Our Mission
CENTRAL KENTUCKY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the philanthropic focal point in the region, serving as a resource, leader and catalyst to people who wish to improve life in their community.
We are here to help our donors make a positive impact in their community. Three special features of Central Kentucky Community Foundation:
- Personalized Service – We work one-on-one with donors to make giving easy and effective. We accept a wide variety of gifts and provide donors options to maximize their charitable giving.
- Local Expertise – We assist donors in giving to all areas of community life and partner with organizations serving the community in human services, education, the environment, recreation, health care, the arts, and economic development and have our finger on the pulse of the community. Our professional staff has an in-depth understanding of the issues, opportunities, and resources that shape our community. We can help you learn more about local organizations and programs that make a difference in areas you care about most.
- Community Leadership – We invest in the long term and bring people and organizations together, convening diverse voices to address local issues and opportunities. Building community is our business.
Our Story
Central Kentucky Community Foundation evolved by the will of community leaders from two foundations – North Central Education Foundation and The Heartland Community Foundation to create a new community foundation for the region.
Established in 1960 as North Central Education Foundation, Central Kentucky Community Foundation is one of more than 780 community foundations in the United States today. We serve the Lincoln Trail Region, offering our donors and partners a variety of ways to touch our community through philanthropic giving.
Spanning back more than five decades, North Central Education Foundation became the focal point for educational leadership with the founding of Elizabethtown Community College, now Elizabethtown Community and Technical College, in 1964.
Since its beginnings, the foundation has awarded millions of dollars in scholarships, served as the education liaison for the transformation at Fort Knox and became the foundation for Hardin County Schools. Through the development of the foundation, Hardin County now offers many post-secondary opportunities for residents to advance their education.
We transitioned into a community foundation in 2011, when North Central Education Foundation and The Heartland Community Foundation, an affiliate with a local volunteer board of directors of The Community Foundation of Louisville, merged starting a combined history that spanned beyond the realm of education. The joining of the two foundations paved a path for stewarding our philanthropic resources from institutional and individual donors to local nonprofits that are the heart of our strong, vibrant community.
This investment has resulted in CKCF growing to $22.5 million in assets for the benefit of the community at the end of 2018. In that year, the foundation also added 11 new funds for a total of 131 managed funds, 91 students received 110 scholarships worth $243,000, gifts in the amount of $1.3 million were funded by 271 donors, and 97 organizations and individuals were beneficiaries of $5.8 million worth of grants.
Adding a new chapter to our history, board members and community leaders broke ground April 20, 2018, on Central Kentucky Community Foundation’s Home of Philanthropy. The new location, at 200 Jim Owen Drive in Elizabethtown, was built on land owned by the foundation for nearly 60 years. With the proximity to community partners, such as Hardin County Schools’ Early College and Career Center, Elizabethtown Community and Technical College and Hardin County Library Main Branch, the site was a natural choice for the Home of Philanthropy, which opened in November 2019.
Service Area
We serve the central Kentucky region, including the counties of:
Staff
Davette Swiney, President and CEO
Ann Fisher, CFO
Monique Roberts, Executive Assistant
Erin Hahn, Communications and Project Coordinator