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Building on Permanence; A Home of Our Own
What does home mean to you? For many neighbors, home is a safe place to live and play. For The Community Foundation and many nonprofit partners in the community, 2022 was a year to focus on “home.”
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In June, The Community Foundation announced that it purchased a building and would move into its new home before the year’s end.
Earlier in the year, the Foundation provided grant support to Greater Muncie, IN, Habitat for Humanity for a new home and to the YMCA of Muncie’s capital campaign focused on merging member branches and building a new facility near Muncie Central High School. Before year-end and into early 2023, the Foundation would see requests from Boys & Girls Clubs of Muncie for new administrative offices to make space for program expansion and from ecoREHAB, who was gifted a property in need of repairs to make it a viable home.
“At Muncie Habitat for Humanity, we witness how safe, affordable, quality housing can improve quality of life for a family,” said Lindsey Arthur, President and CEO of Muncie Habitat. “In the same way, our organization has experienced benefits from our new office ‘home.’ We are grateful to not be worried about the day-to-day issues that troubled us in our old building. Staff being overcrowded, the roof leaking, the furnace not being reliable, and other numerous problems no longer plague our thoughts. We are more efficient and effective in our work now thanks to so many community supporters and the Foundation for supporting our ‘Home for Habitat’ campaign.”
The Community Foundation also knows growth often requires a new space. For The Community Foundation’s first 15 years, Foundation staff shared space within dedicated board members’ offices – first located at Ontario Corporation, then moving to Ball Corporation, and finally at NBD Bank. After 15 years of growth, the Foundation was ready to find its own space. In 2000, the staff of the Foundation moved into the Muncie Power Products building in downtown Muncie. The office buildout was designed to accommodate a decade or more of additional growth.
The space served the Foundation for 22 years. By 2020, the staff of the Foundation had increased to seven. The area started to feel small. Over 22 years, more than 300 new funds, and asset growth to over $80 million, it was clear that a new home would be needed. Additional growth in staffing was also expected very soon.
The Board of Directors, along with then Foundation president, Kelly K. Shrock, quietly began the search for a suitable space to accommodate continued growth for another 20+ years. In early 2022, the building located at 302 E. Jackson Street hit the market. Working closely with trusted real estate partners, the Foundation purchased the downtown building.
“By design, The Community Foundation is here forever to support Delaware County,” said Trent Dowling, Board Chair of The Community Foundation. “Purchasing a building gives us a permanent place to call our home and opens the door to new opportunities to give back to our community.”
The building does more than provide a home for the Foundation. It comes with an abundance of opportunities as it has nearly 30,000 square feet of usable space. Currently, only about one-third of that space is occupied.
“We see the building as an evolving blueprint,” said Marcy Minton, President and CEO of the Foundation. “We have a wonderful space to welcome visitors, and we see the potential for this building to be something amazing to share with the community in the future.”
In 2022, the focus was to make the building move-in ready for the Foundation and its first tenant. The buildout included a board room, gender-neutral restroom, a first-floor breakroom, security and IT installation, and signage. In 2023, major projects will include the installation of a new chiller, freight elevator conversion, and an updated parking lot.
Throughout 2023 and into 2024, The Community Foundation will listen to and assess additional needs in the community to determine the best next steps for the rest of the building.
In late 2022, The Community Foundation welcomed its first tenant, Beasley & Gilkison LLP, a local law firm. Sara Shade Hamilton, a partner at Beasley & Gilkison and Board Member of The Community Foundation, shared in the excitement.
“The new building provides the Foundation with a great home, and Beasley’s space within that gives us a wonderful place to meet with clients,” said Sara. “The unexpected benefit has been the opportunity to expose our clients to The Community Foundation. As our clients develop their estate plans, we can help them consider their charitable legacies. That leads back to more grantmaking – a benefit to the whole community.”
Our new home will enable even more impactful grantmaking like the grants made to Habitat, EcoRehab, and the YMCA, with the ability for more efficient and effective work with space for the now expanded staff of nine.
Habitat moved into their new home on Hoyt, in the 8twelve area, in 2022, with additional planned projects in 2023. EcoRehab’s home, an 11-acre complex with several existing buildings, will be rehabilitated over the next few years. The YMCA will break ground in 2023 for what will likely be a two-year project.
Each of our new homes followed a blueprint to provide comfort today and potential for the future.
