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Foundation invests in 10 youth-serving organizations’ projects

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The Dekko Foundation, a private family foundation located in Kendallville, IN, with a mission of fostering economic freedom through education, awarded more than $447,000 in grants and pledges to 10 youth-serving organizations during its most recent round of grantmaking.

The foundation, started in 1981 by the late businessman and philanthropist Chester E. Dekko, invests in projects and programs that help build knowledge, skills, and character in children and young people from birth through age 18 so they can be self-sufficient and grow up to be economically free.

Its grantmaking is concentrated within 13 counties in four states — Indiana, Iowa, Alabama, and Minnesota — where Mr. Dekko had business or personal interests.

Organizations receiving grants and pledges were:

  • Central Noble Community School Corporation (Albion, IN): $4,818 to support the professional development of educators through their attendance at the annual Indiana Youth Institute Kids Count Conference.
  • Giving Gardens of Indiana (Columbia City, IN): $50,000 to support the organization’s Wild Willow Nature Preschool in which children ages 3-6 engage in hands-on learning and exploration in a natural environment.
  • Junior Achievement of Northern Indiana (Fort Wayne, IN): $25,000 to support the organization’s JA JobSpark in-person and virtual expos that help connect middle and high school students to career opportunities and highlight the skills needed to be successful in those careers.
  • Athens City Schools (Athens, AL): $8,000 to support the after-school enrichment program at Brookhill Elementary so that students can strengthen peer relationships and build skills and self-confidence.
  • Cardinal Services, Inc. (Warsaw, IN): $25,000 to support the organization’s workforce-readiness programs for young people with disabilities so they can be successful in finding employment.
  • DeKalb County Central United School District (Waterloo, IN): $250,000 over two years to support the Baron Advanced Manufacturing program in which high school students build in-demand technical skills in the classroom and by working at area employers.
  • Black Pine Animal Sanctuary (Albion, IN): $90,000 over three years to support educational programs for young people that help build problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.
  • Classical Roots Christian School (Fort Wayne, IN): $20,000 to support the school’s educational enrichment days and summer camps in Noble County that contribute to students’ knowledge of the environment, agriculture, foreign language, industrial arts, and fine arts.
  • Keep Athens-Limestone Beautiful, Inc. (Athens, AL): $3,500 to support the organization’s Earth Day expo that raises young people’s awareness of the environment and community stewardship.
  • Kosciusko County Soil & Water Conservation District (Warsaw, IN): $880 to support the district’s educational programs in which young people learn about aquatic ecosystems and water quality.

If you’d like to learn more about how investments such as these support children and young people so they can achieve economic freedom later in life, contact a Dekko Foundation program officer at 260-347-1278. Or visit dekkofoundation.org to explore the foundation’s mission and funding priorities, review its grantmaking process, or send a grant proposal.

Investments support grantees’ work

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The Dekko Foundation, a private family foundation located in Kendallville, IN, with a mission of fostering economic freedom through education, awarded more than $685,000 in grants and pledges to 15 youth-serving organizations during its most recent round of grantmaking.

The foundation, started in 1981 by the late businessman and philanthropist Chester E. Dekko, invests in projects and programs that help build knowledge, skills, and character in children and young people from birth through age 18 so they can be self-sufficient and grow up to be economically free.

Its grantmaking is concentrated within 13 counties in four states — Indiana, Iowa, Alabama, and Minnesota — where Mr. Dekko had business or personal interests.

Organizations receiving grants and pledges were:

  • Baker Youth Club (Warsaw, IN): $90,000 over three years to support administrative staffing needs so the organization can be more intentional in advancing its programs and financial sustainability.
  • City of Kendallville (Kendallville, IN): $75,000 to support construction of a skate park at the Kendallville Outdoor Recreation Complex so children and young people have a safe place to play and build skills.
  • Foundation for Art and Music in Education (Fort Wayne, IN): $5,000 to support students in the foundation’s Northeast Indiana grantmaking area in participating in fine arts programs in which they can explore their creativity and express themselves.
  • Indiana Troopers Youth Services (Indianapolis, IN): $3,000 to support the Indiana State Police Youth Career Camp where campers can have positive interactions with members of law enforcement and learn about potential careers.
  • Stone’s Trace Historical Society (Ligonier, IN): $12,000 over three years to support students’ learning and gaining a sense of community by taking part in the organization’s Living History Days and Pioneer Festival.
  • Warsaw Evangelical Presbyterian Church (Warsaw, IN): $7,500 to support the church’s summer nature preschool program in which children connect with the natural world, explore and take healthy risks, and build self-confidence.
  • Athens-Limestone Public Library Foundation (Athens, AL): $15,500 to support the purchase of a community outreach van that will bring youth services and programs to children and young people throughout Limestone County.
  • Central Noble Community School Corporation (Albion, IN): $137,360 over three years to support efforts at Central Noble Primary School to help students build foundational skills that support their reading and language proficiency.
  • Clarke County Conservation Board (Osceola, IA): $100,000 to support the construction of an education center at East Lake Park that will help young people have a greater appreciation for nature as well as provide space for community members to come together.
  • Kosciusko Community YMCA, Inc. (Warsaw, IN): $50,000 to support the installation of artificial turf fields that will increase the number of young people learning teamwork, developing character, and connecting with adult mentors through soccer.
  • Limestone County Schools (Athens, AL): $10,000 to support a program at Tanner Elementary in which students practice problem solving and build skills through completing basic woodworking and soldering projects.
  • Prairie Heights Community School Corporation (LaGrange, IN): $30,000 to support high school students building skills in graphic arts and website design that can help them be successful after graduation.
  • St. Mary of the Assumption School (Avilla, IN): $50,000 to support improvements to the school that will reduce maintenance costs and help ensure a safe environment for students.
  • The Village Early Childhood Center (Osceola, IA): $25,000 to support upgrades within the center so that the learning environment aligns with children’s needs.
  • Leon Chamber of Commerce (Leon, IA): $75,000 to support the installation of new playground equipment at the Little River Recreation Area so that children can safely play together.

If you’d like to learn more about how investments such as these support children and young people so they can achieve economic freedom later in life, contact a Dekko Foundation program officer at 260-347-1278. Or visit dekkofoundation.org to explore the foundation’s mission and funding priorities, review its grantmaking process, or send a grant proposal.

Meet our team: Kimberly Schroeder

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Kimberly Schroeder is the engagement director at the Dekko Foundation. She leads our proactive initiatives, including before5, which supports parents of young children, and bloom!, which works alongside educators to transform early learning classrooms based by focusing on the principles of child development. She also helps guide our support of youth philanthropy in the 13 counties we serve in Indiana, Iowa, Alabama, and Minnesota.

In March, Kimberly celebrated her 25th anniversary at the foundation. Below, she shares more about her role at the foundation as well as some of the many memories that stand out during her time here.

Kimberly Schroeder, engagement director

Question: You help lead and support the foundation’s proactive initiatives such as bloom! and before5. Why does the foundation proactively invest in building knowledge, skills, and character in children and young people? How is that different from its responsive grantmaking?

Answer: Both our responsive and proactive work stem from our mission statement of fostering economic freedom through education. Responsively, we invest in people, projects, and proposals that help us achieve our mission. If you imagine a dart board, our responsive investments can fall anywhere on the board for developing economic freedom.

In our proactive work, we look for barriers (things in the way) and gaps (things that are not yet available) that keep us from achieving economic freedom, particularly for things that we believe are a bullseye for growing skills, knowledge, and character that lead to economic freedom. Then we work to eliminate obstacles to economic freedom. Sometimes we connect people. Other times we collaborate with others to make things happen. And once in a while, we launch something new, like before5, which offers great child development information to parents, or bloom!, an experiential, emergent professional development opportunity based on the principles (natural laws, unchanging truths about how children grow and develop).

Q. You’ve been instrumental in supporting the growth of youth philanthropy in our grantmaking areas. Why is it so important for young people to have opportunities to practice philanthropy?

A. Philanthropy plays an important role in our country’s history and success along with capitalism and democracy. Philanthropy, or the sharing of time, talent, and treasure, seems natural to some. But at the Dekko Foundation we believe that philanthropy is a learned characteristic. Investing in teens as they assess their community’s needs and then make choices about where funding lands is a proactive way for the foundation to support adolescent development. Our Youth Pod initiative empowers teens to make real decisions with real money that really matter.

Q. You recently celebrated your 25th year of working at the foundation. How has the foundation changed over time? What things have stayed the same?

A. Wow, a lot has changed. Community foundations have grown in assets and ability to serve communities. Many nonprofit leaders have grown organizations, retired, and left those nonprofits in the hands of capable, confident staff members who grew up in the organizations. New nonprofit organizations have been created and too many childcare centers have closed. Do I even need to mention how technology has changed our work?

The things that have stayed the same are the mission statement Mr. Dekko left us, the geographic areas that we serve, and the hard-working, smart-thinking people that are committed to making positive community change. We call them grantseekers and grantees. They are special people we get to work with every day.

Q. What are some moments or memories that stand out?

A. For me, the first thing that comes to mind is Youth Pod retreats. From the locations (Syracuse, Kendallville, Angola, Des Moines, Shipshewana, Athens and Huntsville, North Webster, Mount Ayr, Warsaw then Kendallville again), to Phil Philanthropy’s costumes, to the speakers, the hard work, the fun, the sleep deprivation, phish members (our leadership team) and most importantly the Youth Pod members who told us, “It wasn’t until now that I understood what this thing called philanthropy is. I get it now!”

My teammates would answer this question with the number of times that I’ve gone the wrong way down one-way streets.

Q. What are the exciting things in store for your 26th year?

A. An adult-only Youth Pod retreat this November, planning for the next Youth Pod retreat in 2024, getting to work with grantseekers to learn about their ideas, and watching as our grantees build skills, knowledge, and character in young people so that they are prepared to live economically free.

If you’d like to learn more about our mission of fostering economic freedom through education, contact a program officer at 260-347-1278 or email dekko@dekkofoundation.org.

Grantees’ projects support youth development

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The Dekko Foundation, a private family foundation located in Kendallville, IN, with a mission of fostering economic freedom through education, awarded more than $339,000 in grants and pledges to seven youth-serving organizations during its most recent round of grantmaking.

The foundation, started in 1981 by the late businessman and philanthropist Chester E. Dekko, invests in projects and programs that help build knowledge, skills, and character in children and young people from birth through age 18 so they can be self-sufficient and grow up to be economically free.

Its grantmaking is concentrated within 13 counties in four states — Indiana, Iowa, Alabama, and Minnesota — where Mr. Dekko had business or personal interests.

Organizations receiving grants and pledges were:

  • Children First Center (Auburn, IN): $40,000 to support the organization’s growing capacity to serve families in northeast Indiana and promote the healthy development of children and young people.
  • LaGrange First Church of God (LaGrange, IN): $42,000 to support operations at the Lighthouse Montessori Education Center in Ashley, IN, so that young people can learn in an intentionally prepared environment in which they build knowledge, skills, and character.
  • Wawasee Community Schools (Syracuse, IN): $35,000 to support the Lead Learners coalition so that educators are empowered to spark transformational change in schools and provide individualized learning opportunities for students.
  • DeKalb County Central United School District (Waterloo, IN): $50,000 to support the purchase of new playground equipment so that students and community members have more recreational options and opportunities to socialize with one another.
  • McMillen Center for Health Education (Fort Wayne, IN): $20,000 to support campus upgrades so that northeast Indiana students have a positive and safe experience as they participate in the center’s health education programs.
  • Lucas County Health Center (Chariton, IA): $2,831 to support the center’s purchase of CPR manikins so that high school students in the community can learn and practice life-saving skills.
  • Town of North Webster (North Webster, IN): $150,000 to support the construction of a 4.5-mile connector trail to the town’s middle school so that students and community members can walk and bicycle safely and have increased recreational opportunities.

If you’d like to learn more about how investments such as these support children and young people so they can achieve economic freedom later in life, contact a Dekko Foundation program officer at 260-347-1278. Or visit dekkofoundation.org to explore the foundation’s mission and funding priorities, review its grantmaking process, or send a grant proposal.

Meet our team: Payton Hunley

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Payton Hunley, grants and program associate

Payton Hunley is the grants and program associate at the Dekko Foundation. She joined the staff in June of 2022 after serving as a graduate assistant volleyball coach at her alma mater, Bethel University.

Question: In your role as grants and program associate, what are some of the primary responsibilities you handle from day to day?

Answer: My primary responsibilities are running weekly reports, processing payments, producing grant paperwork, and maintaining the daily functions of the grants management system. I also review, draft, and edit grant proposals for the staff, Grant Review Committee, and board meetings.

Q: What are some of the things you’ve learned about philanthropy since joining the team?

A: I have learned so much about philanthropy since joining the team. First and foremost, I learned how to pronounce it! (After a lot of practice. 😊) Philanthropy is so much more than just donating money. At the Dekko Foundation, philanthropy is finding ways to invest in positive change in children and young people so they can grow up to be economically free. In my eyes, I think of philanthropy as giving time, money, or resources to help make the world a better place.

Q: What would you want a potential grantseeker to know about our work here at the foundation?

A: I would want potential grant seekers to know that the staff at the Dekko Foundation are approachable and helpful. The Dekko Foundation team is always looking for ways to connect people with resources and potential networking opportunities, so one should never hesitate to email or call us with questions.

If you’d like to learn more about our mission of fostering economic freedom through education, contact Payton or a program officer at 260-347-1278, or email dekko@dekkofoundation.org.