A Legacy of Local Philanthropy: CRCF's Community Fund

There is something powerful about neighbors helping neighbors – about generosity that doesn’t seek recognition, but results.

The Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation was founded in 1994 with a bold vision: to encourage local giving, channel resources to community needs and build a legacy of impact across Cattaraugus County and beyond.

More than three decades later, CRCF has grown from a handful of funds with modest assets into an organization managing more than 350 distinct funds with over $40 million in assets, annually generating significant grant support to local causes.

The Community Fund is CRCF’s flagship unrestricted grant pool. It exists to support nonprofit projects and community initiatives that respond to immediate and evolving needs in the region. Grants from the fund are awarded through two funding cycles each year and support organizations working across a wide range of focus areas including education, health and wellness, community development, human services, youth development and more.

Often, the grants are modest in size. But their ripple effects are anything but small.

Each grant tells a story. A story of a nonprofit stretching every dollar. A story of volunteers pouring their time into service.

Since its inception, the Community Fund has invested $284,812 back into local nonprofits to strengthen and enrich Cattaraugus County communities. In its most recent cycle, CRCF awarded $13,500 across six organizations, supporting programs from fighting hunger to local libraries and workforce development.

Invenergy, North America’s largest privately-held developer, owner and operator of clean, reliable and affordable energy solutions, made a $5,000 charitable contribution to the Community Fund to benefit nonprofit organizations and community initiatives in the footprint of the Alle-Catt Energy Center.

The funds from Invenergy were invested into the Arcade Fire Department for extrication equipment and the Village of Franklinville for their school zone safety improvement project, with each organization receiving $2,500.

The Community Fund has also been instrumental in getting pilot programs off the ground, setting the framework for programs that continue to make a positive impact years later.

Veggie Wheels, an initiative sponsored by the Cattaraugus County Health Department and local volunteers, was founded in 2015 with the vision of improving access to healthy foods throughout the county by connecting local farmers with local consumers.

The initial grant to Veggie Wheels from the Community Fund came in 2016 to aid in the purchase of the “Veggie Mobile” – a mobile food pantry that would travel to the populations it serves and teach them how to prepare healthy, low-cost food.

In 2018, the Veggie Wheels Fund was established at the Foundation to help the program continue in perpetuity. By 2019, the initiative was providing approximately 600 community members and children with fresh vegetables, fruit and nutritional education in the communities of Olean, Delevan and Salamanca.

“It was a way of building relationships with people,” said Athena Godet-Calogeras, Veggie Wheels  co-founder. “This was a way of communicating with and getting to know your community.”

In communities where food deserts are increasingly common, Veggie Wheels offers a connection. It meets a tangible need in Cattaraugus County, but also strengthens the social fabric that holds communities together.

The challenges facing communities continue to evolve, and nonprofits operate in an environment of rising costs and growing demand. Small grants can mean stability, expansion, and – possibly – survival.

The Community Fund stands as a symbol of collective care. It represents neighbors investing in neighbors and the belief that strong communities are built intentionally, through partnership and shared responsibility.

As we reflect on the impact of the Community Fund in this annual report, we also look forward with gratitude – for the donors who make it possible, the volunteers who steward it  and the nonprofits who transform its dollars into impact.

At its core, the Community Fund is more than a grant program – it’s a promise that this community will continue to show up or itself.