Wayne County Foundation

Wayne County Foundation

Charles A. Rodefeld founded the Wayne County Foundation in 1979 to build a permanent endowment for Richmond and Wayne County, Indiana. The foundation now anchors local philanthropy through donor-advised funds, scholarship programs, and competitive grant cycles administered from its headquarters at 33 South 7th Street. A key partner is the Lilly Endowment Inc., which has supported the foundation through the GIFT (Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow) initiative, matching local dollars to build community foundation capacity across the state. Grantmaking spans arts and culture, education, human services, and economic development, with a strategic pivot toward place-based impact investing in recent years. The foundation has committed capital to real estate ventures including the Wayne County Land Trust Portfolio and the redevelopment of the Parker Building at 911-923 North E Street. It also co-invested in the Vaile Neighborhood impact initiative on Richmond's north side. These direct investments complement its grantmaking, putting foundation balance-sheet capital into brick-and-mortar projects that traditional grant budgets cannot fund. The foundation operates with a lean professional team under Gilliam's direction and participates in the Indiana Philanthropy Alliance, the statewide network for grantmakers. A notable structural collaboration is Forward Wayne County, a collective-impact backbone organization incubated by the foundation that coordinates multiple stakeholders around shared community goals. In 2024, the foundation granted over $3.46 million to local organizations, maintaining its position as the primary philanthropic hub for the county. The Vigran Family Foundation operates as an affiliated donor-advised entity, reflecting the foundation's role as a vehicle for multiple family philanthropies. The structural differentiator is the foundation's dual identity as both grantmaker and direct impact investor within a tightly bounded geography. Most community foundations of comparable size restrict themselves to grantmaking from endowed funds. The Wayne County Foundation has layered on a real estate redevelopment capability — acquiring and repositioning downtown Richmond properties including its own headquarters building — which lets it deploy philanthropic capital with the operating logic of a civic-minded developer. This hybrid model makes it the most concentrated institutional actor in Wayne County's physical and social infrastructure.