Entries by Sharon Smith

We did then what we knew how to do…

One of our best-loved initiatives is the area of youth philanthropy. The chance to teach young people to contribute their time, talent and treasure is as rewarding as work gets.  And it matters too! A recent survey across our grantmaking areas ranked alumni’s youth philanthropy experience from influential to groundbreaking! This year marks our twentieth […]

Doing it to youth, for youth or with youth?

You won’t want to miss this…we’re going to tell a little story on ourselves. About ten years ago we decided to add youth members to our Grant Review Committee (the group of community people who advise our board of directors on which grant investments to make).  We just knew that serving on this committee would […]

Why are foundations all SO different?

  “When you’ve seen one foundation…you’ve seen one foundation.” Sorry grantseekers, but the old saying above seems to be true. Why do all foundations seem to do their own thing? It’s complicated, but here goes… CORPORATE FOUNDATIONS reflect the values and interests of the companies that support them. For instance, the Lincoln National Life Insurance […]

Tales from the Raccoon Road

It seems like every week someone on the Dekko Foundation staff is on the road! We work in places where Mr. Chet Dekko, our founder, had an interest.  So, even though we all live in Indiana, we often find ourselves in Alabama, Iowa, Minnesota and, in the luckiest and rarest winter instances, Florida. Since Mr. […]