So, the Community Foundation has $15 million. What do you do with all that money?

Great question. I’ll do my best to answer it.

Community Foundations (94 in Indiana alone – at least one every county) are mandated to responsibly steward all donations. For the past 31 years, the Brown County Community Foundation (BCCF) has taken the responsibility of wise financial management very seriously. Our intention – always – is to donate as much as possible to the community while at the same time honoring our commitment to fund holders to guarantee their initial fund donation (the “corpus”) will remain intact.

Donors can place their dollars into funds and are expected to guide the BCCF in determining where the dollars are distributed. Others give to BCCF with an expectation the Foundation will give to the greatest needs in Brown County. BCCF currently manages a total of 295 separate funds. A tall order, but our staff and board of trustees are well-skilled in steering these dollars for the greatest good. Bear in mind that these funds – and the majority of the dollars used to establish these funds – are expected to continue in perpetuity; in other words – forever.

BCCF has put into place specific parameters by which we operate. One of those is the percentage amount of available funds we feel comfortable donating. We have a specific formula that incorporates the rate of return of the invested funds, inflation, and other factors such as cost of doing business that we use to determine the annual amount to give to the community.

If you are interested in learning more, go to our website: www.browncountygives.org. We are looking for committee members to serve on our numerous committees. Here is the link: https://browncountygives.org/contact/#getinvolved. Check us out!

Laurie Teal serves as board chair of the Brown County Community Foundation. She is retiring this year from her business as a professional organizer to focus on her family and her Brown County community.

Laurie Teal serves as board chair of the Brown County Community Foundation. She is retiring this year from her business as a professional organizer to focus on her family and her Brown County community.