Heritage Fund : The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County

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Reason for Heritage Fund more evident than ever - Archived Article

The Republic Opinion Sunday October 4, 2009

The Issue:

The role of foundations in the community

Our Position:

Decision to create community foundation in preparation for departure of other major giftgivers proved to be the right one.

UPON the completion of the 1976 bicentennial celebration in Bartholomew County, organizers of the event used left-over funds as part of seed money to create a unique philanthropic tool — a community foundation.

The beginnings of what was then simply called the Heritage Fund were modest. When hired as the organization’s first executive director, Ed Sullivan was jokingly told that his first mission would be to raise the money needed for his salary.

The Heritage Fund over the past 30-some years has been one of several philanthropic tools that have supported causes of all kinds in Bartholomew County.

For an area relatively small in population, Bartholomew County has been blessed with a remarkable array of giftgivers, not only foundations but civicminded individuals, businesses and groups as well.

At the time of its creation, its organizers explained that such a community organization was important not only to support worthy causes but to also prepare for the eventuality that some of the other major gift-givers might one day drop from the ranks.

That day has arrived.

Actually the wisdom of that decision was demonstrated several years ago through the merger of Arvin Industries with Meritor Inc.

As part of that merger, the old Arvin Foundation was dissolved and its assets turned over to the Heritage Fund. It was a sizable gift that funded a number of community initiatives, but eventually the money was gone, unreplenished since it had been funded through profits of what had been the Columbus-based company.

A second major development in funding activities has developed over the last few years as the Irwin-Sweeney-Miller Foundation has been shutting down its operations. Its donation of $3 million for the new Commons is the last significant gift that will be made by the family foundation.

More recently, Irwin Financial Foundation has been significantly affected by the collapse of Irwin Union Bank and Trust Co. and the pending bankruptcy of Irwin Financial Corp. Throughout its history Irwin Financial Foundation has been one of the major gift-givers in the community, in recent years devoting most of its energies to social causes.

The community is hardly at death’s door when it comes to support for its not-for-profit organizations.

It still has several important foundations that have stepped to the plate in making this a special kind of community.

Cummins Inc., which also donated $3 million to the new Commons through its foundation, has a long tradition of supporting local projects. Other smaller foundations such as Custer, Nugent, Reeves, Teegarden and Keller, have also had an effect.

But the reason for the creation of the now-named Heritage Fund: the Community Foundation of Bartholomew County is particularly evident in today’s climate.

Fortunately, it has received generous support over the past three decades, with its assets measured at $43 million.

There will obviously be limits to filling the gaps left by the absent givers, but there is a vehicle for a sustainable form of local philanthropy.

For that we have the extraordinary vision of a group of community leaders 30 years ago to thank.