Annual Business Meeting 2025 at OU Inn
ACF Reports Record Growth, Expands Efforts to Strengthen Athens County
From L-R: Laurie Deal, Ben Lachman, Jane Cavarozzi, Kerry Pigman, and Susan Urano
Photo by the
Athens Photographic Project
Athens, OH – The Athens County Foundation (ACF) convened its Annual Business Meeting on Thursday evening at the Ohio University Inn, bringing together business owners, nonprofit leaders, donors, and past and present board members. The event, hosted by ACF’s Board and staff, served as a platform to celebrate the milestones of Fiscal Year 2024 and share the Foundation’s vision for the future.
Treasurer Geoff Morgan opened with a financial update, reporting a $1.74 million increase in ACF’s endowment, bringing the total assets to $12.9 million.
Board member Tee Ford-Ahmed followed with a grants update, highlighting ACF’s impact through 210 grants totaling $810,000—a $242,000 increase from the previous year. These grants were distributed across multiple programs, including ACF’s Fall Cycle, the Rocky Community Improvement Fund’s Fall and Spring Cycles, Nonprofit Capacity Building grants, and Donor Advised Fund grants.
During the administrative proceedings, Scott Robe, Chair of the Governance Committee, facilitated board nominations. The assembly enthusiastically confirmed Rebecca Robison-Miller and Dan Stroh as first-term board members, while Jane Cavarozzi was approved for a second term.
A Strategic Vision for the Future
ACF’s Executive Director Kerry Pigman delivered the keynote address, unveiling the Foundation’s new strategic framework: “Learn while doing, build while evolving.”
Reflecting on ACF’s journey since its founding in the 1980s by eight visionary women, Pigman underscored the Foundation’s role in strengthening Athens County. Programs like Leadership Athens County, with over 400 graduates and counting, and the Strengths + Strengths capacity building program continue to drive non-profit development.
Looking ahead, ACF is fully committed to Co-Create, a bold initiative designed to combine and mobilize local assets, resources, and expertise to achieve shared community goals. Informed by a decade of ACF’s work and inspired by successful national models of participatory change-making, Co-Create fosters connection, cooperation, and collaborations for sustainable progress.
An Invitation to Partner in Progress
The strength of Athens County lies in its people and their collective will to create meaningful change. ACF invites anyone who lives, works, and loves Athens County— all residents, local leaders, and organizations— to join in advancing Athens County.
To learn more and get involved, visit athensfoundation.org/co-create.
ACF looks forward to collaborating with you!
Articles by Category
Stories of Collaboration and Belonging
Annual Business Meeting
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Click on 01 for more information and to RSVP
Tax Law Update
We want to share with you this useful article from Pro Bono Partnership of Ohio which includes a summary of IRS rules, sample written acknowledgments, and helpful links.
Click on 02 for Pro Bono article
Civic Experiment Grant
Civic Experiments are local projects introducing new, sometimes unexpected or informal, civic opportunities in our communities. Civic Experiment grants are small (5,000-$15,000), 1-year programmatic grants. All Civic Experiments must be conducted in Athens County. Portal is open now-January 30
Click on 03 for more information
Strengths + Strengths
Strengths+Strengths is a special initiative designed to provide nonprofit organizations throughout Athens County with access to professional resources, expert insights, and leading best practices. The goal is to help those who do good do even better. Join us February 11 at noon at the Athens Public Library for the nonprofit Leaders Lunch
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