ABOUT US
Community Foundation's Mission
Our Community Foundation
It started with a dream and $10,000 in startup funding from the United Way of Howard County in 1989. Today, the Community Foundation Serving Howard, Clinton and Carroll Counties is home to more than 580 funds representing a broad range of donor and community interests. The number and dollar amounts of grants being given in each community continues to grow. Those grants, however, are all the direct or indirect result of a donor's interest in the community. To all of our donors, we say thank you for your generosity.
A Regional Commitment to Impact
The Community Foundation’s heart may beat in Kokomo, but our mission pulses across three dynamic counties: Howard, Clinton, and Carroll. We believe philanthropy is most powerful when it’s personal — when it grows from strong local roots and expands outward to touch every school, neighborhood, farm, and business across the region.
We are honored to work alongside passionate individuals and organizations throughout Kokomo, Russiaville, Greentown, Frankfort, Mulberry, Rossville, Michigantown, Delphi, Flora, Camden, Burlington, Bringhurst, Cutler, and surrounding areas. No matter the size of the town or the distance from our physical office, we are here to listen, invest, and collaborate.
Whether it's through scholarships that send students to college, grants that fund critical nonprofit work, or donor partnerships that fuel community projects, we are proud to be a catalyst for growth across all communities we serve.
Our Mission
"The mission of the Community Foundation Serving Howard, Clinton and Carroll Counties is to be stewards helping donors make our communities a better place to live every day"
To express the underlying philosophy of the Foundation, the Board of Directors drafted a series of "core value" statements. These values guide persons who do the work of the foundation, whether as volunteers or paid team members, as they interact with donors, grantees and the community:
Our Values
Stewardship
The Foundation will prudently manage the resources entrusted to it, maintaining confidentiality and seeking growth of resources.
Open Door
The Foundation will be available to all segments of our defined community.
Integrity
The Foundation, its directors and Foundation Team will hold themselves to the highest ethical standards and strive to achieve the best business practices.
Service to Donors
The Foundation offers opportunities to donors to improve the quality of life in their community by fulfilling their charitable goals.
Service to Community
The Foundation will improve the quality of life through leadership by building endowments that are directed toward meeting the needs of the community.
Our Vision
The Community Foundation is recognized by the community to be an effective, credible and influential broad-based organization. It serves the community as a catalyst dedicated to improving the quality of life of our people through permanent stewardship of financial gifts placed in its care.