Coming from a family of giving people, Mansfield native Brady Groves knew the importance of giving back to his community. For nine years, he’s paid that forward as president of the Richland County Foundation.
After 75 years in service, the Richland County Foundation continues to fund projects that will enrich the community. With large and ambitious projects such as Mansfield Rising, Richland Gives and Women’s Fund, the Foundation hopes to make Richland County a better, inclusive area where all ideas are heard.
“We want to create community conversations that build social capital… The value of relationships and moving a community forward, and it’s a reciprocal arrangement,” Groves said.
Without the support of the community and donors, however, the Foundation cannot meet its goals.
As a community foundation, the Richland County Foundation is looking to become more proactive with its style of grant making by searching for emerging needs and opportunities to bring back to the board for evaluation.
One of the most important roles for Groves, staff and the board of trustee members is to be present in the community so they can discover what needs to be done.
“The struggle or frustration is you know there’s all these good ideas, but there’s a finite amount of money, and that’s the challenge that the board has—is having these great things and making those difficult decisions and granting dollars,” Groves said.
Since Oct. 7, 1945, the Richland County Foundation has made over $95 million in grants.
One of Groves’ proudest projects includes the Economic Development project where different factions of Richland County were involved.
“It was neat to see a community and county work so quickly through those stages,” Groves said. “And I think we were pretty effective in a short period of time and brought people together; brought people to the table that hadn’t been there in a number of years to make some contributions to the effort. And to see it still in place and still functioning is also rewarding.”
The Richland County Foundation plans to keep funding different types of projects throughout the county.
“If you look at the data, groups or people that meet and talk and share diverse ideas, you know they’re healthier communities,” Groves said. “They’re better educated, they’re financially stronger, and we just want to bring diverse people together to have conversations about the common good of their location.”
To donate to a fund, visit the Richland County Foundation website and select the fund of your choosing.
