Faces of the Foundation - Finance: Mark Ervin

Giving Back to the Community He Has Always Called Home

Mark Ervin

Like many Foundation volunteers, Mark Ervin first learned of The Community Foundation from a friend and colleague. That friend just so happened to be Jack Buckles, an early and admirable supporter of The Community Foundation who served as Board Chair from 2003 to 2005. Mark, who is a partner at Beasley & Gilkinson LLP, began his service to the Foundation’s ad hoc Development Committee in 2008.

As a Muncie native, having attended elementary school at Emerson, junior high at McKinley Middle School, and graduating from Muncie Central High School, Mark’s passion for Muncie runs deep. He joined the Foundation’s Board of Directors in 2003 and served as Chair from 2013 to 2015. It didn’t take long for Mark to see the breadth and depth to which the Foundation can support good things happening across the community.

“It’s astonishing,” said Mark. “Whether it’s in education, beautification, human services; So many good things that are important to the community life are touched by the work of the Foundation.”

Mark’s passion for Muncie propelled him into significant leadership roles beyond the Foundation’s Board of Directors, including his most recent appointment to the redesigned Muncie Community Schools Board of Trustees. After the landmark decision by Indiana legislators to develop a partnership between Ball State University and Muncie Community Schools, Mark saw this as an opportunity to give back to the community and make a positive difference in a lasting way.

“To me, there is nothing more important in any community than the local schools and the opportunities they afford for the young people who grow up and live there,” Mark said.

In addition to this service to The Community Foundation and Muncie Community Schools, Mark is on the Board of Directors for Animal Rescue Fund (ARF) and participates on the Emens Scholars Selection Committee at Ball State University.

“It is really important to give back to the community that has been good to me and my family,” Mark shared. “It is important to give back to others, and to the extent that I have skills to share, I’m glad to do it.”

Mark is not only a volunteer to the Foundation, but he and his wife, Molly, are annual financial supporters of the Community Foundation. They choose to give both to The Unrestricted Fund and to funds that benefit the organizations and causes that matter most to them, including the Liberty Perry Selma Town Endowment Fund. Mark was on the Foundation’s board and living in Selma when the fund was established in 2012. Annually, grants are made from the fund to nonprofit organizations serving the residents of Liberty Township, Perry Township, and Town of Selma. Today, Mark is still excited by the potential to impact those communities, not only for today but for the future.

“There are few opportunities in life to make a difference, and The Community Foundation affords that opportunity,” Mark shared. “It supplies a vehicle to provide support for something that will have a lasting impact right in one’s own backyard.”