Twenty five years ago, in August 1988, a group of civic leaders established Foundation for Roanoke Valley. Community foundations had been bringing benefits to hundreds of other communities across the country since 1914, and these folks felt that it was time for the Roanoke Valley to enjoy those same benefits.
Growth of the new foundation was slow for a while, but after a donor established the first endowment fund in 1991, others began to create their own permanent charitable legacies. Over the years, dozens, then hundreds of individuals, corporations and non-profits created endowments.
Today, two-and-a-half decades later, Foundation for Roanoke Valley holds and administers 260 named endowments, ranging in size from $10,000 to millions of dollars. Total current assets exceed $55 million, with an additional $70 million committed through future estate gifts. Annually, the Foundation awards approximately $3 million in grants to hundreds of worthwhile organizations, and cumulative grants to the community since inception exceed $30 million.
As part of the Foundation’s Silver Anniversary celebration, it carried “Operation Surprise 25” – a special grants program that ran between October 21st and 25th. Foundation staff bearing balloons, party horns and a large facsimile check surprised worthy organizations with unrestricted $1,000 grants. Foundation Board Members were responsible for nominating organizations and out of that pool of nominees 25 were selected at random by the Foundation’s Community Programming Committee. The grant funds were made possible by a very generous anonymous donor.
The organizations that received grants are: Angels of Assisi, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Virginia, Project Access of the Roanoke Valley, Inc., Straight Street, Roanoke Valley Golf Hall of Fame (Holliday Scholarship), Historical Society of Western Virginia, Voice of the Blue Ridge, Inc., Bethany Hall, Inc., Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Virginia, Blue Ridge Zoological Society of Virginia, Roanoke Valley Governor’s School Foundation, Bradley Free Clinic, Pathfinders for Greenways, March of Dimes Foundation, Unbridled Change, West End Center, Roanoke County Public Schools Education Foundation, Inc., Feeding America Southwest Virginia, Salem Museum and Historical Society, Cultural Arts For Excellence (CAFE), Community Outreach Program, Western Virginia Foundation for the Arts and Sciences (CITS), Science Museum of Western Virginia, Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, and Roanoke Children’s Theatre.
