Since the Roseville Community Fund began awarding grants in 2020, more than $19,000 has been invested back into the community. Much of that funding has been to support the Roseville Community Center, the former elementary school that is now home to a food pantry, daycare, and community meeting space.
“I’ve seen so many small towns that have just shriveled up,” says Roseville Community Fund advisory board chair Carol Shaw. “That could have happened when we lost our elementary school, but people rallied.”
This spring, the Roseville Community Fund granted funds for a new sound system at the Roseville Community Center. In 2021, a grant supported the installation of accessible bathrooms at the center. The fund has also provided holiday turkeys and hams for Helping Hands of Roseville and resources for Roseville Kids Place, which are both housed at the center.
In the larger community, the fund has awarded grants for speakers in the livestock show ring for the Warren County Agricultural Fair and planters for the downtown area.
The Roseville Community Fund is an endowed fund of the Galesburg Community Foundation. The principal of the fund is invested so that it continues to grow while producing a spendable balance each year that a local advisory board grants to nonprofits in the community.
The Roseville Community Fund is a way for anyone who calls Roseville “home” to support their community. Since it was established in November of 2019, the fund has received more than 550 gifts of all sizes from people in 22 states. In fact, 39% of the gifts received came from outside Roseville’s zip code.
Shaw says that some people were initially hesitant about partnering with the Galesburg Community Foundation, but now that residents are seeing the impact of the fund, it’s an argument she doesn’t hear very often. “The Foundation takes care of the administration and makes sure that the funds are invested properly, but we get to determine where to grant the funds in our community. For me, that’s a win-win.”
In addition to Roseville, community funds have been established in Knoxville, Williamsfield, Alexis, and Monmouth. “Galesburg Community Foundation is proud to partner with communities in Knox and Warren counties to help them shape a better future and promote the wellbeing of all community members,” said Joshua Gibb, President and CEO of the Foundation. “It unites the tools of community, economic, and resource development, engaging everyone to come together with their voices, ideas, strategies, talents, and giving.”
To make a gift or to learn more about the Roseville Community Fund, visit yourgcf.org/Roseville.
