What Can I Do to Strengthen My Community?

Dec 4 / Aspire to Give Academy

Sometimes meaningful change begins not with grand plans, but with a simple meeting — a cup of coffee, a conversation, a shared vision for something better.

That’s how my recent journey began — a casual discussion about how to raise awareness, visibility, and the impact of the East Alabama Community Foundation. I’ve always believed that local community foundations are the hub of the wheel in any thriving community. They're the quiet engines that connect generosity to need, ideas to action, and people to purpose.

So when I was invited to tour a possible new office location for the foundation, I didn’t expect the tour and the conversation while touring to be such an inspiring experience.


A Vision Between Two Towns

Our local community foundation serves the counties in East Alabama, with its heart in two neighboring towns — Auburn and Opelika. Though they share borders, their spirits are distinct: Auburn, a vibrant college town alive with innovation and youth; Opelika, a blue-collar community rich with history, grit, and hometown pride.

Bringing these two communities closer has always been part of the community foundation’s mission — to serve as a bridge, not a boundary.

That morning, my colleague Ben Freeman, the community foundation’s development director, asked me to join him in touring a renovation project that sat exactly between the two cities. I assumed it would be a simple office space walkthrough. What I experienced instead was a living example of grassroots community development philanthropy in motion.

A Hidden Jewel of Local Philanthropy

The property we toured was owned by a private foundation — small, local, and largely under the radar. For years, they had quietly supported local charities with modest grants, rarely seeking recognition.

But this time, their vision reached beyond grantmaking. The foundation’s trustees — a local philanthropist — and her son, a real estate developer, had imagined something far greater than a single building project. I sensed the pride, passion, and intentional generosity in our conversation.

They envisioned a nonprofit center — a shared space that would house multiple nonprofit organizations under one roof. The idea was simple yet revolutionary: bring together service organizations, create synergy,

and strengthen their collective capacity to serve. By investing in real estate for the common good, they were redefining what community development could look like in East Alabama.


As I walked through the partly renovated hallways, I could see the potential — meeting rooms that would host collaborative planning sessions, shared offices where nonprofits could pool resources, and a common area designed for connection and creativity.


The location itself was symbolic — a physical bridge between two towns, a metaphor for unity through purpose.


The Power of Vision and Local Leadership

What struck me most was not the architecture, but the passion and intent. This private foundation could have continued quietly writing annual checks. Instead, the foundation’s trustees chose to invest in something enduring — a shared hub for nonprofits that would elevate the entire region’s philanthropic impact for generations to come.


Their courage to innovate demonstrated what I call the essence of grassroots community development philanthropy: local people, using local resources, to solve local challenges — not waiting for distant organizations to do it for them.

This was leadership in its purest form — vision matched with action, guided by a desire to see their community flourish long after they’re gone.


Why This Story Matters

This experience reminded me why I’m passionate about local community foundations. They are the connective tissue of a community — not just raising funds, but raising vision. They bring together philanthropists, business leaders, and nonprofits under a shared banner of community betterment.

When individuals, families, and local foundations — like the private foundation in this story — look beyond the present and invest in the long-term vitality of their town, they’re building something deeper than buildings or programs. They’re cultivating legacy.

In the language of generosity, they are embodying what I call the Spirit of Substance — the fourth of the Four Spirits of Generosity. It’s the spirit that turns resources into meaning, transforming wealth into enduring community wellbeing.


The Road Ahead

The East Alabama Community Foundation is still young, but with stories like this, its impact is already taking root. Visionary trustees, inspired developers, and community-minded leaders are proving that philanthropy doesn’t have to be centralized or corporate to be transformative.

Grassroots community development philanthropy — the kind born from love of place and people — remains the most powerful force for local renewal.

When we each ask, “What can I do to strengthen my community?” and act with courage, creativity, and collaboration, we plant seeds that will bear fruit for generations.

And sometimes, all it takes to start that process is a simple meeting — and the willingness to see what could be.


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