In 1995, the Foundation Trustees first discussed a new way for people to give annually to the Foundation. Each year requests for grants had increased significantly and many had to be turned down because of the lack of available dollars. They named this annual fundraiser Friends of the Foundation and the goal was to have 100 people donate $100 a year. This would give individuals an opportunity to support the Foundation in meeting more grant requests as all of the donations would go directly to funding the next year’s grants.

In 1996, the first Friends of the Foundation fundraiser began with the theme “Be One of 100 with $100” and was a great success with Friends donating $11,300. All who donated were invited to an annual luncheon in appreciation of their support and to learn about Foundation activities and future plans.

In August of 2001, a new one-time Circle of Friends campaign began and involved inviting current Friends of the Foundation to increase their gift with a five-year annual pledge of $500, $1,000, $2,000, $4,000, or $5,000. Donors would continue to be Friends as $100 of their donation each of the five years would go into Friends of the Foundation. The purpose of the campaign was to expand the Foundation’s assets and increase tunds for annual grants and special projects. The results were gratifying! The following donors Pledged a total of $257,000 over five years to the Circle of Friends campaign:

Mike and Mona Anderson
Todd and Stephanie Anderson
AXA Foundation Matching Gift – Todd Anderson
Black River Falls Rotary Club
Buswell Funeral Home – Chuck and Ruth Buswell
Co-op Credit Union
D & S Manufacturing
Mike and Cindy Dougherty
Louis Gardipee
David and Marilyn Hoffman
Jim and Andrea Hoffman
Mark and Amy Hoffman
Paul Hoffman
Peter and Jone Hoffman

Bronze ($100 & up)

Platinum ($5,000 & up)

Diamond ($10,000 & up)

Leaders Circle ($15,000 & up)

Legends Circle ($20,000 & up)

Founders Circle ($30,000 & up)

Silver ($500 & up)