Blue Grass Community Foundation celebrates a $100 million milestone in giving

One hundred million dollars. That’s a mighty big number. Blue Grass Community Foundation is thrilled to celebrate awarding $100 million in grants since its founding in 1967, with most of those dollars benefiting local causes across the communities we serve in Lexington, the Bluegrass and Appalachia. While it would be easy to think about this milestone as a celebration focused on a number, it’s actually about far more.

The real impact of $100 million in charitable grants is the stories behind the number. It’s about the difference those dollars make. It’s about the intentional actions, large and small, of thousands of local donors and Blue Grass Community Foundation fundholders. At its heart, it’s a powerful story about the growing generosity in our region. And, it hints at what’s possible in the years ahead.

It’s also the recognition of how community foundations make the communities they serve more generous, vibrant and engaged.

So, what is the Blue Grass Community Foundation?

We are an agile community resource that helps grow good. We do this by partnering with donors, organizations and engaged residents in many different ways:

▪ We lead, convene and collaborate on important community issues.

▪ We make charitable giving easy, fun and accessible.

▪ We work with charitably minded people and businesses that want to simplify their current giving and bolster its impact.

▪ We help people create charitable legacies.

▪ We build permanent charitable assets to forever benefit local causes and communities.

Most likely, your life has been touched by a Community Foundation grant or initiative, but you might not know it. For example, if you’ve biked on the Legacy Trail, donated to a favorite nonprofit through the GoodGiving Challenge or participated in an On the Table conversation, you’ve experienced the impact of Blue Grass Community Foundation.

It all started in 1967 as the dream of one Lexington couple. CW and Irene Sulier wanted to create an organization to provide opportunities for friends, family, neighbors and colleagues to invest in charitable giving together to make our community better for all.

The transformative power of $100 million in grants is only possible because thousands of Kentucky philanthropists from across Lexington and all the Kentucky communities we serve have followed in the Suliers’ footsteps. It’s these Community Foundation donors, fundholders and partners, who have joined us to make so much good happen in Lexington and across the region.

Fueled by a love of community, this collective generosity has spread and accelerated.

It took 45 years for Blue Grass Community Foundation to grant the first $50 million but less than seven years to grant the next $50 million. In just the past 10 years alone, the Community Foundation has awarded $87.8 million in grants and scholarships.

This means that since 2009, 754 students received college scholarships and 4,216 nonprofit organizations received grants, with the vast majority of all funding staying right here in Kentucky.

This record of success leads us to ask, how many more years will it take until we grant the next $50 million? Will it be another seven years or can we do it in three, or perhaps even less time? Just how fast can we accelerate our collective generosity?

Let’s start by considering how we can be more generous. Can we increase our own personal charitable giving by just 5 percent? Maybe more? If you don’t yet have a donor-advised charitable fund to simplify and organize your current giving, Blue Grass Community Foundation can work with you to establish one. If you haven’t yet planned your charitable legacy, we’re here to help. If you manage or own a business, consider how your company can engage in corporate charitable giving. We offer a full suite of charitable solutions to help you and your employees get more engaged.

We currently support 10 counties across the Bluegrass and Appalachia, where local residents are leading the effort to build permanent endowments to forever benefit their communities. If you’ve never donated to a community endowment fund or the annual GoodGiving Challenge, perhaps this is the year to make your first gift. Let us collaborate with you to create more generosity and community good.

In 1967, the Suliers got the ball rolling by donating the first $1,000 to the Community Foundation. The next year, the Community Foundation made its first three grants in the amount of $100 each. The Urban League of Lexington-Fayette County was one of those recipients, and that grant helped fund its charter and formation. Here we both are, 52 years later, going strong and growing. That’s the power of local philanthropy.

It truly is the stories behind the numbers that count. To amplify those stories and inspire even more giving, we’ve just launched the website bgcf100million.org, where we are rolling out 100 stories of impact about the people, projects, grants and initiatives that have made a difference throughout the Community Foundation’s history. We’d like to help you write your charitable story.

So, to all the givers and doers, thanks a million. No, make that thanks one hundred million for all you do to make our community the best it can be.

Lisa Adkins is the president and CEO of the Blue Grass Community Foundation.