John Foschi is the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation’s newest financial officer.

Foschi brings more than 25 years of finance experience to the Community Foundation, most recently as comptroller for the Fond du Lac Reservation. Prior to that, Foschi worked as the city administrator and finance director for Proctor and comptroller for Grandma’s corporate offices.

The Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice awards more than $2 million to local nonprofit organizations

Looking to encourage growth and education while highlighting the positive aspects of its community, the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice has awarded more than $2 million in grants to 25 local nonprofit organizations.

The organizations, which work in various different fields throughout the community including arts and culture, education, and environmental services, were each given a portion of $2.1 million in grants, the largest total amount of funding ever awarded by the Foundation in a single grant cycle.

When George Creel was getting ready to retire 12 years ago, he and his wife decided to invest in charities, but knew they didn't have the $5 million it takes to start a private foundation. Their financial adviser suggested a community foundation, where the cost to set up a fund is affordable.

Creel read about the Maryland-based National Catholic Community Foundation in The Catholic Review, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and he knew he found the right place to start his philanthropy. It took $10,000 to set up a donor-advised fund with the foundation.

This means the Creels, of Davidsonville, Md., can tell the foundation which charities they would like to invest in. Unlike other funds, theirs is not bound by geography.

There was so much interest in last month’s post of 90 Foundations That Tweet that I wanted to expand on it by sharing a list of funder networks on Twitter.

What is a Funder Network?

According to the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers:

Funder networks consist of grantmakers organized around a specific funding issue, geographic location, or identity-based community that come together to build their skills, capacity, and impact.