Foundation Friday Newsletter

The Maxwell String Quartet, fresh from Scotland, performed for CMYS in October 2019 and charmed Mills Lawn students the next day. Look for more great music live in 2021-22 after their virtual season in 2020-21.

Recent Nonprofit Leadership Institute graduate Lee Wade measuring recently
planted trees at Tecumseh Land Trust

The Nolan J. and Richard D. Miller Endowment Fund has been providing for Greene County college and high school students to learn about community collaboration through training in nonprofit leadership and working at local nonprofits.

The Nonprofit Leadership Institute (NLI) training is a nonprofit certification training program that prepares future leaders to be Ambassadors in the Foundation's Miller Fellowship program. The program is a unique, multi-generational community-based program that involves a collaboration between seniors, students, and local nonprofits working together in service for our community.

Students learn about the work of the Foundation and their role as representatives of the Foundation, their colleges (in Greene County), and themselves. Donna Haller, Executive Director of VIP, recently stated “if they [the students] knew how much the NLI was worth, they would definitely apply. We emphatically encourage the students that work with VIP to take advantage of the training!”

The pandemic has shifted the previously in-person classes online, but participants will continue to gain experience safely working at local nonprofits during the NLI.

The next hybrid NLI training will be held the weekend of September 25-27, 2020. Donna and several other nonprofit executives have agreed to be on the professional panel, where the Miller Fellows can direct questions and get answers about working at nonprofits in our Village.

Since the start of the NLI in May 2019, almost 30 students have completed the training and become NLI Certified Miller Fellows, and this is just the beginning.

Know a student who you think would like to Join Us?

To support the NLI:  N LI

To apply:  Y SCF Nonprofit Leadership Institute

For more information: Miller Fellow Program

Staff Member Highlight
Kim Kremer

I was raised in South Bend, IN, earned a BA in Psychology from Hanover College and later an MS in Marriage & Family Counseling from Wright State University. My husband Mike & I have been married for 32 years. During the early years, we took turns working and attending graduate school which led us to discover Yellow Springs and later, Hawai’i for a four year stint. During these years, I worked in the mental health field for a variety of hospitals and clinics run by groups that included Catholic Charities, Mennonite Health Services and Adventist Health. It always felt right to me because all of these organizations had compassion and service to others at the heart of their mission. Ten years into marriage, we had two daughters Ursula and Greta, now 22 and 20 years old, and returned to Yellow Springs specifically to raise them in a community that was small, safe and open-minded. I spent the next several years solely with them at home, playing and nurturing their souls.

Now you may be asking yourself, “So how does one go from a career in mental health to financial administration?” I sought a career that allowed me to work from home and remain flexible and available for the sake of our daughters. With the steady and careful guidance from villagers like Sharon Wescott, Rachel McKinley and Perry Stewart, I began keeping the books for multiple non-profits over the next 15 years and for the Yellow Springs Community Foundation, in particular for the last seven of those years.

Bookkeeping isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. It’s maintenance, not especially glamorous, can be tedious, and yet is ultimately important. I witness and handle every gift and check that comes to the Foundation, some that are accompanied by a note offered in memory of a loved one who’s passed, others that are barely legible because of the donor’s failing steady hand; and I track and report every expense. You can be assured that I pay attention, treat it all with care and trustworthiness, and feel deep satisfaction from the work of the Foundation, its purpose and mission.

Our Journey

Foundation board and staff recently gathered to deepen our understanding and discuss diversity, racial equity, and inclusion through the lens of the Foundation’s services.

Here is a related, quick read on white privilege with a checklist: White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, by Peggy McIntosh

Won't you join us?

We would love to hear your thoughts on how we and the community can make these structural changes: Yscf@yscf.org

Remember to b r e a t h e – as together we will get through this and whatever comes our way. If you or someone you know needs assistance, please reach out: yscf@yscf.org or call 937-767-2655.

SUBSCRIBE to our Foundation Friday Newsletter: yscf@yscf.org

WE WEAR A MASK to protect you. Please wear a mask to protect us and your neighbors.