COLUMBUS, Ind. — Heritage Fund — The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County has launched its 2020 “Love Where You Live” campaign to grow assets for its Community Fund and increase grant-making capacity.
The campaign seeks to raise $150,000 to be invested for the long-term benefit of the community supporting community initiatives.
Each year, Heritage Fund makes more than $600,000 in grants from The Community Fund to address community needs. This year, donor designations allowed the foundation to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in the following ways:
- $25,000 went to support emergency relief through the United Way of Bartholomew County to help families negatively affected by the virus
- $7,500 free face masks were made and distributed through a partnership with the Columbus Area Arts Council and Columbus Regional Health Foundation
- $100,000 was allocated in Organizational Resiliency grants to help local nonprofits rebound in 2021
Tracy Souza, Heritage Fund president and CEO, said 2020 has brought a number of challenges to the community.
“Times like these are why we invest for the future and why we have a Community Fund,” she said. “This year showed us that we can’t know what the future holds or what needs may arise — but we can be prepared,” she said.
“Love Where Your Live is not only about celebrating all the ways that our community is a special place — but also ensuring that those things continue long into the future,” she said. “It’s about sustaining the quality of life we enjoy and innovating new ways to enhance our community while building a better place for those who come after us.”
Community members who make a donation to the campaign will receive an exclusive decal featuring the 2020 Love Where You Live dsign, created by local artist Jenni Kiesler. Kiesler is a lettering artist and owner at Keywords Co.
Donations may be made by mail to Heritage Fund at 538 Franklin St., Columbus, IN 47201 or online at heritagefundbc.org.
Heritage Fund is encouraging the community to share pictures and comments about why they “Love Where They Live” using the tags #2020LWYL and @heritaagefundbc.
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.
