The Foundation, in 2024, crossed a big threshold.
At the end of last year, the Foundation had granted a total of $110 million dollars in the community since it was formed in 1996.
This is a major accomplishment, with a series of successful projects and grant programs as evidence of the hard work from past board and staff of the Foundation.
Despite unpredictable economic conditions, stubborn inflation, and other uncertainties, the Foundation remains as determined as ever to continue supporting projects and programs that improve the lives of Barberton residents.
For 2025, the Foundation has ~$1.1 million dollars to fund various grant programs, community development projects, and scholarships.
Much of this money is planned and budgeted already.
For example, we have around $400,000 this year to fund scholarships. This includes new scholarship awards for 2025 graduates, as well as students who graduated several years ago and are still receiving a multi-year award from the Foundation as they persist through college, technical school, or a vocational program.
But, have you ever wondered how the Foundation “knows” what to budget for scholarships, or which grants to fund? Or what projects to fund?
Since I have been the Executive Director for just over one year, it is hard for me to say how it has worked in the past.
But, I can share with you what my vision is for how things will work now and into the future.
We will build our budgets, make grant-funding choices, and determine how to best positively impact Barberton residents through a thoughtful, well-defined strategy!
The Board of Directors, and team members of the Foundation, are about to start a strategic planning process that will take several months of work.
The process starts by collecting data.
In a few weeks you will see the Foundation – and other organizations in the community – post a link to a survey that is being funded by the Foundation.
This is our opportunity to hear from as many of you as possible!
We want to hear from you so that we can understand what you are experiencing as residents.
Gaining understanding about what you’re experiencing – and analyzing your responses – will help us make decisions on where to focus our budget for grants, scholarships, sponsorships, donor conversations, and more.
Survey results are just one aspect of data we will study in our process.
We also have access to census data and other databases that tell us about various habits, where people visit Barberton from, etc.
Altogether the Foundation will use multiple data sources, do analysis as a team and board, and then do our best to determine how we can best help our community be the best version of itself!
We will then determine what aspects of our community we can help with the most. Part of our process will include choosing measurements that will help us understand if our efforts are having the desired outcome.
Here’s an example of how this process works.
Data from the state of Ohio in 2023 revealed that 22.8% of our incoming kindergarteners were evaluated as “ready for kindergarten” based on the state of Ohio Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA). This is a test that is administered during a student’s first week of kindergarten.
The average in the state of Ohio for 2023 was 36.5%. This means that Barberton’s kindergarteners performed 13.7% below the state average.
This piece of data is an “eye-opener” for us as we prepare to determine our strategy. It is an indication that our parents and guardians of our youngest residents – ages 0-5 – may need guidance, support, and help in child development.
There are many nonprofits and businesses that do child development work (not simply daycare… the work of actually building a child’s brain!). The Foundation’s team will do analysis on these organizations and identify ways we can provide their services to our residents.
In a few years, we will look again at those KRA scores and see if the number of kiddos who are ready for kindergarten is a higher percentage than 22.8%. If we are making progress – and that number is closer or beyond the state average – then we continue with what we’re doing! If we aren’t seeing the progress we hope to see, then we reevaluate what we are doing to find a better way to positively impact that important number.
This is just one example of what we study when we do a strategic plan!
It is a process I’m excited for, and I hope you are, too.
Please take the time to help us out – we want to hear from you! Consider taking the survey when it’s available. I always want to hear from you as well – contact me at jgordon@barbertoncf.org.
In Community,
Josh Gordon,
Executive Director
Barberton Community Foundation
