Foellinger Foundation rallies around community partners, programs, and initiatives that enable Allen County residents to thrive. Our investments in community interests and development stem from well-informed research and best practices. Community development efforts have been part of philanthropy since the mid-1990’s, when the asset-based community development model was developed by John L. McKnight and John P. Kretzmann at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. 

We know that every community and neighborhood has its own assets and resources. We follow this model because it empowers the people of the community by encouraging them to utilize what they already possess. Then, as funders, we can financially support the issues they care about, or want to change themselves. We don’t know as much about someone’s community or neighborhood as the people who live, work, and play in it do. Organizations lead best by stepping back and creating space for residents to be involved in taking ownership and building successful neighborhoods and communities. Sometimes, it’s just listening, and other times, we need to help change the systems in place so that others can be successful. Funding grants and leadership training and advocating for change are all important roles for the Foundation.

At the Foundation, this is the philosophy that guides our investments—such as our Community Interests grants and the Thrive Initiative.

Our Founder, Helene Foellinger, publisher of The News-Sentinel from 1936-1981, personally and professionally supported community-oriented organizations, programs, projects, and initiatives.

"If you only knew how many people have told me how much they appreciate the things we have done for Fort Wayne. I am a person who has been very thankful that it was my lot to do the things we've been able to do for the community. I take great joy in it."

– Helene Foellinger

Thrive Initiative

The purpose of the Thrive Initiative is to support community-identified programming and projects within neighborhoods, especially those with the greatest economic need and least opportunity. Through this initiative, we invest in partner organizations that provide resources—such as education, housing, jobs, and childcare—that support the ability of those who live in those neighborhoods to self-determine and take ownership of lives they choose for themselves.

As our community’s needs change, the focus of this initiative will change, too. We intentionally engaged community members to listen, learn, and act in a thoughtful, purposeful, and collaborative manner to identify the focus of our initial phase. This phase supports nonprofits located within and directly serving Allen County citizens that reside in the Southeast quadrant of Fort Wayne.

“[Organizations] have a responsibility to see that in giving aid, they are helping individuals to help themselves—that they are helping people to be independent.”

– Helene Foellinger

We know our grantees are the experts on the individuals they serve—so we empower them with the resources they need to do the work that will move Allen County residents from dependence to independence.

Then, mutually recognizing their interdependence, they can invest their own resources in one another—and the benefits of this community development model ripple for generations.