At least twice, Jennifer Leonard's husband has attended events where speakers publicly described his wife as the one person everyone could trust.

That's a good thing, inasmuch as Leonard oversees charitable funds totaling $232 million in her job as president and executive director of the Rochester Area Community Foundation.

But people who know and have worked with Leonard, including her Pulitzer Prize-winning husband, David Cay Johnston, say she's more than just a trustworthy money manager.

They say Leonard's vision has expanded the role of the Community Foundation, and others nationwide, from holder of charitable funds to social catalyst. "Now you'll see a lot of women holding business meetings there," she predicted.

Said Leonard, who has been a member of the club for about a decade and on its board for five years: "It was certainly time for the club to have a female president, and I feel very fortunate that I was in line and given such serious consideration."

There has been no hoopla over the historic change. I felt six children was simply not an impediment."

Over the years, Leonard rose to vice president of the California foundation and then worked as a national consultant to community foundations for five years after Johnston took a job with the Philadelphia Inquirer. At the same time, she hatched a theory of community foundation work that involved not just collecting money left by dead people for good works, but bringing living donors together to magnify their funds for effective change.

"Jennifer had really written a paper on the ideal development of a community foundation," said restaurateur Harris "Bud" Rusitzky, a former Community Foundation board member who was on the search committee that brought Leonard to Rochester. "What she found in Rochester was the potential to fulfill that plan that she had put into theory."

Former City Council member Ruth Scott, who chaired the Community Foundation at the time, said the organization had been working on defining a broader mission even before Leonard's arrival, but Leonard made it happen.

"At one point under Jennifer, we decided we were not just a charitable foundation providing help for community groups and nonprofits," Scott said. Tom Argust, a former city commissioner of community development and longtime supporter of the Community Foundation, described how Leonard reached out to the United Way of Greater Rochester to improve what could have been seen as a competitive relationship.

Today, the two agencies are working hand-in-hand on ACT Rochester, an initiative to provide data on key community needs as a first step in solving community problems. The Gannett Foundation, a philanthropic arm of the Democrat and Chronicle's parent company, is one of the initiative's sponsors.

Such collegial relations are especially important because there are more than 160 charitable foundations in the Rochester area, some of which dwarf the Community Foundation in size.

Despite all this, Leonard is often modest about her accomplishments, immediately noting others who have contributed to any effort she's associated with.

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Foundation grants Emory University, Children's Healthcare $4M award for new research building

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By Kristian Hammond

The Times-Herald

Amy Sweet, chair of the Coweta Community Foundation, talked about the foundation's operations Wednesday during a presentation at the Carnegie Library.

The Coweta Community Foundation is a publicly supported 501(c)3 organization that was established in 1997. The Coweta County Foundation has helped the community with many projects such as child literacy programs like Ferst and Stepping Stones, and general adult education programs such as CLICK-Certified Literate is Coweta's Key.

For more information about the Coweta Community Foundation, its programs, and for grant applications, visit cowetafoundation.org .

Newsroom Article Detail - Sage Nonprofit Accounting, Fundraising Management Software - Sage Nonprofit Solutions

Individual tickets for the event are $30.

For information, call Craig McCart toll-free 1-866-999-2443 or e-mail Craig.McCart@allkids.org.

Amscot Financial has launched its sixth annual "Just A Dollar" campaign, designed to raise funds for local education foundations in 15 Central Florida counties, including Hernando.

Beginning Monday and continuing through the month, Amscot associates will ask customers to contribute a dollar to the company's local education foundation. Amscot will match the overall contributions up to $10,000.

According to Tracy Echols, director of development for Hernando County Education Foundation, Amscot presented $1,508 to Hernando County in 2010 through the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations.

Oak Hill Hospital, 11375 Cortez Blvd., Spring Hill, has chosen the architectural and contracting firms for its $50 million, 100,000-square-foot construction project.

Gould Turner Group of Nashville, has been chosen as architect; Brasfield & Gorrie of Nashville will be the general contractor.

The project is in the preconstruction phase, and subcontractors will be sought, many from the immediate area.

The Small Business Development Center at the University of South Florida has partnered with the Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce to provide free business consultation to local small businesses and entrepreneurs.

IHOP restaurant, 3660 Commercial Way, Spring Hill, will sponsor Friends Friday Night fundraisers on the second Friday of each month to support the Friends of Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.

The Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce has scheduled a ribbon cutting at Computer Corrections, 19203 Cortez Blvd., Brooksville, at noon Thursday.

Call Ross or Wynn Keith at (352) 596-2649.

Nature Coast Business Professionals, a nonexclusive networking group, will meet at 8 a.m.

Women Building Women will meet for lunch from 11:30 a.m.

The Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce will present the workshop "What to Do Before Calling for Tech Support" from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

The Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce and the Small Business Development Center at the University of South Florida will present the seminar "Marketing Works" from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

The Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce will present a Microsoft Word and Outlook workshop from 8:30 a.m. To register, call (352) 796-0697.

The Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce Training Committee will offer a manager/supervisor professional development training series.

The Hernando Builders Association and Crystal Motor Car Co. will co-host the annual Summer Night Cash Bash at 6 p.m.

Fri Jul 29, 2011, 06:38 PM CDT

EDMOND OKLAHOMA CITY The Metropolitan Library System, Oklahoma Community Foundation and Oklahoma City Metro Literacy Coalition are working together to help central Oklahomans who want to improve their reading skills.

The Small Group Architects, an Edmond-based architectural firm, has created a Books Bucks account at Best of Books in Edmond in the amount of $1,000. Dedicate one day to the children of Peppers Ranch and donate a percentage of sales to the Books Bucks Fund.

The Goddard School for Early Childhood Development will launch its eighth year serving Edmond with a free concert by a kid-friendly musical duo, the Sugar Free Allstars.

The Goddard School is one of four franchise-owned Goddard schools in Oklahoma and is one of 364 Goddard schools in 38 states.

For more information about the school, call Stephanie Wilson or Keith May at 348-4442, or go to The Goddard School website, www.goddardschool.com.

After meeting at the Edmond Library for more than four years, the writing group will meet at the Edmond Downtown Community Center, 28 E. Council OKs Public Safety Center election

Downtown Edmond celebrates 58th annual Krazy Daze

This is the fifth year back-to-school shoppers in Oklahoma will be able to buy school wardrobes without paying sales tax, as Oklahoma joins 19 other states to give shoppers a break and in turn help small businesses.

97th annual Oklahoma County Free Fair set