March 19, 2008

The Community Foundation of St. Joseph County has completed a $6-million campaign for the arts, maximizing the potential of a challenge grant from the Leighton-Oare Foundation. As a result, there will be hundreds of thousands of dollars of additional support for the arts in our community.

Local philanthropist Judd Leighton of the Leighton-Oare Foundation launched the ArtsEverywhere Initiative with a $3-million challenge grant. In order to maximize the potential of the grant, the Community Foundation needed to raise $3 million to match it—and has succeeded.

“For a community of our size to pull off a $6 million campaign for the arts is fantastic,” says Community Foundation President Rose Meissner. “Colleagues from other cities around the country are amazed by the $3 million challenge grant from Judd Leighton—and what’s more amazing still is that we’ve matched it.”

Raising the funds has been a community-wide effort. People who care about the arts made scores of contributions, large and small, to take advantage of the $3-million matching opportunity.

“The fact is, you can’t raise this much money here without a small number of donors choosing to play a major role. In this case, some of the largest contributors chose to remain anonymous,” Meissner says. “They gave out of love for the arts and for this community.”

Collaboration has strengthened the ArtsEverywhere Initiative at every turn. A lead gift from the City of South Bend provided early fund-raising momentum, and partnerships with the South Bend Tribune, WVPE-FM, Burkhart Advertising, and others in the community ensured the initiative’s high visibility.

The ArtsEverywhere Initiative has three major facets: the ArtsEverywhere.com Web site, an online arts events calendar that also includes artist profiles, ticket discounts, and listings for classes and workshops; the ArtsEverywhere magazine, a quarterly published in partnership with the South Bend Tribune; and a grant-making component that gave more than $330,000 in 2007 to projects and programs that advance the arts.

A quarter of the ArtsEverywhere funds will support current arts-related projects. The rest will be used to build the permanent ArtsEverywhere endowment, generating earnings that will provide support long into the future.