2017-2018 Brag Book

Dawn, Just got back from vacation and found this gem in my mailbox! Thanks so much -- it's a wonderful idea. You inspire me every timewe're in the same room. I appreciate your willingness to share.September McConnell, CEOWhitley County CommunityFoundation, Inc. 101

IT WORKS! YOU HAVE THE BEST TOOLS. THANK YOU! TAMMY BOWMAN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SOUTH MADISON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION102

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Hi Dawn,I just wanted to commend you on the latest CF newsletter! They’re always a great read, and it’s caused me tobe especially mindful of how I spend my time/what I practice on a daily basis for the past several days. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, wisdom, and insight! Have a blessed day, Riley Tangeman Assistant Development Coordinator  Marion Housing Authority 105

Thank you Ron, It’s a blessing to experience God movinghere at IWU and in our amazing community. I’m also thankful for all the hours Dawn gave while keeping up with her already full schedule, and for Luke and his constant support, love of quality ideas and design, and at the last minute; chillness. It should go without saying, but its super true that allof this is so far beyond us. Just in a few days I witnessed so many individuals helping, moving, doing; making action happen so that yesterday could take place. We reallyare better together vs alone, God is evidently showing this community that. What a great time to be here on this earth and in this place.106 Herb Peterson Marion Design Co.

Friends, Thank you for the stellar work you did to prepare and present your proposals this afternoon.  The energy in the room was amazing.  I heard many, many positive comments from the trustees about how exciting the presentations were.  Many ofthem thanked me for giving them the chance to hear these ideas. I was moved, excited, inspired, and proud of all of you.  Part ofwhat I wanted our trustees to see today was the impressive people God has brought to IWU to make us who we are.  You and your colleagues ARE what makes IWU a trulygreat Christian university serving the world. I can’t wait to see the plans that will come forward from each of the three units as wemove forward with this process under God’s guidance. David Wright 107

Dawn,I work with a bunch of kids to seek out for financial support to help them go to college. It’s funny, then, that what will surely be my favorite story of this year’s financial aid season will have nothing to do with Project Leadership.On Tuesdays, I co-teach a class at CSA. There’s just one senior in the group, and she is absolutely one of the brightest, talented and self-motivated students that I have ever known. Right around November, her work transitioning to post-secondary became a regular topic of conversation before class time. It was clear that she had anumber one school in mind. It was also clear that while she technically had a number two it was nowhere close. Eventually, we began to see her worry come to the surface. As a student whois both engaged and proactive in the process, she knew exactly what financialaid she could expect from the school. She knew exactly what she could expectfrom the federal government. She had even instigated a conversation with her parents about how much that they would be able to assist. After doing the math on her own, she knew that she had a gap. She also understood that the gap was significant. Last week, the class finally had the opportunity to cheer and high five overher story about a letter she had received in the mail. It was a letter explaining to her that she was a Community Foundation scholarship recipient. In fact,she didn’t merely receive a financial gift to help offset the gap, but enough to cover it in its entirety. It was an awesome opportunity to share with this student and the class as a whole that this was not an accident or happenstance. I explained that they were all very lucky to live in a county where the Community Foundation thatoffers such a wide variety of scholarship opportunities and goes out of its wayto meet scholarship seeking students where they are. I explained that it is not necessarily common for those in the business of granting scholarships toconsider student need, let alone put the effort into meeting it as often as they can.This was truly one of those situations where the student was doing everything right, and the system got it right too. Honestly, I don’t know how common that is elsewhere. In Grant County, though, students are lucky to have aCommunity Foundation whose mission is not only to “meet need,” but to “meet students’ individual needs.” I know you guys put a lot of effort into doing things differently. Know that it is working, and it’s working the right way.108 Steve Gibson Project Leadership

APPCROEPCMRIOMAJUTEENCAITTLYLLEFOACOFDOUETMNRHDMSEHAUWTINPIOOITCNRYOK!DNDOTAIENSWUFNEOSARTNOTDHETHE OUTREJAOCHHNNCYOOMRYDEIRNSATOR 109

Dawn and the Grateful Gang, Pizza!!! Thanks so much. As soon as the Blue Apron food (which I was too busy to cancel after a kindly judge from Superior Court 2 gave me a sample two meals) is gone, I will surely use your generous gift. It has been a taxing week and it is guaranteed to continue well into next week as well. Enjoy the lovely springy day – I managed to walk to the mailbox and found my reward! Karen L. Behnke, CPA110

HI DAWN, HOPE YOU ARE DOING WELL!  I JUST WANTED TO FOLLOW UP TO EXPRESS MY GRATITUDE AND PROVIDE AN UPDATE ON MY DECISION- MAKING PROCESS FORGRADUATE STUDIES. IN LARGE PART DUE TO YOUR HELP, I WAS ACCEPTED INTO EVERY PROGRAM I APPLIED WITHTHE EXCEPTION OF HARVARD. AFTER MUCH THOUGHT AND ADVICE, I AM PLANNING TO ATTEND NORTHWESTERN'S HIGHER EDUCATIONADMINISTRATION AND POLICY PROGRAM STARTING THIS SUMMER. TO THINK, IT ALL STARTED WITH THE SUMMERPROJECT YOU HELPED ME AND THE TAYLOR TEAM WITH 4 YEARS AGO! THANK YOU AGAIN! SINCERELY, COURTNEY SELLE  111

You guys are the best!! And, yes, I offer myself to be your \"Poster Child\" for CFGC promotion! ~LaRea Slater112

TSHWTAROANANKWIDSGYEEHOCSRTUFOF.MUDT YLOEEO!AWT!U!MO!EA KHEFRAKEOEEEVRPNAEADLUAL.LSL -JOHN JONES  113

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO, SHERRI! JACKIE CARL114

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DAWN AND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION, MY SON JUDAH IS TAKING A JUDO CLASS AT THE YMCA. HE IS COMPETING IN A TOURNAMENT THIS WEEKEND. I WAS ABOUT TO PAY, WHEN THE TEACHER TOLD ME I DIDN’T NEED TO BECAUSE THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION WAS COVERING IT. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO IN SERVING FAMILIES IN THIS COMMUNITY. YOU ARE A BLESSING! BROCK MEYER116

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Julie, Drew and Taylor, I thought you might like to see what a wonderful initiative you helped lay the foundation for in Grant County and the progress being made with their comprehensive collective impact initiative called Thriving Families, Thriving Grant County. Although your names are not called out on the timeline at the bottom of the first attachment to this email, I knowyou each played an important role in the sequence of events that led to this great work in progress. So,thank you! The Marion Chronicle-Tribune is giving theinitiative a page to report out to the community eveytwo weeks. Attached are the pages from April 14 and29 that were shared with me. Here is a glimpse of the role each of you played: Taylor was part of a group of Taylor Universitystudents who invited me to talk to community leaders about using collective impact to address earlychildhood education in Grant County on July 20, 2015.Julie, who was then with Indiana Youth Institute,presented Kids Count and other data on Nov. 4, 2015,relating to the fact that Grant had the highest child poverty rate in Indiana. I followed with apresentation about what child poverty can do tohinder normal brain development and offered thecollective impact coalition building model as a118 potential way to address the issue.

After being hired by Dawn Brown of the CommunityFoundation to provide collective impact consulting for a cross-sector guiding team of community leaders, I discovered the Thriving Communities, Thriving Statereport and suggested we incorporate it into our work. Then Drew gave a presentaton on that topic on Aug.17, 2016, to the Citizens Advisory Council. I suggested creating a comprehensive civic infrastructure of 12 work groups that became the Thriving Families, Thriving Grant County initiative that hired Cathy Witherspoon as the \"backbone\" director. Sometimes we never get to see the trees that growfrom little seeds we've planted along life's way. I just wanted to be sure you became aware of this one! Have a great weekend, John Peirce Peirce Consulting LLC 119

Dear Dawn, It was so nice to speak with you yesterday, I feel like you have given me a lot of great information and I look forward to reviewing and sharing this with my committee and the foundation.  I imagine I will be in touch later as more questions arise. Regards, Lory Williams Winford Brown County Community Foundation120

Dawn,Thank youvery much for your help (again!), MAUREEN GILLUM 121

Dawn, Thanks so much for this follow-up and for all of the leadership you’re providing and cultivating in Grant County.  I love your vision and passion! I look forward to when we’ll be able to spend a bit more time learning about your great work! Blair Milo Secretary of Career Connections and Talent State of Indiana 122

Hey 123 DawnThe board training that you all co-sponsored with the United Way hasmade a significant impact on ourhealth/sustainability. Because ofwhat we learned about the healthybalance of revenue sources for asustainable non-profit we have clarityabout a goal for the percentage ofour effort and income that need tocome from individual donors...Because that training helped us toclarify our priorities we are as healthyfinancially as we have ever been andhave a more secure financial footingon our way toward sustainability.Just wanted you to know a little moreabout the reach of you all's work. Thank you for your leadership andvision that is \"promoting sustainableimpact toward the betterment ofGrant County!\"Andrew SprockCircles of Grant County

Dawn, WOW! YOU GUYS ARE ROCKIN IT! I REALLY LOOK FORWARD TO THE SUMMER UPDATE. THE ARTICLES ARE COMPELLING FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A “BURNING PLATFORM.” CONTINUITY IN LEADERSHIP IS A CLEAR INDICATOR OF ENGAGEMENT – GOOD FOR GRANT COUNTY. I HAVE ALWAYS APPRECIATED YOUR BIAS FOR ACTION AND IT IS SHINING THROUGH!124 Jeff Whiteside

Another good job!JUDY FITZGERALD 125

126 Cassie Thanks for all you have done for the Community Foundation as well as the Distribution Committee. You were awesome to work with, and I will miss seeing you around... Praying your transition to Arizona goes well, and God opens the doors for you at just the right time. You will no doubt be a great addition to your new team. Always remember Grant County is your home, and we want you back when the time is right. You can be a great voice in our community and we need it. John C. Jones INTERIM CHANCELLOR IWU-MARION

I am so pleased thatMeagan has accepted the grants manager position!! She will be great!!! Nedra Sutter 127

THANKS FOR THE CUTE THANK YOU NOTE FOR THE BREAD, \"WE LOAF YOU!\" YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST. LaRea Slater128

CASSIE,I am so happy for you. I know that you are gonna head west androck their socks off! A move like that is a big commitment, but it'sone that I know will allow you to widen your scope of impact andopen new directions for your growth and development.The downside, of course, is that Grant County will be losing one of itsbiggest advocates for young people's success in pursuing post-secondary education. I know I don't have to tell you this, but I'mgoing to anyway. In the time that you've been with the CommunityFoundation, you have impacted so many young people in the workyou do, but what's even cooler is that there are hundreds andhundreds of more students coming down the pipeline that willbenefit from that work well after you've conquered Phoenix. You'veplayed a key role in putting Grant County ahead of the pack when itcomes to scholarshipping students with intentionality and simplecommon sense. Who would have thought that something that soundsso mundane would be so revolutionary and impactful?You will be missed for sure, but I feel like you're pretty pleased thatsomeone as seasoned and connected to this work as Meagan will besliding into that role. I'm happy for you that you are able to leaveyour work in such capable and ready hands.Thanks for all you have done for our community and we wish youwell in having the same impact in your new one.STEVE GIBSONProject Leadership 129