Amy Owen Retires as Dynamic Leader of Community Foundation

Amy Owen Retires as Dynamic Leader of Community Foundation

New President Nicole Acosta and outgoing Community Foundation CEO Amy Owen.

Amy Owen, president and CEO of the Community Foundation for Loudoun and Northern Fauquier Counties, has announced her retirement following a career of nonprofit service and leadership spanning more than 35 years, including eleven at the Community Foundation.

Nicole Acosta, who has been with the organization for five years as its vice president, will take over the leadership role.

Owen started with the Community Foundation in May, 2012 after serving as executive director of the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation and director of development for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy before moving to Loudoun County.

The Community Foundation has expanded under her leadership both financially and programmatically. Its assets have grown from $1.3 million and 25 funds in 2012 to $10 million and 115 funds in 2023 while grant-making has grown from $149,000 to more than $2.6 million. In the same time period, staff has grown from a single employee and contract employee to four-full time positions and three contract employees.

Each year over her tenure, Owen added a cornerstone program, from a Nonprofit Academy providing training for nonprofit leaders, to Give Choose, an annual community-wide giving day, to a yearly Philanthropy Summit convening nonprofits, government leaders, and community philanthropists around contemporary issues.

She launched and guided three major community-service campaigns delivering specific themes and messaging: the Faces of Loudoun campaign telling authentic stories of personal need, a COVID Testing and Immunization campaign and currently, a campaign focused on workforce housing and its importance in the community’s economic development. In 2018 she was named “Entrepreneur of the Year” by the Loudoun Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s been fantastically rewarding work to engage philanthropic donors to build permanent endowment while also investing in increasing the capacity of nonprofit leaders who fulfill the work,” Amy said. “When Nicole Acosta came on board in 2018, our capacity to deliver programming was exponentially increased—and Claude Moore Nonprofit Training Center housed in our offices added to that.”

Brad Davis, former chairman of the Community Foundation’s board who originally hired Amy said “Amy…joined our Community Foundation with the overall objective of using her knowledge and experience of community foundatons to grow it into a philanthropic powerhouse in Loudoun and Fauquier counties.

And that she did. The rest is history.”

“While Amy is moving on to a well-deserved retirement,” said Paul Siker, the current board chair, “I have every confidence her vision and passion for helping people realize their philanthropic goals will continue to serve as a source of inspiration for the simple idea that, if we all give a little, we can accomplish a lot.”

Nicole began her career in Loudoun’s nonprofit community at LAWS Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services in 2005 as a social worker providing direct services to families in crisis. In 2012 she was named Executive Director of LAWS and led the organization for five years.

In 2018, she joined the Community Foundation team and has served as Vice President of Grants and Nonprofit Programs.

“I’m honored to be selected by our Board of Directors to follow in Amy’s footsteps,” she said. “It’s a privilege to work every day with our donors to bring their charitable vision to life and support local nonprofits lifting up our community in so many ways. I’ve learned so much from Amy in my time here and am thrilled to carry forward our mission to grow community giving.”

Details: www.communityfoundationlf.org