The Community Foundation of Southeast Kansas (CFSEK) was established in February 2001 (under the name Pittsburg Area Community Foundation) as a result of a generous opportunity from the Kansas Health Foundation (KHF). The KHF’s goal is to create healthier communities in which to raise children, and CFSEK would provide the vehicle for improving the well-being of Southeast Kansas communities. It would connect donors to issues they care about and to the needs of the community.
Table of Contents
Here is how it started
The Kansas Health Foundation, the state’s largest private foundation, offered Pittsburg $300,000 to establish its own community foundation. Its intended purpose would be to support a broad range of charitable activities such as health improvements, educational endeavors, art-and-culture projects, and other civic efforts intended to enrich the quality of life. Donors, as well as a voluntary board of trustees, would determine individual projects.
To qualify for the funds, the KHF required that:
- The community establish a 501(c)(3) foundation; and
- The community foundation match—dollar for dollar—the $300,000 through donations and pledges to be fully paid by the end of 2003.
Not only would the match demonstrate the community’s commitment, but it would also establish a large enough financial base to support the new foundation without requiring annual fundraisers to cover operating expenses.
In response to this challenge, more than 40 generous Pittsburg-area donors came forward to commit $328,325 in donations and pledges. Anyone pledging $3,000 or more by the end of the year was named a founder of the Foundation.
CFSEK Year One
During 2001, CFSEK was able to give over $9,000 in grants.
The Foundation collaborated with two musical groups in the Pittsburg area and the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation to send $5,386 to the September 11th Fund established by the New York Community Trust and the United Way of New York City to mobilize financial resources from across the country. The two local musical events were sponsored by the Southeast Kansas Symphony and a group of citizens, organized by Gene Bicknell, to produce the “Let Freedom Sing Community Sing-A-Long.” Additional donations from area residents were also collected and forwarded.
In memory of Jack Wilkinson, Alice, Wendell, and Lynda Wilkinson donated $3,415 to CFSEK to be used as a grant to the Friends of Crawford County Historical Society Museum. The recipients used the funds to restore the coal steam shovel that sits at the entrance of the museum complex.
WATCO, a short-line railroad company with corporate offices in Pittsburg, donated five blocks of abandoned rails to create Immigrant Park. The plans for that park were designed to commemorate the heritage of area residents and celebrate the historical importance of railroads and mining in the development of the area. Fittingly, a new charitable fund was established with CFSEK to help create, develop, and maintain Immigrant Park.