One of the lasting initiatives of the Rotary Club of Gettysburg was its central role in founding what is now the Adams County Community Foundation. During his 1984-85 term as Club President, Dr. Bradley R. Hoch challenged his Board to develop a project of lasting value to the community that would demonstrate “Service Above Self.” 

 

Jack Phillips advanced the idea of a community foundation to fulfill that vision.  Jack, Brad and others developed the framework, the Rotary Board endorsed the idea, and on November 12, 1985, the Adams County Foundation was created as a publicly supported charitable trust. Initial funding was provided by the Rotary Club of Gettysburg and Littlestown, individual Rotarians and community leaders.

 

For the next 22 years, Jack Phillips nurtured the Adams County Foundation, serving as volunteer everything, including serving as our unpaid Executive Director

 

In November 2008, the entity was converted from a charitable trust and incorporated as the present Adams County Community Foundation, Over the next twelve years, Many Rotarians have served on the board and Rotarians Fred Guinn, Ken Farabaugh, Terry Gingrow and John Phillips have led our board. In 2019 we earned our National Standards credential.   

The CF is focused on building a permanent endowment for Adams County and helping donors create their own charitable legacy. With assets of $16M. Over its history the Community Foundation has granted more than $9 million dollars.  With $1.8 million of that giving in 2019.

 

The Adams County Community Foundation supports donors and helps them invests  in our community through scholarships, grants, and the annual giving spree; provides leadership through initiatives including @Home in Adams County; and provides the infrastructure to achieve the charitable goals of donors and shepherd the permanent endowments supporting a growing number of local nonprofits.

 

The Adams County Community Foundation is a lasting tribute to the vision of Brad Hoch, Jack Phillips and the Rotary Club of Gettysburg and represents “Service above Self” in action.

 

We are a project of lasting value. Today, I’d like to you all an inside look at three things the Community Foundation is working on to help support Adams County:

 

 

 

Over the past few months, the Community Foundation has been host to a series of Community Call-ins (town halls) on Covid-19 and Adams County. We initiated these public forums because we were watching mis-information run rampant online (usually courtesy of Facebook) and wanted to encourage people to work together on projects that helped others, rather than duplicate or compete for donations and services. We invited Leaders of key Adams County community institutions to give brief updates on what their organizations are doing to address this public health and economic crisis.

 

Over the past few months, over 500 people have participated in these calls- hearing directly from leaders in Health Care, Media, Business, Government, Education, and nonprofits assisting those in need. Each 75-minute call is packed with information and I encourage you to listen in. Our next call is June 30^th at 2:15pm

 

From these calls, the Community Foundation created the Covid-19 Relief & Recovery Fund to support local nonprofits struggling to meet the extraordinary needs of our community during the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic downturn. Through the COVID-19 Fund, the Community Foundation tracks shifting needs created by the pandemic to deploy grant dollars effectively.

 

The Community Foundation allocated $100,000 in grant dollars for this fund and the Forward Fund provided an additional $50,000.

 

Our first round of grants totaling $72,000 went out last week to ten nonprofits with additional grants to be awarded in July and August. And as gifts from the community are received, the Community Foundation will search out unmet needs. Later this month the Eisenhower Society will announce their own significant gift to the Covid 19 Relief & Recovery Fund. The fund supports organizations that are well managed, but were forced to close temporarily, experienced a sharp increase in their demand for service or suffered a short-fall in income when event based fund-raisers were cancelled. We deploy the money quickly through a short application process because we believe in being responsive

 

Another way we stand up for donors – is around scholarships.

 

 

Scholarship displacement is what we call the reduction of a students financial aid equal to the amount of private scholarships. In 2018, Maryland made scholarship displacement illegal for all public institutions and the following year, Maryland’s private colleges agreed to the same. That same year the Adams County Community Foundation began questioning the practice here in Pennsylvania. Because our scholarship awards were not doing what our donors intended: closing the gap.

 

This year we are getting closer to ending the often hidden practice of displacement – so some day soon – a student in need who receives a rotary scholarship benefits from that award.

 

 

For 10 years the Adams County Community Foundation’s giving spree has helped donors learn about and invest in local nonprofit organizations. In fact, last year donors gave move than 1.25 million to 84 nonprofits.

 

With 4,000 people crammed into the Gettysburg Area Middle School, over 4 hours last year, it’s tough to image most donors feeling comfortable attending – and who knows what the school district will require in November –

 

So the Giving Spree is going virtual:

 

We will find a way to facilitate giving, even if we can’t all meet in person.

 

Another key change to the giving spree this year –

 

 

No one knows what the future will bring to Adams County – but 35 years ago our Rotary Club planted the seed that grew into the Adams County Community Foundation. a permanent charitable endowment; created by Adams County Donors for Adams County Donors to Invest in Adams County and Beyond.