Special Interest Grants Reflect Donors' Passions

We have the most fascinating donors at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. And, each has an idea of what makes a great community.

At no time is that more evident than in December when we award our annual Special Interest Grants. These come from donors' field-of-interest funds and reflect their concerns and passions. 

Since many of these funds were established through bequests after the donors passed away, we have not always had the opportunity to ask what motivated their generosity. But, we are grateful that these donors entrusted their community foundation to do good in their names forever.

Click here to see all the Special Interest grants awarded in December 2016.

They focus on areas such as:

• Mental health research -- chosen by brothers Benjamin and Charles Brown for their funds started in 1985 and 1983. This year grants from their funds will be funding research at Eastern Virginia Medical School related to pediatric neuropsychology.
• Helping abused people -- a focus area of the Sue Cook Winfrey Memorial Fund started by an estate gift from her husband Guy in 1997.  Grants from this fund are helping five area Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) programs create a handbook to help parents and guardians involved in child abuse and neglect cases. 
• Supporting shelter animals -- an interest of the Alfred L. Nicholson Fund started in 1988 after the death of Nicholson. Grants will be improving the Chesapeake Humane Society and Virginia Beach SPCA.  

Improving Life in Norfolk and Beyond

With $2,350 in donations The Norfolk Foundation (now Hampton Roads Community Foundation) formed to

Norfolk SPCA benefits from grants.

benefit Norfolk and a 50-mile radius. That was 66 years ago when seven Norfolk civic leaders had the great idea to establish the first community foundation in Virginia. It was the 1950s when community foundations were spreading across the country doing good work in specific geographic regions. Although the community foundation is regional, it retains a big footprint in Norfolk.

 

Dozens of Norfolk-based nonprofits helped by the Hampton Roads Community Foundation and include the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk Botanical Garden, Virginia Opera, Virginia Stage Company, Virginia Symphony and Virginia Zoo. These cultural icons are among recipient organizations whose footprints extend far beyond the city. All have received multiple grants from foundation donors that have helped them grow to serve residents of all ages from throughout our region and beyond.

 

Community foundation grants were also instrumental in the 2014 opening of the Salvation Army’s Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center. Other grants have helped nonprofits focused primarily on Norfolk such as the Norfolk SPCA and ParkPlace Health & Dental Clinic.

 

The 2015 opening of the Slover Library in downtown Norfolk took the community foundation back to its

Slover Library is a welcome addition to downtown Norfolk.

roots as its first big grant from donor funds in 1959 was $100,000 to build Kirn Memorial Library, which was torn down a few years ago in anticipation of the Slover – a bigger, more technologically advanced library. More than $1 million from community foundation donors helped build the new library that is a community hub and has won national accolades.

 

Many Norfolk-based organizations started with help from community foundation grants, including:

• ACCESS College Foundation
• Eastern Virginia Medical School
• Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia
• ForKids Inc.
• Virginia Arts Festival
• Virginia Wesleyan College
   
  These and many other nonprofits have all expanded their programs and facilities over the years with help from millions of dollars in community foundation grants.
   
  In addition to helping Norfolk-based nonprofits, the community foundation invests in the city’s students and their futures. This past year 92 students from Norfolk attended college helped by $317,000 in scholarships provided by community foundation donors. Many past recipients now work in the region as educators, bankers, physicians, social workers and other important professions.

Giving Back: Physician's Daughter Focused on the Future

Florence Smith’s respect for good doctors came to her naturally as the only daughter of Dr.

Dr. Hy & Julia Smith

Hy Smith and his wife Julia. Hy Smith was a Civil War surgeon who treated Yellow Fever victims in the 1870s and ‘80s and later had a medical practice i Norfolk, Virginia. He passed away in 1915. 

Florence Smith

Thirty-seven years after her dad’s death, Florence Smith left a charitable bequest in her will to her community foundation to guarantee a steady stream of excellent physicians from the Commonwealth of Virginia. Her 1952 bequest provided an initial $460,000, and the following year the Hampton Roads Community Foundation was able to award scholarships to 26 Virginians attending medical school in her name. One of the recipients became president of the American Medical Association.

Barron Frazier

Over the decades, nearly 750 Smith Scholars have benefited from Florence Smith’s generosity and have gone on to be caring physicians and to head various medical societies. The $2.5 million her scholarship at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation has provided paved the way for caring physicians in all fields. Today the perpetual Smith Fund is helping 15 medical students and has grown to more than $2.2 million in value.Soon new medical students will join their ranks as current fourth-year students graduate and move on to residency.

One of the 2016 graduating Smith Scholars is S. Barron Frazier, a fourth-year Eastern Virginia Medical School student from Norfolk. He says: “Miss Smith saw that money only has as much value as you contribute to the future. Her gift is a model that says if you give to the future you will create a better community.”

Batten Gift Brings Spanish Program to Eastern Virginia Medical School

Since 2003 the Batten Educational Achievement Fund of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation has found a variety of ways to improve educational opportunities in southeastern Virginia.

The latest Batten grant in 2014 provides $450,000 to help Eastern Virginia Medical School

Frank & Jane Batten support education.

in Norfolk, Virginia make the school a regional source of certification in medical Spanish. The goal is to address language barriers in order to improve healthcare for Spanish-speaking populations.

Virginia's 92  percent Hispanic growth rate in the past 10 years prompted EVMS to add a language curriculum and testing recognized by the National Institutes of Health. The program will be part of EVMS' M. Foscue Brock Institute for Community and Global Health.

Funding comes from a donor-advised fund started in 2003 with a $20.5 million gift to the community foundation by the late philanthropist Frank Batten and his wife Jane of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Since then the Batten Fund has provided more than $21.8 million in grants to organizations working to improve educational opportunities primarily in Hampton Roads. Recipients include nonprofits focused on improving early education, teaching people to nurture their environment and bringing history alive for more students as well as those providing higher-education opportunities.

 

(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. )