Walker Area Community Foundation

The Walker Area Community Foundation is a permanent endowment that will forever help support the charitable needs of our community and improve the quality of life for the people of Walker County and the surrounding area. We are meeting the current needs while we plan to eliminate the problems causing the needs.

Through our giving, the Walker Area Community Foundation creates opportunities for greatness, not only for nonprofits, municipalities and schools, but also for the individuals living, working and playing throughout our communities.

We are systematically turning a vision of a vibrant future into reality. The creation of access to natural resources and fresh foods; the campaign to encourage students to improve their future through educational opportunities; the development of our downtowns, and the great work in progress by so many nonprofit organizations is creating shared excitement and optimism about this time in the life of our community. It’s an exciting time to be a part of the solution for our region.

28 years ago, the Walker Area Community Foundation was just an idea. That idea, along with thoughtful planning and action, has become one of the fastest growing community foundations in the United States.

We award grants to nonprofit organizations and do our best to match these gifts with outside sources of funding.

Because we understand that the actions we take today will forever affect what our community is like tomorrow, we provide seed funding for new initiatives that make a great impact in our area.

It’s very important for us to teach each generation about charitable giving and their role in making our community a better place so we make donating easy for those who wish to invest in our foundation’s work.

Every day we work hard to connect the people who care to the causes that matter and we thank you for investing in us.

RESPONSIBLE, GIVING, RESULTS
The Foundation is responsible in how it handles the money entrusted to us and how we invest it for not only grant making, but sustainability. A detailed analysis of our financial statement and the people who have so generously given can be found at Giving. Suffice it to say, we are strong, in good shape and poised for the future.

The Foundation is giving. Since the Foundation’s inception it has grown from $6 million to $81 million, all the while giving away $26 million to more than 490 nonprofit organizations throughout Alabama. We have a sophisticated grant review process to ensure we are investing our grant dollars in Nonprofits that are making an impact

The Foundation creates results. There will always be community issues, yet here is our promise to you – there will always be a Walker Area Community Foundation to create Initiatives around those issues. We will always be here to empower our citizens to create change while encouraging our nonprofits to dream bigger and funding them to do so.

In 1995, following a suggestion from John T. Oliver, Jr., Pat Willingham and the Community Health Systems Board set aside $6 million in proceeds from the sale of the Walker Regional Medical Center to begin an endowment for the Walker Area Community Foundation. This donation has served as the nucleus for funding worthy causes that might otherwise go lacking.

Other community leaders involved in the formation of the foundation were the late J. George Mitnick and Larry Drummond. Together, Oliver, Willingham, Mitnick and Drummond created a foundation that will forever serve as resource for solutions to our community’s greatest problems.

Since 1995, the Foundation’s endowment has grown from the original $6 million to more than $112 million due to wise investments, the creation of new Donor Advised Funds, but mostly because of the faithfulness of our donors.

The first two years were a time of growth for the endowment. In 1997, the first seven grants were awarded in the amount of $289,300. Since then, the foundation and its funds have awarded over $18 million in grant money to more than 150 nonprofit organizations in our area. In addition to awarding grants where warranted, the Foundation staff is dedicated to developing the internal capacity of nonprofit organizations. We provide training sessions to assist with business operations and to further assist in their receipt of out-of-county funds from state, federal, and private sources.

The Foundation made its biggest and most impactful gift yet with the opening of the Bankhead House & Heritage Center. Purchased, renovated and maintained by the Foundation because of the generosity of a few special donors, the Bankhead House & Heritage Center is here to serve our community as a treasure trove of information, artifacts, cultural events and varied forms of art that connect our proud past to our optimistic present while showcasing our bright future.

In 2011, disaster struck our county in the form of tornados. From those first days, a different kind of relationship was brokered between the foundation and Walker County nonprofits involved in disaster relief. We quit being just the funder and became a partner. We forged stronger bonds with local donors as well as regional and national funders. Because of our leadership, we became known throughout the state as the ones to call with questions because we were “getting it done in Walker County”.

In 2014, the Foundation created its own strategic plan, and began to lead the way in planning for Walker County as a whole with partners including the Walker County Commission, Chamber of Commerce of Walker County, Jasper Industrial Development Board, Walker County Economic Development Authority, Senator Greg Reed and all of the municipalities in our county. While robust, the plan is moving our community forward in positive ways.

The Foundation was fortunate to receive substantial, financial gifts in 2018, tripling the size of our endowment. Through all the gifts the Foundation has received over time, we now have the ability to fund the dreams of our nonprofit organizations – expanding their scope of influence – in addition to meeting their operational needs.

We celebrated our 25th Anniversary in 2020, as well as fought a pandemic and dealt with the aftermath tornado. Foundation staff will tell you, it’s been our strongest year in terms of serving our community and making things happen in Walker County.

To learn more about the Walker Area Community Foundation and how to work with us, please contact us using the below information:

Physical Address:
124 N Walston Bridge Road
Jasper, AL 35504

Mailing Address:
Post Office Box 171
Jasper, AL 35502

Other Options:
Phone: (205) 302-0001
Fax: (205) 302-0424
Email: contact@wacf.org