Oct. 21, the Oxford Community Foundation will have its annual meeting at the Marcum Hotel and Conference Center. It will be celebrating 16 years of giving back to the Oxford community, according to Catherine Hollins, executive director of the foundation. At the event, there will be a short business meeting, a talk by the Foundation's President Emeritus and founder Jim Robinson, and a celebratory lunch. According to Hollins, the staff of the Foundation, the donors and the community are all invited to the event.
The Oxford Community Foundation is a locally controlled, publicly supported philanthropic foundation. Donors give money to the foundation, and the money that is donated becomes endowed and invested. Then, a percentage of the money made from the investment goes toward non-profit organizations (or 501C3s) in the community in the form of a grant. The purpose is to create perpetuity within the Oxford community, Hollins said.
According to Robinson, the Oxford Community Foundation has 127 different funds including scholarships, city beautification and arts funding. Since its inception, the foundation has granted over $2.5 million to various causes. This year, they are establishing a 16-year fund that will raise money to go back towards the foundation itself.
The first foundation like this one began in Cleveland Ohio, and there are now about 500 foundations around the country, said Hollins. Robinson explained the process of beginning the foundation in Oxford did have its challenges, but since the concept was not foreign to Ohioans, it was easier. Cleveland currently holds the second largest foundation; New York has the largest. In order to start a foundation like this one, it must be registered through the State as well as through the IRS, said Robinson.
Robinson, who is an attorney in the Oxford area, credits much of the success of the foundation to his board members and past and present executive directors.
It's more than just individuals that donate, many businesses, such as McDonald's of Oxford, the City of Oxford, and Schneider Electric have given money, said Robinson.
The Oxford Community Foundation has helped the community by giving grants to everything above ground in the Uptown Oxford Parks such as the statues and the fountains, according to Robinson. Also, there is a fund specifically for dentists that see children that cannot afford dental care for free, so the grant reimburses the dentists for the equipment and time spent.
Junior Jennifer West said this Foundation is a perfect way to use money that can benefit the whole community but not necessarily come out of taxes or something that can also burden the community at the same time.
"The fact that works throughout country shows a lot about the American people," West said.
Miami University President David Hodge and his wife, who sits on the board for the foundation, will attend the event.
Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter
Read More
How one professor and her classes are preserving Oxford’s Black history
By Sean Scott | March 20, 2024Jazma Sutton, an assistant professor of history, teaches The Black Midwest (HST 350Q) and Black Women in America (HST 450D) classes. In both courses, she has students working with the Smith Library of Regional History and Miami’s archives to document and preserve Black history in Oxford.
Miami faculty members recount Freedom Summer in new documentary
By Luke Macy | February 25, 2022After seven years of work, “Training for Freedom,” a documentary highlighting Oxford’s involvement in the Freedom Summer of 1964, premiered on PBS Western Reserve on Valentine’s Day.
“Documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic”: History in the making
By Alice Momany | August 29, 2021In March 2020, Miami University’s archives launched “Documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic,” a collection focused on life during the COVID-19 pandemic.