What would you attempt to do for the Kern River Valley if you knew you could not fail?

Judi McCarthy

This message comes to you from the Kern Community Foundation. Your community foundation. As Chairman, and in my work with the Foundation’s Women’s & Girls’ Fund, I have been honored to meet many of you.

In visits to your beautiful valley, I have often admired how effectively KRV residents weave collaboration and collective action through their most successful endeavors. The Kern River Valley Collaborative is a perfect illustration of this: Public and private partners, joined to create solutions for community problems. Where you may lack services that are taken for granted in suburban areas, the Collaborative finds answers and fills gaps. Kern River Valley Revitalization, Inc. is another fine example of integrated action and common goals. KRVR has its eye on the Valley’s quality of life, for this and future generations. My observation is that the Kern River Valley breeds rugged individualists who successfully take their region from seclusion to solutions.

The very same qualities that I admire in you are traits that are part of a growing philanthropic trend across the country. Various “communities” – small and large, geographic and otherwise - are addressing local problems, collaboratively, with common goals and collective giving. Most have their eyes on both present day problems and future needs. They pool their dollars within community foundations to create endowments that address their communities’ changing concerns. These are some examples.

The Town of Webb Fund was created within the Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties in New York. Webb’s seasonal residents represent 75 percent of the town’s homeowners. As they arrive each summer, summer homeowners strain the community’s available resources. So, full-time and seasonal residents collaborated to create a community endowment that would bolster local services. Each year, they collectively grow the fund. Grants from this fund support local transportation, the library, the community center, art and historical associations, and more.

Hispanic donors in Westchester County, New York, created The Apoyo Fund at their local community foundation. This fund pools contributions from Hispanic business and community leaders to support Hispanic-led nonprofits in their area. The fund targets residents who have not previously been involved in philanthropy. But, these donors know the needs of their Hispanic community, and they are collaborating to address those needs, now and in the future.

A local “community” of women launched The Women’s & Girls’ Fund of Kern County. With large and small gifts, 300+ donors (many from the KRV) have built an endowment exceeding $400,000. Two cycles of grants have supported education and mentoring programs for girls. A third grant cycle is now underway to award local efforts that champion address physical, sexual, and domestic safety. The Women’s & Girls’ Fund’s largest grant to date ($9,000) was awarded to the Kernville Union School District for its “Eyes Wide Open” mentoring project for middle school girls.

It is my opinion – both as the Kern Community Foundation Chairman and as your Bakersfield-based fan – that the phenomenon of collective giving is supremely suited for the Kern River Valley. This form of philanthropy would add dollar value to your existing collaborations. Further, I believe that the Kern Community Foundation is positioned to assist KRV residents in the same way that the donors highlighted above are supported by their own community foundations. If you know little or nothing about community foundations, you should understand this most basic fact: They exist to bolster communities that are well loved by their residents.

My message concludes with some questions for you. How can the people of the KRV best collaborate with the Kern Community Foundation to strengthen this beautiful place you call home? Do you agree that collective giving can provide an ongoing source of support for the KRV? Could there be a broad desire in this community to build permanent endowments for the Kern River Valley?

Lastly, putting a twist on the words of Dr. Robert Schuller, “What would you attempt to do for the Kern River Valley if you knew you could not fail?”