A Community Impact Endowment Fund is an unrestricted endowment fund that can be established in your or a loved one’s name to help the Foundation meet the most pressing needs of Greater Dayton, no matter how times may change. You may designate an unrestricted endowed fund or a portion of your endowed fund – today or after your lifetime – solely for the purpose of providing the Foundation with the ongoing funding our community will need to impact the greatest challenges over time.

Community needs are difficult to anticipate, but by establishing a Community Impact Endowment Fund, you can help Foundation staff address community needs and make grants to charitable organizations that engage in the most essential work at the time. The flexibility of unrestricted funds empowers the Foundation to support long-term solutions, today and tomorrow.

Since 1921, The Dayton Foundation has had a track record of effective leadership, stability and results. Over the years the Foundation has helped fund such efforts as:

While much has been achieved with very modest resources, imagine for a moment how much more can be accomplished for our community with additional funds. Community foundations with large unrestricted funds have been central to communities’ ability to reinvent themselves. With a larger pool of these resources, we will be better equipped to undertake what community leadership is calling upon us to do – enlarge our leadership convening role.

To learn about the many ways you can contribute to your current or deferred Community Impact Endowment Fund, click here.

To learn more about how you can expand your capacity to help others and have your family's name be attached to grants made from your named, Community Impact Endowment Fund, call (937) 222-0410 and ask for Joe Baldasare on our development staff.

“Times change so fast, the needs of the future can scarcely be visualized today, much less taken care of. By using The Dayton Foundation, donors can be assured that the funds they donate today are not directed to obsolete or unimportant needs in the future. Donors can give discretionary judgment to people who are on the scene long after we’re gone.” – Jesse Philips, former Dayton Foundation Governing Board member who founded a Community Impact Endowment Fund in 1987 prior to his death

“Giving unrestricted funds is a wonderful idea that everyone should consider. My husband, Harry Toulmin, always said one shouldn’t try to dictate from the grave. I think the world of The Dayton Foundation, and I know that they will use these dollars wisely. I’m so glad to be doing this for the community that was so good to Harry and me.” – Virginia B. Toulmin, deferred Community Impact Endowment Fund donor

“The Dayton Foundation is in a unique position to understand the community’s greatest needs. To do more, the Foundation must increase its unrestricted funds. I hope others will join me in helping the Foundation to undertake important community projects.” – Jerry F. Tatar, deferred Community Impact Endowment Fund donor and current chair of The Dayton Foundation Governing Board

“None of us really know what the greatest community needs are now, let alone in the future. That’s what The Dayton Foundation was established to do.” - Helen and Charles Abramovitz, deferred Community Impact Endowment Fund donors

“Wherever your passion lies is where you should concentrate your resources. To make the kind of community you want for yourself and generations after you, requires a stretch. It means supporting what you care about at another level. The more you give, the more you get. We really believe that.” – Susie and Paul Weaver, field-of-interest fund donors

“My husband and I chose to establish an unrestricted endowment fund, because we felt that The Dayton Foundation is in a better position than we are to monitor our charitable fund and determine where need is greatest.” - Joyce M. Bowden, a Community Impact Endowment Fund donor

“As a family physician who is native to this area and serves on The Dayton Foundation Governing Board, I see every day the needs of our community and the many ways the Foundation makes a difference. I chose to create a Community Impact Endowment Fund within the African-American Community Fund, because I know the Foundation will need a greater reserve of unrestricted funds to continue to improve our region’s quality of life. I hope others will join me.” – Gary L. LeRoy, M.D., former chair of The Dayton Foundation Governing Board and deferred Community Impact Endowment Fund donor

“These funds are doing what I originally wanted them to do: to honor my parents in a way that helps people in Dayton, where my parents spent most of their lives.” - Carolyn Talbot Hoagland, a field-of-interest endowment fund donor

“I have a great affection for my city and want to share my good life with others. The best way I have found is [by establishing an unrestricted fund through] The Dayton Foundation.” – Ellen Jane Lorenz Porter, who established a Community Impact Endowment Fund in 1990 prior to her death