From the Chairman and Executive Director

In 2010 the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies celebrates its 20^th anniversary.  Ordinarily, such a notable time calls for looking back and thanking the many people who played a part in advancing the Foundation’s mission of working with donors to support our community.  We certainly want to do that—especially our founding board members and Bob Allen, our volunteer first executive director; as well as David Kraybill, our first paid director.

In the pages of this report you will see the many funds established over the years and read the names of our donors.  To say we would not be where we are today without them goes without saying.  Donors—and the projects that get supported because of their selflessness—make up what the community Foundation for the Alleghenies is. Because of our donors, since 1990 the Foundation has distributed nearly $20 million. These funds came as a result of many, many individual donors and through the support of foundations, such as the Heinz Endowments and the Richard King Mellon Foundation, for projects like the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds.

In these pages you will also see lots of photos of young people.  Even while we pause to recognize how the Foundation has grown over the past twenty years, the fact remains that it is our future that really matters—and not merely the future of the Foundation, but the future of our community and its people.  We know that is what our donors are thinking about when they establish a fund or include us in their financial plans.

With this in mind, we are trying to help shape our community’s future, too, for our donors and for our young people. In 2010, on our 20^th anniversary, you will hear about a Community Intervention program aimed connecting disadvantaged young people with caring adults to increase their chances at lifelong success and to make our community better.  You will read about our efforts to assist with the implementation of the City of Johnstown’s Master Plan, the Johnstown 2020 Plan and the Laurel Highlands Initiative. 

In Bedford County we are planning to partner with nonprofits on initiatives to make nonprofits stronger and to raise the profile of value philanthropy to the community. In Somerset County we will open a match campaign to grow our Somerset County Community Fund to provide more philanthropic support for Somerset County.

We also are working with local wealth advisors on a schedule of events designed to create more knowledge about charitable planning and the role the Foundation can play in partnership with advisors and their clients.

In all, the Foundation’s 20^th year should be a busy one.

More than ever we are asking about what our community will be like in the future.  As you read this book or when you take time to think about such things, we hope you, too, will ask yourself this question. When you do, please call us. Let’s work on this together. 

Mark Pasquerilla Mike Kane

Board Chairman       Executive Director