The Nelsonville Community Foundation was created to assist Nelsonville and the surrounding communities of Buchtel, Carbon Hill, and Murray City in growing philanthropic resources to enrich quality of life. All gifts to the Nelsonville Community Foundation are invested in an endowment fund at the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio (FAO). From its interest and earnings, this Fund will make grants to support the community for many years to come, ensuring permanent resources designed to address Nelsonville and surrounding communities’ changing needs over time.

Our work together has already made a difference, and with further investment, our impact on the nonprofits, schools, and communities of our treasured county will only grow. Recently, the Nelsonville Community Foundation awarded grants to organizations serving Nelsonville and surrounding communities:

• Athens County Children Services for the Buckeye Bags Food Access Program;
• Nelsonville Food Cupboard, Inc., towards an updated space for the pantry;
• Southeast Ohio Youth Mentoring for Buckeye Buddies: Youth Leadership in Nelsonville;
• First Presbyterian Church of Nelsonville Ohio for Raise the Roof, a project to replace the church’s slate roof with a metal one;
• Athenian Berean Community Players for stage platforms and wireless microphones for actors; and
• Nelsonville Rotary Club for the Nelson Commons Refresh project toward repairs and improvements at the park shelter house and city pool house.

For a limited time, all gifts to the Nelsonville Community Foundation will receive dollar-for-dollar match! 

Thanks to matching funds awarded to FAO by the Ohio Legislature, $300,000 is available for match to the Nelsonville Community Foundation. There is no limit to how much can be matched by a single donor! 

Help us secure match for Nelsonville and surrounding communities so we can make a greater difference together!

The Nelsonville Community Foundation is driven by a local, volunteer committee. The committee works to ensure that gifts to the Foundation make the greatest impact in the Nelsonville and surrounding communities through meaningful grant awards.

The Nelsonville Community Foundation committee is composed of Stuart Brooks, Steve Cox, Kevin Dotson, Dorothy Gettle, Garry Hunter, Bill L’Heureux, Anita McDonald, and Betty Jo Parsley.

Appalachian Ohio has access to nine times fewer charitable dollars per capita than the rest of the state. At FAO, we understand that a combination of local leadership and regional initiatives is needed to tackle this philanthropy gap that all too often means an opportunity gap for our communities and the people who call them home. One crucial way FAO has sought to address this philanthropy gap is by supporting the efforts of counties in growing philanthropy with the local community, for the local community, including the Nelsonville Community Foundation Fund.

Because we know that lasting resources dedicated to local communities is so vital to creating opportunities, 100% of your gift and its match to the Nelsonville Community Foundation Fund will be invested in the endowment to make a long-term, local difference in Nelsonville and surrounding communities.