Category: General

The Community Vision Fund, a fund within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, provided a grant to support Lawrence University’s Summer Music programs – the Lawrence Chamber Music Festival and Lawrence Summer Music Institute – which bring talented high school and college-age music education and free performances to the Fox Cities each summer. […]

Community health needs assessments are conducted to enable local health care systems and public health departments to learn about the true needs of community members. The assessments typically happen every three years and provide action-oriented plans for health organizations to focus their resources on the greatest needs in communities. A new local assessment process is […]

The Clintonville Area Foundation, one of our five affiliate partners,  awarded Sue Aschliman its Community Heroes Award a few years ago. In 2021 she announced she was directing the $2,000 from the award to Compassionate Connections Center. Established in 2011 by Clintonville native Dan Olk, the award recognizes and celebrates outstanding volunteers and their activities […]

Pillars team meeting. Photo by Lisa Strandberg By Lisa Strandberg, project director, InterSector A pilot wouldn’t fly a plane without consulting dashboard gauges. Unfortunately, many nonprofit leaders pilot their organizations without easy access to the information they need to stay on course. A free regional nonprofit compensation and benefits survey will launch in October to […]

It’s the season of graduations! The Nonprofit Leadership Initiative (NPLI), a program of the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, is celebrating the graduation of 13 nonprofit leaders from the Leadership Institute. The Leadership Institute is a yearlong management program for nonprofit senior leaders presented in collaboration with Fox Valley Technical College. I am […]

Did you know that 30 years ago before Wisconsin Highway 441 opened to vehicles, it was first opened to pedestrians? As thousands of people turned out to show their enthusiasm, the next year the CE Trail was built, and the Fox Cities Greenways was formed. The trail movement had begun!  As part of this movement, […]

Establishing a charitable fund is a great way to make a community a better place for all. Your Community Foundation offers many ways to give. Explore some options this holiday season for your charitable gifts. By Michelle Lippart Hardwick, director of gift planning Leaves are changing, temperatures are getting colder and your mailbox is full […]

Since May, I’ve hosted 18 Community Conversations on behalf of your Community Foundation that have aired on the nonprofit radio station 91.1 The Avenue and appear on its website.

Walking into the council chambers Wednesday evening to hear the debate on the Fox Cities Exhibition Center proposed for downtown Appleton was like a flashback to another time and a similar issue. That was in 1999. The issue was approval of the site for the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center and I was Appleton’s Economic […]

Where other people see problems in an inner city neighborhood, John McKnight sees assets. McKnight is a professor emeritus at Northwestern University, an author and co-creator of Asset Based Community Development. He visited the Fox Cities recently to check out Neighborhood Partners, a project that seeks to build on the assets of the central Appleton neighborhood […]

Sarah Schmidt says the Community Foundation is so familiar, it’s almost like a part of her family. That’s why she and her partner, Julie Matthei, feel very comfortable leaving a significant portion of their estates to a family foundation established within the Foundation.“We both recognize the significant skill and experience the Foundation brings to our […]

By Aaron Geitner, Director of Development and Marketing, Exceptional Equestrians At Exceptional Equestrians we work with children and adults with special needs throughout Wisconsin. They may be struggling with physical, sensory, cognitive, behavioral or emotional issues that impact their ability to function and participate in daily activities; activities which most of us take for granted. […]