In 1991, a group of Southern Indiana residents formed an organization that would be a resource for nonprofits and a place that would help ordinary people find a way to honor causes they loved. That organization is the Community Foundation of Southern Indiana.

Through the generous personal gifts of this core group and funds from the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc., the Community Foundation opened up for business with Dale Orem at its helm. Orem’s task during those first few years was to meet with people, one-on-one, and explain what the Foundation was and how it could help them make their charitable dreams come true. Due largely to Orem’s diligence and persistence, the organization quickly grew to have a $5 million endowment, and also even made grants during those early days. Among the first grants the organization made was to help fund the Falls of the Ohio Visitors Center in Jeffersonville. Orem’s tenure was followed by the organization’s longest serving executive director, John Hartstern. The Community Foundation began holding workshops for non-profits to learn about various aspects of doing business and seeking grant money.

Also, in 2002, under Hartstern’s leadership the Community Foundation organized a campaign to buy and install tornado sirens in Clark, Floyd and Harrison counties, funding $300,000 of the project from its own funds and raising money outside of that to help meet the project’s total cost.

In 2003, the Community Foundation hired a new President and CEO, Laura Hansen Dean, an attorney from Indianapolis with an extensive background in the management of foundations and charitable gift planning. Under her leadership, the Community Foundation formed new entities to renovate the historic Carnegie Library in Jeffersonville (Jeffersonville Carnegie Library Foundation Inc.), to implement the vision of the Southern Indiana Chamber of Commerce’s Southern Indiana 2020 project (Southern Indiana 2020 Inc.), and to support the New Albany Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation (New Albany Floyd County Education Foundation Inc.).

In 2005, the Community Foundation received a blockbuster set of grants that will impact the area for years to come. The Foundation received $1.5 million for programs provided through Communities in Schools in Clark County and the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation received $1,142,000 to help address literacy needs of students. Along with that, the Community Foundation received $358,000 to create an endowment to sustain literacy programs in Floyd County.

All three counties received funding through the 4Community program, an Indiana Association of United Ways initiative that awarded funding to community collaborations of four or more organizations tackling a community issue.

The Community Foundation's fourth President and CEO, Mike Waiz, took over in May 2007. Mike Waiz is an attorney with a long history of volunteer work in Southern Indiana. Waiz has continued the organization's legacy of helping make great communities.

In the past 19 years, the Community Foundation has helped channel a staggering $9 million in scholarships and grants into our community. It’s an incredible history for an organization that started from scratch, and it’s all thanks to people just like you.