“BUILD RELATIONSHIPS before you need them.” It is a phrase that has defined Keith County’s success.
Today, the Keith County Foundation Fund (KCFF) has the capacity—including $14.4 million in endowed assets—to make significant investments in the community’s future because of years of generous giving and relationship-building. One transformational gift in 2019 accelerated that momentum, but it was built on a foundation of trust established by volunteers who consistently shared the story of local philanthropy and invited others to be part of it.
With expanded resources came both opportunity and responsibility. Rather than decide on their own how the funds should be used, they listened to the community. What they heard was clear: youth engagement and early childhood education, first impressions and placemaking, entrepreneurship, and housing were the priorities.
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Since then, the fund has awarded grants that strengthen both quality of life and community pride. Situated near Lake McConaughy, Keith County welcomes thousands of visitors each year, and the fund has supported projects such as a sculpture walk, a downtown pocket park, green space improvements, and a community mural. These investments help create a place people want to visit—and a place residents are proud to call their home.
The fund has also invested in the people who make Keith County thrive. Through initiatives like the Youth Inspired Philanthropy Contest and Hometown Internships, young people are discovering that their ideas matter and their community believes in them. Grants supporting housing expansion and entrepreneurship are helping ensure more people can build their lives—and live The Good Life—in Keith County.
Like so many communities across Greater Nebraska, Keith County recognizes that investing in children is an investment in the future. Thanks to its growing endowment, KCFF has committed $1 million to expand access to high quality early childhood development. Already, $200,000 has supported the school’s pre-K program, and the fund has created financial incentives through the state’s Step Up to Quality Program to support local childcare providers.
“We’re not just babysitters,” Kayla Schmittler, owner of Growing Minds Childcare, a beneficiary of the program, said. “We are providing children with the nurturing, safe, caring environment that they need to secure that foundation for when they go off to school.”
As KCFF’s grantmaking capacity has grown, so has its ability to respond to urgent community needs. The fund has helped purchase two ambulances while also making strategic investments in projects that strengthen the county’s future. A recent $250,000 grant went toward upgrading the Keith County Emergency Management Center’s dispatch system. The importance of that investment became even more apparent following recent wildfires in Keith County and neighboring areas.
KCFF’s grantmaking history illustrates the flexibility that a permanent community endowment provides. Whether responding to an urgent public safety need or investing in long-term community priorities, KCFF can act because generous people have chosen to build charitable resources that will serve the community forever.
That spirit of generosity only continues to grow and flourish. In addition to current gifts, the fund now knows of nine planned gifts conservatively estimated at $795,000. Combined with current assets, Keith County is well on its way to capturing the power and potential of the $565 million expected to transfer between generations in the county over the next decade.
