April 23, 2019 – The Greater Green Bay Community Foundation has received two significant gifts that will have dramatic impact on our community. The gifts, totaling more than $21 million, are very different from one another, but equally important for the future of our community.

The Heim Estate Awards More Than $16.5 Million

The first gift was established by the estate of Ron and Pauline Heim. The Heims were humble people who cared about our community. Throughout their lives, they quietly supported a variety of local nonprofits. Through this planned gift of more than $16.5 million, the Ron C. and Pauline P. Heim Charitable Fund will provide support to more than 30 nonprofit organizations forever.

Mrs. Heim established this endowed fund to assure selected nonprofits receive critical annual support in perpetuity. The nonprofits, serving causes ranging from animal welfare and K-9 police units to the environment, education and a variety of human services including hunger and homelessness, will receive a distribution from the fund each year. This support is projected to reach in excess of $800,000 each year across our community. The Heim gift will allow each nonprofit to think creatively about the impact they can make as our community evolves.

As stewards of this generous gift, the Community Foundation will invest the endowed funds, will provide annual distributions according to the Heims’ wishes and will work with the selected nonprofits to ensure the gifts are utilized according to the Heims’ intent.

“We are humbled by the generosity of the Heims’ gift to our community,” said Dennis Buehler, President and CEO of the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation. “Through careful planning with their estate attorney, they ensured the impact of their gift will be felt today, as well as by every future generation of this community.”

An Anonymous Donor Provides $5 Million
An unrestricted gift of $5 million, made by an anonymous donor, was also recently made to the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation. Unrestricted gifts provide the Foundation flexibility to address the community’s emerging needs. This gift will facilitate ongoing and innovative responses to our community’s greatest needs and most compelling opportunities.

“It’s important to be forward thinking with an unrestricted gift,” said Mark Radtke, Greater Green Bay Community Foundation Board Chair. “And we embrace the enormous responsibility that comes with it to ensure the gift makes the greatest impact possible.”

While discussions are ongoing, the Community Foundation has determined the vast majority of this new gift will be invested in funding critical nonprofit programs through its strategic grantmaking work, along with its recently announced community partnership to help build nonprofit capacity for even deeper impact.

“As our community evolves and new issues are uncovered, nonprofits will have access to funding that supports progressive approaches to addressing our most pressing issues,” Buehler said. “This generous gift gives us the ability to work toward the systemic changes needed to lift our community as a whole.”

Both gifts were made by visionary donors who wanted to keep philanthropic support here in the Greater Green Bay area and provide ongoing funding to help people thrive.

“Everyone who cares and invests in our community, whether financially or through volunteering with their time and talent, can have a meaningful impact”, Buehler said. “The Greater Green Bay Community Foundation is here to help identify needs and work collaboratively with both donors and nonprofits to ensure these investments are felt for years to come.”

To learn more about planned giving and the impact your gift can have, visit our Planned Giving page.