Arkansas Community Foundation tops $500 million in assets

The Arkansas Community Foundation has reached $500 million in assets it said earlier this week. The statewide nonprofit is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year.

With $500 million under management, it puts the Community Foundation in the top 60 asset holders of the more than 700 community foundations nationwide, it said.

This half-billion-dollar milestone comes on the heels of 2020 when Gov. Asa Hutchinson endorsed the Foundation’s COVID-19 Relief Fund for pandemic relief. In 2020, the foundation raised $3.5 million to make 837 COVID-19 grants to Arkansas nonprofits in a six-month timeframe.

“2020 proved challenging in many ways, and we and other foundations in the state made grants and formed coalitions to help address issues including poverty, education, and injustice facing Arkansans statewide,” said Heather Larkin, President and CEO of the Community Foundation.

“This asset milestone is important for the state and for our fundholders. The impact we’ve been able to achieve is because of the generosity of Arkansans,” said Larkin. “Arkansas is a largely rural, less affluent state that is often at the bottom of lists comparing states’ progress on crucial issues. And yet, when its citizens pull together, we can make things happen. This is not outside philanthropy coming in to help us – this is Arkansans building something for ourselves.”

The Arkansas Community Foundation was founded in 1976 by a small group of Arkansas philanthropists. It helps manage charitable endowments and direct local giving efforts for interested individuals and entities.