Press Room

A cold wind blows past the nine-story skeleton of a money-starved hotel project that stands like a memorial to the shattered economy, but inside the nearby Charlottesville Area Community Foundation offices all is merry and bright.

While 2009 saw donation declines for more than half of nonprofit groups nationwide, and while more than a third of organizations making grants to nonprofits saw their totals drop, the community foundation bucked the trend.

“Most foundations saw as much as a 10 percent drop in funding and we were the opposite,” said Holly Hatcher, foundation program director. “In fact, the money we gave in grants is the most we’ve ever been able to give.”

The foundation set a record high in a year full of record lows, distributing $5.7 million in grants to various and sundry groups and bringing in $8.9 million in donations, an increase of a third over 2008.

“It’s certainly not what we expected,” said John R. Redick, foundation president. “We started [2009] with every anticipation that we’d be looking at the end of a very dismal year at this time. That hasn’t happened and we’ve been delighted and surprised at the support the foundation has received from the community and its donors.”

On the strength of donors

Mr. Redick credits the foundation’s donors for realizing that 2008 was a tough year and 2009 would be tougher and then doing something about it.

“We talked with our donors at the beginning of the year and they saw what was happening in the economy and the community,” Mr. Redick said. “Instead of retrenching like so many have had to do, they dug deeper to maintain funding or increased their donations.”

Part of that deep digging could be explained by the foundation’s nature. It doesn’t hold fundraisers, it holds funds. And it administers them for people interested in helping out neighbors.

Created in 1967 and funded by an endowment, the nonprofit was charged at inception with giving its money away through biannual grants to organizations, programs and projects that would benefit the community. At the same time, the foundation was to keep enough capital and investments to assure future grants could be made.

Over the years, the foundation has expanded beyond its initial endowment to partner with a variety of charities, including the Dave Matthews Band’s Bama Works, Twentieth Century Retail Merchants Fund and other funds set up by families, companies and individuals.

Expanding the mission

New funds are being created all the time and administered by the foundation. In 2009 new funds included the Gateway Fund, established by Jay and Barbara Kessler to support patients and families at the University of Virginia liver transplant center, and the Dr. Vito A. Perriello Jr. Memorial Fund and the LeRoi H. Moore Fund, which provide money to regional charities.

Among 2009 awards administered by the foundation were $468,000 in grants from Bama Works to local groups. Funds set up by various private donors funneled $350,000 to Martha Jefferson Hospital, $57,500 in scholarships to students at Fluvanna County High School, $75,000 to Louisa County nonprofits and $102,600 to Nelson County nonprofits.

The foundation’s own unrestricted fund, powered by its original endowment and gifts from other donors, provided $280,000 to a variety of organizations.

“It’s been great to be able to help so many organizations,” Mr. Redick said. “We thought it was going to be a difficult year and we had one of the best in terms of helping people that we’ve ever had. That feels great.”