Huron Community Foundation

The Huron Community Foundation recently completed a CSA challenge and received $12,500 in February 2020 and another $12,500 into 2021 from the Farrar Family Community Development Fund for raising $200,000 toward their endowment.

Moving Huron Forward

“Huron is a small community full of people willing to give some of their time, talents and treasures to those less fortunate,” said Huron Community Foundation (HCF) advisory council member Dr. Mike Fuchs. “If a small town is to be a forward-thinking community, one desiring to attract new business opportunities with all the subsequent positives, a significant pooling of public and private sector resources must occur. The HCF is a main player in such a shared effort for moving Huron forward. It has provided businesses and private individuals the opportunity to support many significant projects aimed at making Huron a better place to live.”

The HCF was initially proposed by Dick Werner who had experience working with a Community Savings Account (CSA) while living in a different town. On April 1, 2004, he organized a group of 20 local business leaders, along with Bernie Christenson, founding President of the South Dakota Community Foundation (SDCF), to get to work establishing the HCF.

The SDCF offered a $50,000 challenge grant if the HCF was able to raise $200,000 in three years. Because of the community’s generosity, a short eight months later the foundation had raised the funds necessary to receive the challenge grant from SDCF. Although Dick has since moved to Herreid, he continues to take an active interest in HCF’s success.

“The SDCF is our most valuable and trusted partner,” said Steve Gohn, HCF President and SDCF Key Club Member. “The SDCF provided a template and resources that allowed our advisory council to focus on fundraising and grant administration. People really appreciated the fact that their donation would go into a permanent endowment and only the interest would be used to grant back to organizations.” He added, “It’s pretty powerful when you can tell people that their contribution will continue to give back to the Huron community in perpetuity.”

The HCF focus for grantmaking is very broad and consistent. HCF has worked with the city, school, chamber, development corporation, State Fair, housing groups, and dozens of nonprofits over the years. One of the CSA’s primary criteria for grants is that the project should impact as many residents as possible.

FAMILY FUNDS

The HCF has partnered with many local families to create their charitable legacy for the local area. Several donors said that learning about the centralized process for grant applications and administration was a deciding factor for them to start a Family Fund in cooperation with the HCF.

Terry and Nancy Schiltz of Huron established a family fund as a sub fund of the HCF in 2019. SDCF recognized their generosity to the Huron area with the Hometown Hero award

“Partnering with the HCF is literally like having an ’Easy Button’ for our Family Funds and other HCF associated sub-funds,” said David McGirr, HCF advisory council member. “We actively solicit grant applications from our community. The family and other sub-funds review them and approve funding for projects they like and/or specific nonprofit organizations. Then, the HCF handles all the administration and monitoring with each of the grant recipients on behalf of those funds.”

The HCF partners with four families and encourages others to consider creation of charitable sub-funds. “These growing family funds will continue to support many of HCF's traditionally funded smaller grant requests, allowing the HCF to ’think outside of the box’ to create larger projects that are needed to allow Huron to grow,” said Dr. Fuchs.

RESPONDING TO A PANDEMIC

Early in the pandemic the HCF decided it needed to be a proactive resource for the community. Rhonda Kludt, one of HCF’s newer leaders and the former director of United Way, volunteered to reach out to local food pantries, the backpack program, civic organizations, and the senior center to get a first-hand account of what their needs were in the beginning stages of the pandemic.

“We shifted our focus to making sure that there was an ample food supply and shelter for individuals and families disrupted by the pandemic,” said Gohn. “We also provided significant funding to support rental assistance to families that were impacted,

as well as supporting a program to provide zero-interest loans to local small businesses.”

In partnership with many CSAs including HCF, SDCF provided dollar-for-dollar matches through the CSA COVID-19 Matching Fund. HCF provided grants to the Salvation Army’s food box program and Huron Area Senior Center’s Meals on Wheels program.

“Our board can’t thank the SDCF enough for setting up the COVID-19 CSA matching grant program,” said Gohn. “Through this program we were able to fund two separate grant applications to make sure that our local food pantry was adequately stocked.”

THE CHARITABLE LEGACY CONTINUES

“What I personally love about Huron is the fact that it is a giving community,” said HCF advisory council member Mary Pearson. “Whenever a need arises, the entire community rolls up their sleeves and chips in to make it happen. No matter how big or small the need is.”

Through crisis and more stable times, the HCF is and will be a consistent source of support to charitable causes and the Huron area.

“The single biggest reason that I love Huron as a community is the people. This town makes it easy for people to get involved and make a difference,” said Gohn.