The Community Foundation may be best known for our grantmaking, but a considerable portion of our time is spent on community initiative work. One such project is focused on attracting and retaining college students to Berks County.
Albright College, Alvernia University, Kutztown University, Penn State Berks, and Reading Area Community College have long been cornerstones of our community. The addition of Drexel University’s medical school campus in West Reading has created even more opportunities for higher education in Berks County.
Data from Albright, Alvernia, and Penn State Berks shows that they enroll about 35% of their students from Berks County. That means that 65% of their students have chosen to relocate to Berks County for four years of their lives.
The Community Foundation began to investigate this topic by gathering a group of Berks County residents – college and university leaders, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, business owners, and civic groups to discuss ways to attract and retain students to Berks County. Student engagement with the local community supports better retention.
One focus area emerged: it is essential to make it easier for students to find local employment through internships, mentorships, and better connections between employers and campuses.
As a result of these conversations, a first-of-its-kind event is happening soon! On July 10th, 2025, Alvernia University is hosting a collaborative Internship Summit.
This event is designed for businesses and employers to help create meaningful and effective internship opportunities. For more information and to register, click on the link. To stay up to date on the Foundation, visit our News and Events page.
Reading, PA (June 12, 2025) – Home Health Care Foundation and Berks County Community Foundation announced that they have merged. Home Health Care Foundation became an affiliate of Berks County Community Foundation in 2020. The transaction adds $7.3 million to the Community Foundation’s assets.
Home Health Care Foundation was created in 2019 after the merger of Berks Visiting Nurse Association, the Visiting Nurse Association of Pottstown and Vicinity and Advantage Home Care with Tower Health.
For years, each of these organizations provided compassionate and much-needed care to the communities they served. In that spirit, the Home Health Care Foundation was created to support charity care and other programs for the good of the community.
The Community Foundation has supported the Home Health Care Foundation board over the past five years.
The merger between the two foundations creates a fund at Berks County Community Foundation that will support:
- Programs and educational activities that promote the general health and wellness of Berks County residents or its contiguous counties
- Organizations and programs that help the residents of Berks County or its contiguous counties recover from illness or disability at home
- Organizations that provide health-related charity care for the residents of Berks County or its contiguous counties
- Programs and activities that support preventative healthcare and community health.
Kevin K. Murphy, president of Berks County Community Foundation, stated, “Our board and staff are delighted to be carrying on the legacy of Berks Visiting Nurses Association. We look forward to continuing to support projects that help our residents remain healthy and active.”
Rabbi Brian Michelson, Chair of the Home Health Care Foundation board, commented, “The board of the Home Healthcare Foundation has confidence that the Berks County Community Foundation will utilize these funds to enhance healthcare in the Berks County community and support programs that enable individuals to age in place and avoid unnecessary hospitalizations. This mission honors the legacy of the Berks Visiting Nurse Association and its donors.”
For more information, please contact Monica Reyes, Vice President for Programs and Initiatives, at monicar@bccf.org. To learn more about Monica Reyes and the Community Foundation team, visit Our Team page.
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Berks County Community Foundation is a nonprofit corporation serving as a civic leader for our region by developing, managing, and distributing charitable funds to improve the quality of life in Berks County, PA. More information is available at www.bccf.org.
On Tuesday, May 6th, Berks County Community Foundation hosted a poverty simulation event at GoggleWorks, facilitated by Community Action Partnership of Lancaster. Dozens of community leaders attended to gain an understanding of the daily struggles faced by individuals living in poverty. School administrators, local government officials, mental health professionals, attorneys, and nonprofit organization staff participated in this event focused on tackling poverty in Berks County.
Cindy Milian, Health & Human Services Program Officer at the Community Foundation, organized and participated in the simulation. She shared her thoughts after the event: “I felt uplifted to see the variety of community leaders who actively participated in this simulation and voiced their renewed compassion for the Berks County residents who are struggling just to survive. With 41% of Berks County residents living paycheck to paycheck, I’m glad that conversations were had to discuss how we can all play a part in reducing the barriers faced by those living in poverty.”
To learn more about this event, email Cindy at cindym@bccf.org. To learn more about Cindy Milan and other Berks County Community Foundation team members, visit the Our Team page.
Berks County Community Foundation hosted our annual scholarship luncheon on May 21st, 2025, at the DoubleTree Hotel in Reading. Members of our staff welcomed students and their families, donors and scholarship fund representatives, and community leaders to gather in recognition of the impressive achievements of local students and the generosity of donors who enable students to pursue their dreams.
At the 2025 Scholarship Luncheon, the Community Foundation will award over $700,000, bringing the total amount disbursed since its inception in 1994 to over $14,700,000! Thousands of recipients have benefited from these scholarships over the years as they continue to pursue higher education.
The annual scholarship luncheon highlights the strength of community support. Each scholarship offers essential resources and inspiration for students to forge their own paths, making a difference in Berks County and beyond.
Kim Sheffer, Lifelong Learning Program Officer, welcomed guests and highlighted the significance of the Berks’ Best Award recipients’ accomplishments. Berk’s Best awards are a partnership between Berks County Community Foundation and the Reading Eagle, with coordination support from BCIU. Kim also congratulated all of the 2025 scholarship recipients and commended the dozens of volunteers who spent countless hours reviewing hundreds of scholarship applications.
Dr. Radha Pyati, Chancellor and Dean of Penn State Berks, shared advice and personal stories about the impact of relationships in her keynote address.
If you are interested in making a difference in the lives of local students through educational support, please consider giving to one of our many scholarship funds today!
Power of the Purse in Berks County Fund Awards over $70,000 in Grants
Reading, PA – May 15, 2025 – The Power of the Purse in Berks County Fund of Berks County Community Foundation recently awarded $70,899 in grants to seven organizations. The Power of the Purse Fund supports programs that help break the cycle of poverty by eliminating or addressing barriers for Berks County girls and/or women who want to enter or re-enter the workforce or seek the education to do so.
The following grants were awarded:
- $15,000 to Safe Berks to help eliminate barriers that survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault face in obtaining and/or maintaining employment by providing direct support and financial assistance for education and employment needs.
- $15,000 to Helping Harvest to focus support on low-income women during pregnancy and up to one year postpartum to provide a box of healthy, vitamin-rich foods.
- $15,000 to Reading Science Center to provide access to a wide spectrum of hands-on science investigations, professional female role models and field trips that inspire young women with the confidence and skills to prepare for careers in the sciences.
- $8,000 to Literacy Council of Reading-Berks to help female residents of the community participate in the Gateway to Citizenship Program.
- $8,000 to Hannah’s Hope Ministries to provide career guidance, skills training, and mentorship and to introduce women to industries and roles that align with their interests and abilities.
- $6,399 to Co-County Wellness to help educate teens to make healthy and informed choices to postpone pregnancy and plan their futures.
- $3,500 to John Paul II Center for Special Learning to provide female students ages 10-45 with any disability category a safe space to talk about their bodies, rights, safety, and self-advocacy with staff and community experts.
“From an outsider’s perspective, you think that there are these big mountains that you have to go over, but sometimes it’s a small amount of money or just a small gesture that can make the difference for someone being successful and getting out of poverty or getting a job,” said Chiara Renninger, founder of Power of the Purse. “I learned that small things can really make a huge difference to people.”
“Being able to engage the collective giving of the Power of the Purse (POP) is really empowering for the women in our community,” said Cindy Milian, health and human services program officer. “POP funding for these organizations supports the belief that woman play a pivotal role in driving change and shaping the future of Berks County.”
Power of the Purse Fund was created in 2012 as a women’s giving circle. For more information, visit https://bccf.org/funds/power-of-the-purse-in-berks-county-fund/ or email Molly McCullough Robbins, Vice President for Philanthropic Services, at mollyr@bccf.org.
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Berks County Community Foundation is a nonprofit corporation serving as a civic leader for our region by developing, managing, and distributing charitable funds to improve the quality of life in Berks County, PA. More information is available at www.bccf.org.
In November 2024, Kevin K. Murphy wrote a blog post about Spotlight PA and the importance of local news. He detailed the path taken by the Community Foundation to support the launch of a Berks County news bureau and highlighted the opportunity for in-depth reporting that Spotlight PA would provide for our residents.
We have watched with anticipation as Spotlight PA hired first-class journalists to join the team led by CEO and President, Chris Baxter and Managing Editor, Lisa Scheid.
This week, Spotlight PA announced the upcoming launch of their daily e-newsletter, Good Day, Berks, which will debut on May 5, 2025; It will provide important news about Berks County all in one place, provide a unique perspective into what’s happening in our communities, and highlight it’s local reporting. Readers can expect news about business, events, municipal and school board meetings, and news from across the state.
Berks County Community Foundation was at the very forefront of the national effort to address the need for local news. We are delighted to see that Spotlight PA is taking this next step. To sign up to receive the newsletter, click here.
To learn more about Spotlight PA’s Berks news bureau, please join us for an in-person Community Forum on June 5, 2025. Registration information can be found here.
Scholarship season is a busy time for high school seniors, and it’s busy at the Community Foundation, too! We use an online application portal to receive and evaluate applications, and we send notifications through the portal to evaluators and applicants. Sometimes, those notifications go into the recipients’ spam folders.
If you are awaiting an email from the Community Foundation regarding the status of your application or instructions about the process, please check your spam/junk folders. The following information might be helpful:
- Decision email notifications originate from administrator@grantinterface.com.
- Replies to these notifications will be directed to scholarships@bccf.org.
Please visit the FAQ page for more information regarding the process.
Best of luck to the Class of 2025!
Before Grantmaking, Let’s Understand Community Foundations
Community foundations pool resources from individuals, families, and businesses to support nonprofits within their communities. It all starts with a donor or donors working with us to establish a fund to support their charitable goals. We currently manage nearly 400 different funds totaling approximately $140 million. Most of those funds are restricted to support specific organizations or areas of interest.
Our Grantmaking Process
- Identifying Community Needs: Our team of program officers, each of whom is an expert in her area of focus, starts by identifying the most pressing needs within the community and managing their related portfolio of funds. This involves engaging with local stakeholders and analyzing data to understand where support is most needed.
- Establishing Grant Programs: Based on identified needs, our team established five areas of focus: Arts & Culture, Education, Environment & Energy, Health & Human Services, and Neighborhood Vitality.
- Endowments: To support our grantmaking activities, the Community Foundation relies on donations from the public. Most of the funds that we manage are endowed funds, which are invested to generate income for long-term grantmaking. This ensures a sustainable source of funding for future grants.
- Grant Application and Review: Nonprofit organizations seeking funding submit grant applications detailing their projects and how they align with the foundation’s priorities. Applications are reviewed by a committee and/or foundation staff to assess their potential impact and feasibility. Committee members are selected because they have a connection to the fund or expertise in the area it supports.
- Awarding Grants: Once the review process is complete, the foundation awards grants to selected nonprofits. These grants can be unrestricted, allowing organizations to use the funds as needed, or restricted to specific projects or programs.
- Monitoring and Evaluation: After grants are awarded, our program officers monitor the progress of funded projects. This involves regular reporting from grantees and site visits to ensure that the funds are being used effectively and that the projects are achieving their intended outcomes.
- Community Engagement and Feedback: Continuous engagement with the community is crucial. Foundation staff often holds meetings, site visits, and forums to gather feedback and ensure that our grantmaking strategies remain aligned with community needs and our mission.
Our grantmaking is made possible by the funds that have been established over our 31-year history. Each fund was established based on the interests and passions of the donor(s), and it is our honor and obligation to abide by the parameters set forth by our fund holders.
There are different types of funds that donors can establish with the Community Foundation:
- Undesignated: Want to meet the most pressing needs in Berks County? Grants from undesignated funds are determined by our board of directors to address ever-changing community needs. This type of fund supports initiative work such as our support of Spotlight PA, student retention work, rural initiatives, and new arts funding. We strategize to use unrestricted funding to create systemic change and address big issues.
- Designated: Support a specific organization year after year, even after you are gone. Organizations benefit from consistent support, and you can be confident the money in your fund is professionally managed.
- Field of Interest: Whatever your cause, our team of program experts will do the legwork to ensure grants from your fund make a difference for your cause now and for years to come.
- Donor Advised: Make decisions about where grants from your fund go each year while you are alive, with the option to name a successor advisor after you are gone.
- Scholarships: Help students pay for their education through a scholarship fund. Or use a designated fund or more flexible field-of-interest fund to support a specific school or area of education.
- Giving Circle: The Power of the Purse (POP) committee is a women’s giving circle. The dedicated group of women meets several times a year to learn about barriers women and girls face in Berks County. They visit local organizations, listen to expert speakers, and make thoughtful decisions about how best to help, using their pooled resources.
The vision for the Program Team is to:
- Move the needle in priority areas where donors and/or the community have asked us to shine a light.
- Develop deep expertise in these priority areas and make strategic investments of time, effort, and money to improve the quality of life in Berks County in those areas.
- Be impeccable in the stewarding of grants to ensure donor intent is met and data and feedback are collected and put to good use.
I lead the team of expert program officers, ensuring their grantmaking work and management align with donor intent. Together, we seek local and national partnerships and opportunities to amplify the impact of our programs.
The mission of Berks County Community Foundation is to promote philanthropy and improve the quality of life for the residents of Berks County. We play a pivotal role by providing financial support to various nonprofit organizations and individuals in need through our grantmaking. If you have questions, please email me at monicar@bccf.org. To learn more about myself and the team at Berks County Community Foundation, visit the Our Team page.
READING, PA (April 9, 2025) – Berks County Community Foundation is pleased to announce the conclusion of its 1st quarter grant cycle for calendar year 2025, which has successfully distributed vital funding to local nonprofits and initiatives dedicated to improving our community.
In this quarter, the Foundation awarded grants to a diverse range of projects focusing in areas of environment and energy, education, health and human services, arts and culture, and neighborhoods and economic development; supporting the impactful work of local organizations that improve the lives of Berks County residents.
These numbers are a testament to the Foundation’s commitment to its mission to promote philanthropy and improve the quality of life for the residents of Berks County.
- Q1 total grants awarded: 190
- Q1 total dollar amount awarded: $1,152,270
- Q1 number of organizations impacted: 142
“Grants awarded are made possible by generous donors who give back to the community they love,” stated Molly McCullough Robbins, Vice President for Philanthropic Services.
Moving forward, community members are invited to join the Community Foundation in sparking change. Here are two ways to get involved:
- Give to an Existing Fund: Your contributions can help sustain the important work of established funds addressing specific needs within Berks County.
- Create Your Own Fund: Whether you want to honor a loved one or support a particular cause or organization, the Foundation can help you to create a fund that reflects your passions and philanthropic goals.
For more information on how to give or create a fund, please visit www.bccf.org, email Molly McCullough Robbins at mollyr@bccf.org, or call (610) 685-2223.
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Berks County Community Foundation is a nonprofit corporation serving as a civic leader for our region by developing, managing, and distributing charitable funds to improve the quality of life in Berks County, PA. More information is available at www.bccf.org.
One of the most pressing issues facing Berks County – and many communities across the country – is poverty. Poverty is not just an individual struggle–it is a community-wide concern. While poverty is often viewed as a stand-alone issue, the reality is that it’s deeply interconnected with many aspects of our lives, including physical and mental health, family relationships, cognitive development in children, and the risk of homelessness and violence.
To address these complex issues and spark meaningful conversation, we invite you to a Poverty Simulation. This unique, interactive workshop is designed to provide participants with a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by families living in poverty, and more importantly, to inspire action toward solutions.
What is a Poverty Simulation?
The Poverty Simulation is a role-playing exercise where participants are assigned a new persona and family profile that reflects the realities of low-income families. Over the course of the simulation, participants navigate through daily tasks—tasks that many of us take for granted, such as paying bills, buying groceries, and finding transportation.
However, the experience isn’t just about completing these tasks—it’s about realizing how hard it can be to meet even the most basic needs when financial resources are limited. The outcomes of the simulation are unpredictable, and participants are often surprised by how difficult it is to make ends meet.
The Poverty Simulation offers participants a rare opportunity to walk in the shoes of someone facing these challenges. It helps participants see firsthand how factors like limited access to resources, transportation, and support networks can impact the ability to thrive. The hope is that by experiencing this, individuals will gain empathy and a deeper understanding of the barriers that many in our community face.
After the simulation, participants engage in meaningful discussions about how our community can address these challenges. They are prompted to think critically about the systems in place and explore how we can all work together to create solutions that lift people out of poverty and support families in need. Participating in the Poverty Simulation is an opportunity to not only gain insight into the realities of living in poverty, but also to be part of a larger movement toward change.
Whether you’re a business leader, educator, healthcare professional, or simply a concerned citizen, your involvement in these discussions can help make Berks County a more equitable place for everyone. After participating in the poverty simulation, community leaders will be equipped to make decisions in their work while keeping the barriers faced by the people they serve in mind. Join us in this vital effort to make a difference. You can stay up to date on all the foundation’s events by clicking here.
