Kearney Area Community Foundation

Interestingly enough the beginnings of the Kearney Area Community Foundation began in a blind on the Platte River, in 1995. Glimpses of birds were fleeting, but not so the conversation when Dan Lindstrom, Jeff Anderson and Roger Jasnoch – friends and community leaders. As the story is told, good-natured banter soon turned to serious discussion about how to sustain the Leadership Kearney initiative then just under way in our community. One idea lead to another and soon the men had hatched the notion that a community foundation was needed to support Leadership Kearney and other worthy projects.

Getting encouragement from the boards of both the Leadership Kearney and the Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce, the trio’s idea took flight when it was presented at the Kearney Tomorrow public forum. A task force adopted the project and, before long, what started as a duck-blind brainstorm became reality.

In the years since, the Kearney Area Community Foundation has become an essential asset for our area. Today, it partners with numerous organizations and individuals to support more than 200 funds providing scholarships, enhancing parks, encouraging community leadership, promoting education and helping those in need.

The Mission of the Kearney Area Community Foundation states:

“Kearney Area Community Foundation enhances the quality of life in the Kearney Area by promoting the spirit of charitable giving and effectively responding to the community’s needs.”

The Kearney Area Community Foundation vision is to maintain a philanthropic culture to assure that donors and the community are served in an atmosphere of trust and professionalism which will, in turn, allow the Kearney Area Community Foundation to make a meaningful and positive impact on the residents of our community, now and in the future.

Families, businesses, and foundations establish named funds with the Kearney Area Community Foundation to help them achieve their charitable goals at minimal cost. Donations are designated into these funds by donors, and grants are recommended out of them by their founders.