In 2019, the Community Foundation launched two new funds—Community Initiatives and Early Childhood Education—to address critical needs in the region. Both are aimed directly at building a brighter future for the people who call this community home, and now both have received a multi-million-dollar boost to ensure grantmaking from those funds will continue in perpetuity.

Over the past three years, the Community Foundation directed more than $1.5 million to local organizations working to improve our region’s economic viability and to projects that make high-quality pre-k education accessible to more children and families in the region.

The positive impacts of this strategy and subsequent grantmaking have resulted in an anonymous donation of $14.5 million to continue this work. This marks the largest single donation in the foundation’s 32-year history.

“This is a win for our community in many ways, and, of course, we are both thrilled and grateful,” CFA President Mike Kane said. “It means more children will have access to life-changing early childhood education and care, and it means we can continue to invest in improvements that are breathing new life into our community. These initiatives have transformational potential, and this support will significantly aid in the Community Foundation being able to invest in that potential. In addition, because these funds are to be endowed, the earnings from them will provide a permanent resource for our community.”

The Community Foundation will provide information for upcoming grant rounds for both initiatives at a future date.

The Community Foundation also has created opportunities for donors to make either of the two strategic initiatives part of their individual legacies. For information about designing a legacy that supports early learning or community-building efforts, reach out to Community Foundation Director of Donor Services Katrina Perkosky at kperkosky@cfalleghenies.org.