CFSEK’s 2021 Annual Report Now Available

The Community Foundation of Southeast Kansas is pleased to publish today its 2021 Annual Report. Below is the introductory letter by CFSEK Board President Connie Kays and Executive Director Devin Gorman. You can read the full report in our Annual Reports section.

Dear Friends,

The Community Foundation of Southeast Kansas was delighted to celebrate our 20th Anniversary in 2021. Thank you for joining us in the year-long celebration! CFSEK has accomplished significant work over the past 20 years, and we enjoyed reminiscing about many of those achievements with you.

Since our inception, the Community Foundation has received over 18,000 charitable gifts and has awarded over $19 million in grants and scholarships. Thank you to our founders for having the vision and belief that a community foundation was vital to our area. Through collaboration with donors, partners, and friends like you, those initial dreams became a reality and have benefited thousands.

In celebration of our 20th Anniversary, CFSEK awarded 20 individual grants of $1,000 each to select Southeast Kansas nonprofits. Our CFSEK Board of Trustees decided to award these special, one-time grants as a way to show our commitment to area nonprofits who are not always recognized for their work.

We also celebrated a record-breaking Match Day on National Giving Tuesday, November 30, 2021. Your tremendous support led to a record number of donors making a record number of donations to a record number of nonprofits.

Of course, 2021 was also a year of transition. Kit Parks, who served as our Executive Director since 2015, retired in late July. Kit’s accomplishments while leading CFSEK are extensive, and under her leadership, the Community Foundation grew from $15 million to $55 million in assets. We are thankful for Kit’s service to CFSEK and wish her the best in retirement!

As we look towards the future, we are excited to continue working with each of you. Together, we can continue to make a lasting impact on our community. We are hopeful that in 20 more years our successors will be able to credit the work we are doing today as the catalyst for historic growth.