The Community Foundation of Greater Lafayette

"Service" is Sally Watlington's middle name - 23 1/2 years in the U.S. Navy, and even longer than that as a Lafayette volunteer.

Famous for her three-ring notebooks, focused meeting agendas and tight-ship style, Sally Watlington has been volunteering at nonprofits all around town for 29 years.

Read more -->

Spring Vale Cemetery Endowment Fund

New Endowment Supports Spring Vale Cemetery Maintenance
Strolling through Spring Vale Cemetery, 2580 Schuyler Ave. (near U.S. 52 and State Road 25 North), visitors will spot renowned names in local history: businessmen Adams Earl and Moses Fowler, suffragette Helen Gouger, novelist George Barr McCutcheon, and medical pioneer A.C. Arnett, among them.

Established by the Spring Vale Cemetery Association on 150 acres along what was then known as Linnwood Gravel Road in 1868—a year before Purdue University was founded, the cemetery is the burial site for more than 11,000 people. Many are noted with large family monuments standing among the giant oak trees.

Its history includes John Purdue. Although he's buried at Purdue and not Spring Vale, he was one of the first presidents of the board of the private, nonsectarian cemetery.

In 1941, Spring Vale became a public, not-for-profit charitable organization.

While Indiana's township trustees are responsible for maintaining public cemeteries, Spring Vale's private roots means it must rely on individual contributions to mtaintain its grounds and burial sites.

That prompted Lafayette's Barb Knochel to initiate the Spring Vale Cemetery Endowment Fund with The Community Foundation of Greater Lafayette, hoping others will contribute to it.

"Those who contribute to this endowment will help with upkeep in perpetuity," says Knochel, who has many family members buried there. They include her parents, Jim and Beverly Burwell, and her great-great-grandfather, George Albert Harrison, who was a Lafayette police and fire chief.

"There's a lot of history there," Knochel says—both her family's and the community's. "I'm interested in genealogy, and Spring Vale means a lot to me." She's betting others, too, will want to assure its ongoing maintenance and care.


Agency Endowment Matching Campaign - Each donation is matched 1:4 by The Community Foundation. To see the list of participating not-for-profit organizations and to donate to the Campaign, click here.
New Funds
Jacob E. and Mary Ann Wiebers Scholarship
Michael Richard Raisor Fund
Pookie and Gracie Dog Rescue Fund
Richard D. Wood Scholarship Fund
Tippecanoe County Imagination Library Fund
Tippy Connect Young Professionals Endowment Fund
2013 Douglas W. Eberle Board Governance Series New Day and New Location
The Douglas W. Eberle Not-For-Profit Board Governance Series was established in 2008 to strengthen and sustain Not-For-Profit Boards in Tippecanoe and the surrounding counties. NCHS is partnering with The Community Foundation of Greater Lafayette and United Way of Greater Lafayette to present the education series. The purpose of this program is to build knowledge about responsible oversight and governance, and effective responses to policy and management issues faced by today’s Not-For-Profit volunteer leaders. The continuing education series is designed for, and limited to, Board volunteers and Executive Director teams. An education series designed to improve the effectiveness of nonprofit organizations by strengthening boards of directors has been developed by The Community Foundation and is being jointly sponsored by NCHS, United Way of Greater Lafayette, and The Community Foundation. This series, named after the late Douglas W. Eberle, is especially designed for the volunteer leaders on the Boards of Not-For-Profit Corporations. In 2013, the series will be held on the 3rd WEDNESDAY of each month at the Lafayette Country Club. Cost is $150 for the entire series of 10 sessions or $20 per session. Registration is open now through INRN; just go to http://www.uwlafayette.org/INRN_online_Registration.html to sign up. To see the brochure with topics and meeting dates, click here.
In The News
We recently saluted 44 students at our Scholarship Reception. Click here to read the article. Good news about The Community Foundation and one of the agencies that receives assistance. Click here to read the article. Greg Kapp, President and CEO, was recently interviewed for the Comcast Newsmakers Show. Click here to see Greg in action!

Honorarium Gifts

Wendell A. Riggs, MD

Memorial Gifts

Jim Carney

Bruce Cunningham

Douglas W. Eberle

Thomas Price

Joan Pearlman Whipple

Katie Traynor