Celebrating 30 Years by walking down memory lane has been our favorite part so far. Because of our donors, we were the trusted vehicle to take your generous donations and grow them and invest them directly into the organizations and charitable programs that matter to them.
Playwright, George Bernard Shaw, once said, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world, the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
“I submit to you that in 1991 the Jasper Foundation was started by a group of unreasonable men and women who knew the power of pooling community funds, investing them, and infusing those profits back into the community. It was quite unreasonable to start a community foundation with a negative balance sheet at the end of the first three years. It was quite unreasonable to see the value in an old Carnegie Library building and promise to preserve it for community use. It was even more unreasonable to start and support an arts organization in the middle of a cornfield.” –Brienne Hooker, Executive Director
We celebrate unreasonable men like Mr. Ronald Humphrey, who saw to it that Newton County joined the Foundation in 1995 – so we could serve the donors and nonprofits of Newton County well into the future. He was a true visionary for the power of the community foundation.
Unreasonable women, like Linda Reiners, who blazed a trail with the rest of the State of Indiana when Lilly Endowment gave away millions of dollars so that each county in the state could set up a community foundation.
Investing in our Neighbors
The Foundation is a vehicle for YOU to invest in your neighbors. Often the vision of religion and politics are too focused, caught up in “winning or losing”, “right or wrong” – but the community foundation exists outside of those structures – for good reason. We support effective non-profit services and charitable groups who exist to meet the needs of ALL of our community from young to wise, at all levels of education, all levels of income, all levels of ability, and all levels of need. We will also provide capacity-building opportunities for those organizations to help them thrive. Our goal is to continue to build sustainable resources, human, institutional, financial and otherwise to help support our communities forever.
Cherish & Celebrate Where We Are Going
The pandemic turned all of our lives upside down. However, it made us all reflect on what is important. Jasper Newton Foundation strives to bring a better quality of life to our communities, include everyone, and continue to drive change for days that are better. Celebrating 30 years has made us celebrate and cherish where we have come from and where we are going.
After investing over $15 Million back into our Jasper and Newton county communities over the last 30 years, we will still steward over $23 Million dollars in assets that will continue to grow and provide funds each year to keep funding the passions of our donors. JNF has continued to grow and make positive contributions in all our communities because of our generous and passionate donors.
We make amazing things here and we grow amazing human beings. We also know how to take care of each other. It may be through the giving of money, sharing a skill that you can use to benefit others, or the generosity of your time – but this is how you love where you live.
Celebrating the Next 30 Years
As we move forward into our Driving Home project and the next 30 years of the Jasper Newton Foundation, we can’t help but feel grateful for the people who have their roots in our communities. Thank you for choosing your community. Thank you for serving each other. Thank you for making each day better. Thank you for loving where you live.
Be sure to stay up to date with us for more celebrations like our 2021 gala, news in the community, and opportunities to come together.
Follow us on Facebook & Instagram and watch our website for an anniversary page to relive the best memories together. Jasper Newton Foundation can’t wait for what is next.
