This fall, FIST opened its grant cycle from August1st to October 31st to grant a total of $7,243.54 to six local nonprofits & seven initiatives that aligned with FIST’s mission statement.

At the Steuben County Community Foundation, we believe in building a stronger future—one that ensures stability and growth for the organizations serving our community. That’s why we’re excited to announce the creation of three new designated funds, each designed to provide long-term support for local nonprofits.

Read more about the impact this has on Angola Performing Arts Academy, Fremont Youth and Community Outreach, and TLC House Indiana.

Jan Bledsoe Viehweg and Jeffrey Bledsoe are pleased to establish a legacy fund at the Steuben County Community Foundation to honor their parents, James and LaMoine Bledsoe. They lived their whole lives in this county, striving to make a home town of which all could be proud.

Ten F.I.S.T. members travelled to Alabama to learn how to be better leaders and to communicate with other youth pods from different parts of the United States.

The Steuben County Community Foundation has received a grant of $3,007,200 from Lilly Endowment Inc. through the Community Leadership Implementation Grants component of the eighth phase of its Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow (GIFT VIII) initiative.

The Steuben County Community Foundation is pleased to announce Ashland Benner of Fremont High School as the recipient of the 2025 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship for Steuben County.

“Sheets Family Park has been designed with everyone in mind,” said Carmyn Hottell, Director of Community Engagement & Leadership at the Steuben County Community Foundation. “It’s a place where kids, families and individuals of all abilities and backgrounds can come together to play and feel a true sense of belonging with one another.”

Six 2025 Lilly Endowment Community Scholar finalists have been selected by the Steuben County Community Foundation (SCCF). After reviewing twenty-one highly competitive applications from the schools serving Steuben County, the committee named six finalists to continue with the three-step selection process.

The Steuben County Community Foundation celebrated another successful year in helping the community prosper thanks to the generosity of its citizens and donors.

The Steuben County Community Foundation’s Women’s Fund has awarded TLC House Steuben and Women in Transition with unrestricted grants of $16,650 each.

Andy and Kara Laughlin, of Fremont, continue to support causes they care about and give back to the Steuben County community in a way that is inspiring to others.

The Steuben County Community Foundation recently hosted an Effective Communications workshop at Trine University for local non-profit organizations at Trine University.

“…The nation’s 900 or so “community foundations” arguably deliver more tangible, meaningful results than their vastly larger counterparts. And they do so in a participatory, ear-to-the-ground fashion that can preserve, or build, the social capital and sense of common purpose that is in distressingly short supply in today’s “bowling alone” America…”

Celebrating 20 years of service this year, Women in Transition remains a safe place for women to transition their lives for the better.

The Liv It Up Fund was started at the Steuben County Community Foundation to donate the money raised to the organizations that helped Olivia during her cancer journey.

Because of Kevin’s appreciation of magic and running, the memorial scholarship fund “Magic of the Run” was created by his lifelong friend, Randy Houser. According to Randy, Kevin was a resilient and determined man that always found the bright side of every situation.

The Fred and Jackie Wooley Fund is designed to facilitate projects and programs that protect and enhance natural and cultural features and heritage, and that lift and enrich peoples’ lives. To paraphrase heritage interpreter, Freeman Tilden, “With awareness comes understanding, with understanding comes appreciation, with appreciation comes a commitment to build a better world.”