The Huron Community Foundation recently completed a CSA challenge and received $12,500 in February 2020 and another $12,500 into 2021 from the Farrar Family Community Development Fund for raising $200,000 toward their endowment.
Huron Community Foundation Moving Huron Forward “Huron is a small community full of people willing to give some of their time, talents and treasures to those less fortunate,” said Huron Community Foundation (HCF) advisory council member Dr. Mike Fuchs. “If a small town is to be a forward-thinking community, one desiring to attract new business opportunities with all the subsequent positives, a significant pooling of public and private sector resources must occur. The HCF is a main player in such a shared effort for moving Huron forward. It has provided businesses and private individuals the opportunity to support many significant projects aimed at making Huron a better place to live.” The HCF was initially proposed by Dick Werner who had experience working with a Community Savings Account (CSA) while living in a different town. On April 1, 2004, he organized a group of 20 local business leaders, along with Bernie Christenson, founding President of the South Dakota Community Foundation (SDCF), to get to work establishing the HCF. The SDCF offered a $50,000 challenge grant if the HCF was able to raise $200,000 in three years. Because of the community’s generosity, a short eight months later the foundation
had raised the funds necessary to receive the challenge grant from SDCF. Although Dick has since moved to Herreid, he continues to take an active interest in HCF’s success. “The SDCF is our most valuable and trusted partner,” said Steve Gohn, HCF President and SDCF Key Club Member. “The SDCF provided a template and resources that allowed our advisory council to focus on fundraising and grant administration. People really appreciated the fact that their donation would go into a permanent endowment and only the interest would be used to grant back to organizations.” He added, “It’s pretty powerful when you can tell people that their contribution will continue to give back to the Huron community in perpetuity.” The HCF focus for grantmaking is very broad and consistent. HCF has worked with the city, school, chamber, development corporation, State Fair, housing groups, and dozens of nonprofits over the years. One of the CSA’s primary criteria for grants is that the project should impact as many residents as possible.
FAMILY FUNDS The HCF has partnered with many local families to create their charitable legacy for the local area. Several donors said that learning about the centralized process for grant applications and administration was a deciding factor for them to start a Family Fund in cooperation with the HCF. Communities
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