We don’t have all the answers,
which is why we ask big questions.
These are the questions that drive us. We enable participation. We form connections. We cultivate collaborations. We’ve been building a practice that embraces engagement because we believe in the power of co-creating for impact.
ACF seeks collaborators.
Will you join us?
pull up a chair: there's one for everyone.
Engage.
We can’t do this work alone. We need the strengths of people and organizations throughout Athens County. Care about the future of our county? Share in our mission?
Give.
By joining ACF as a donor, you are investing in a strong future for Athens County. Your gift ensures that critical needs are met while viable solutions are developed.
Apply.
Our grants fuel promising and productive work in Athens County. Resources are paired with access to other thought leaders, game changers, and social change champions.
what we're working on
After the Storm: What Community Resilience Looks Like
Please join us in welcoming our new Director of Finance and Administration, Stacy Strauss. Stacy looks forward to using her skills to strengthen our community! She brings energy, creativity, and a thoughtful approach to her work, along with a genuine ability to bring people together around shared goals. Her experience spans financial management, fundraising and grant writing, program development, business strategy, and developing materials that tell a clear, compelling story. Just as importantly, she enjoys helping others grow. She has experience leading and training teams, building collaborative cultures, developing recruitment strategies, and finding practical, creative solutions to complicated challenges. Whether working with colleagues, community partners, or other stakeholders, she builds relationships rooted in trust, communication, and a shared commitment to advancing good ideas.
Athens County's greatest asset is its people. Every day, neighbors, organizations, and local leaders bring skill, creativity, and deep knowledge of this place to the work of building a stronger community. Our grantmaking invests in those strengths, because the best solutions are already growing here, led by the people who call Athens County home. Our grantmaking builds on the strengths already here by investing in the initiatives, people and organizations, relationships, skills, and ideas working to address longstanding challenges and pursue extraordinary opportunities. The deadline for applications for the Senior Fund has been extended to October 18, 2026! The Athens Jaycees Senior Fund The Athens Jaycees Senior Fund supports organizations and programs working to improve the lives of older adults (60+) in Athens County. This year, approximately $65,000 is available through ACF’s Fall Grant Cycle. We want to encourage organizations to think broadly about what supporting people as they age could look like. The Jaycees fund has deep local roots. In 2014, Housing for Athens Senior Residents donated $1 million to the Athens County Foundation to establish the fund following the sale of Heritage Commons Senior Housing. Heritage Commons itself began as an Athens Jaycees project in 1981, created to expand housing opportunities for local seniors. To date, the Jaycees Senior Fund has awarded more than $415,000 to support programs and services benefiting older adults across Athens County. What could an Athens Jaycees Senior Fund project look like? We’re inviting applicants to consider how their work could help make Athens County a community where people can remain active, connected, independent, and supported as they age. Projects might address housing, transportation, community and health services, social connection, healthy living, accessibility, caregiver support, or other needs and opportunities identified by older adults. The Jaycees Senior Fund intentionally remains flexible so that organizations can bring forward ideas grounded in what they are seeing and hearing in their communities. If your organization has an idea that could improve the experience of aging in Athens County, we encourage you to consider ACF’s Fall Grant Cycle to access the Jaycees Senior Fund. The deadline for grant requests supporting senior-related programs has been extended to October 18, 2026. For more information, please visit athensfoundation.org/grants. -------- If you’d like guidance in developing or strengthening an age-friendly program idea, we encourage you to reach out directly to Amy Lipka with Age-Friendly Athens County at alipka@athenspublichealth.org. The Athens City-County Health Department will also sponsor Healthy Aging Community Grants in early 2027.
