foundation’s new Mission, Vision, and Goal Statements. The strategic planning process has included a wide-ranging discussion and reevaluation of the board’s work including a board and staff retreat and more meetings to come in the next two days to finalize some of the work and then the release of a final report in June. The guiding idea behind the entire process has been “a shift in mindset” toward an investment in community change, said Watson. “When you’re an investor you take your research and homework very seriously, you talk to anybody you can, you look at all the data you can to figure out where the best deal and where the best investment is. And you make that investment with a very clear and stated idea on the kind of return you’re going to get on that investment. And then you track that investment over a period of time to see if you get the proper return and you adjust as you go to make sure that your investment has achieved the biggest return you can possibly get.” It’s the same mindset with the foundation these days, he said. “It’s an investment mindset, so we want to do our homework up front” so we can adjust and move and track accordingly to create the biggest change possible for the communities and people the foundation serves, Watson said. “It takes lots of thing to make a community strong and resilient,” said Watson. The Foundation has been looking at different forms of community wealth, “figuring out what wealth we have and what wealth we’re missing and where the Foundation can help to grow the wealth that needs to grow.” He likened the process to trying to fill up a bathtub. “If we only think about the water coming in and we don’t think about the drainplug we may never fill up the bathtub.” He mentioned the $459,100 in scholarships the Foundation awarded in 2013. “And boy that’s good work and absolutely necessary in the communities that we care about. And if 80 percent of those folks who get a scholarship have to move to New York or Charlotte or D.C. to get a job, did we really fill up the bathtub? “So it’s a matter of connecting the dots in terms of getting those folks back for summer internships, opening up new jobs. Building new housing downtown so they actually have some cool spots to come hang out. So it’s all of those things that really help to fill up the bathtub.” The gathering concluded with a panel discussion on “What’s Next for West Virginia” that included Betty Knighton of the W.Va. Center for Civic Life, Perry Bryant, executive director of West Virginians for Affordable Healthcare, Dr. Dan Foster, former state senator Lloyd Jackson, W.Va. Board of Education president Gayle Manchin and state senator and developer Brooks McCabe, The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation board members include chairwoman Nelle Chilton, vice-chiar Melvin Jones, Susan Basile, A. Dayton Carpenter, Monika Hussell, Dr. Jamal H. Khan, Todd Mount, Charles W. Loeb Jr., Sean Mayberry, Susan Shumate, Ronald Potesta, Troy Stallard and Phillip J. Tissue. Reach Douglas Imbrogno at douglas@cnpapers or 304-348-3017. Powered by TECNAVIA Copyright © 2014 Charleston Gazette 05/14/2014 ________________________________________ ________________________________________
Posted on: Thu, 15 May 2014 20:30:34 +0000
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