Over our 30-year history, we have had the opportunity to meet with hundreds of people who wanted to make a difference in their community – to give back in support of a cause about which they cared deeply or in honor or memory of someone they loved or admired. Thousands of grants representing millions of dollars have been distributed in Berks County thanks to the foresight of those donors who trusted Berks County Community Foundation with their charitable gifts.
Every year or two, we update the Funds for Grants and Scholarships brochure, which lists the funds currently available for grantmaking and scholarship awards. Feel free to browse the brochure to learn more about how donors have supported individuals and organizations in our community – everything including animals, arts & culture, education, environment & energy, health & human services, neighborhoods & economic development, public safety, scholarships, and youth sports. You may find an opportunity for funding or inspiration for establishing your own fund.
Change starts with a spark. Your spark. We’re here to help – please reach out with any questions or ideas.
Providing opportunities for nonprofit organizations to thrive is a big part of what we do at Berks County Community Foundation. One great example is the Nonprofit Management Certificate Program that the Foundation hosts in partnership with The Nonprofit Center at LaSalle University. This fall, join the Community Foundation and instructors from The Nonprofit Center at LaSalle University for a ten-month professional development opportunity designed exclusively for Berks County’s nonprofit executive directors and high-potential staff members who are serving in full-time, paid positions.
The program includes:
- Three group lunches at the Community Foundation.
- Six day-long in-person nonprofit management classes led by faculty members from The Nonprofit Center at LaSalle, all held at the Community Foundation’s office in Reading, breakfast and lunch provided.
- Three nonprofit management webinars led by faculty members from The Nonprofit Center at LaSalle, joined from your home or office.
This will be the third cohort of nonprofit executives to experience this program, which runs every other year.
Molly McCullough Robbins, Berks County Community Foundation’s Vice President for Philanthropic Services, was a member of the 2020 cohort while serving as Executive Director of Wyomissing Area Education Foundation. “Participating in this cohort was incredibly beneficial for me as a nonprofit leader. Not only did I learn valuable skills and best practices for the field, but I made connections with other nonprofit professionals in our community that I value to this day,” Molly said.
Applicants must be employed by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in Berks County, Pennsylvania. The cohort is limited to 20 participants.
To receive the certificate at the end of the program, attendance of all nine classes is required.
Applications are open now, and the deadline to apply is July 22, 2024. Decisions will be made by August 9, 2024. The cost of the program is $500; scholarships or grants toward the cost are not available. Payments are due by August 30, 2024. Please click here for the full schedule.
*Note that Berks County Community Foundation is not an accredited educational institution, but rather a nonprofit that seeks to bring professional development opportunities to the community for local leaders.
Here is a summary of the curriculum for this professional development opportunity: Unless otherwise noted, these sessions will be in-person and 6 hours in length (9am-4pm).
Building the Board Your Organization Needs (bring a board member session)
If a board can make or break a nonprofit, what makes or breaks a nonprofit board? There are countless tales of triumph and terror on the topic of nonprofit boards and board members. With surprisingly few legal guidelines to follow, boards can look, feel, and function very differently from one another, even when they have the same assumed purpose. This class aims to explore what your nonprofit board’s role must be, what your board’s goals could be, and what it means for board members to be effective, both collectively and individually. Whether you are a long serving, aspiring, new, or simply curious board member, this course will give you a contextual view of nonprofit boards, governance, and a fresh look through an equity lens at the balance of power between boards, executive leadership, and the people and communities they impact.
Communication to Build Relationships, Engagement & Understanding
Communication is one of the most essential skills for individuals at every level of an
organization, from entry-level through senior management. As we learn to communicate more effectively, we create and maintain a more open and productive work environment. Effective communication can help enhance engagement, foster understanding, and build constructive relationships with co-workers, donors, volunteers, board members, and
supervisors/supervisees. This class will expand your understanding of communication and teach you how to put this knowledge into practice. You’ll learn about different communication styles and how you can communicate and work more effectively with others, including those who have different approaches to communication, are from a different generation, or are resistant to change/new ideas. We’ll also provide a framework for how to engage in difficult conversations to address challenges and pursue opportunities to improve your outcomes.
Effective Strategic Planning for Today’s Nonprofits (bring a board member session)
How does a nonprofit plan effectively during changing and uncertain times? In this class, you will learn modern approaches to strategic planning that will strengthen your nonprofit’s ability to pursue its mission in rapidly changing conditions. We’ll explore techniques for assessing your environment, gaining clarity on changing community needs, and developing strategies that can be adapted to meet new opportunities or challenges over time. This class will show you how to build a plan that will drive strategic thinking across your organization, helping your plan to stand up to unexpected changes both inside and outside your organization.
Fundamentals of Human Resources
Too few nonprofits have a dedicated human resource professional on staff. Yet, the minute you have a staff member, or are even thinking of hiring your first staff member, it is imperative that someone in the organization understands the essential human resource responsibilities, regulations, and laws. Because workplace laws guide and control much of what we must do with employees, this class covers the major workplace laws and the legal principles that govern the employment relationship. It will explore the importance of good policies and procedures in creating an effective working environment and introduce some of the most common and challenging HR responsibilities: the performance management cycle; development and management of compensation strategies; and effective guidelines for hiring the right people.
Understanding and Growing Leadership Capacity (online session, 9am-3pm)
Effective leadership doesn’t happen by chance or accident; it comes from thoughtfulness, intention, effort, and more. It is a journey, not a destination. Nor is it manifested in one form or in one personal style – it’s present in many. Leadership starts with the personal. Everyone loves to talk about their own or someone else’s “leadership style,” but the reality is if you have just one way to demonstrate leadership you will never be an effective leader. Effective leaders have a toolbox filled with styles and strategies for success. This class will take you through a series of reflective exercises to help you understand what leadership is—and what it is not—and where you see yourself as a leader—or not. Leadership is also a culture, and an abundant resource! This class will provide a tour of different approaches to leadership to help you identify the tools your organization needs to empower
leadership, at every level.
Basic Budgeting and Beyond (session is 3 hours, 9am-12pm)
Do you struggle to prepare your annual budget, lack 100% confidence in it when submitting it to the board, consistently approve it after the fiscal year begins and regularly have actual-to-budget results that you didn’t anticipate? Then this class is for you and your team. Budgeting is a complex, dynamic process that takes a team to effectively prepare, present and perform to. In this class you will learn the seven things you should do to create an annual budget and how to successfully fulfill its promise. From planning a process to presenting your budget, you’ll have it covered after attending Basic Budgeting and Beyond.
Financial Forecasting: Informed By the Past; Built for the Future (session is 3 hours, 1pm-4pm)
A strong financial management process is essential to a nonprofit’s well-being. In times of
concern and uncertainty about the economy and the prospects for funding, the ability to perform accurate and timely financial forecasting becomes indispensable. Day to day challenges, such as gift restrictions, adherence to mission, fixed and variable expenses, call for the skill to accurately forecast cash flow, while being adaptable to changing conditions. The result is a stronger and more resilient organization. This class will explore the basic inputs required to develop and evaluate financial projections for your organization. Understanding how and when resources are available to your organization will not only enable you to guide policy and programmatic decisions but also assist you in strategically planning your organization’s growth and sustainability.
For more information, please contact Kim Sheffer, Lifelong Learning Program Officer: kims@bccf.org.
On May 21st, 2024, Berks County Community Foundation welcomed students and their families, donors and scholarship fund representatives, and community leaders to our annual Scholarship Luncheon. Excitement filled the ballroom as we prepared to recognize the remarkable achievements of local students and the generosity of donors who enable higher education dreams.
This year, the Community Foundation will award nearly $737,000, bringing the total amount disbursed since its inception in 1994 to an outstanding $13,691,935. Thousands of recipients have benefitted from these scholarships over the years as they continue to pursue higher education.
Among the recipients recognized was Vanesa Aguay, who received both the Berks’ Best Taylor Seitzinger Award for Community Service & Leadership and the Berks’ Best Computer Science Award. Her parents were the first in their family to graduate high school and college after immigrating from Ecuador. They instilled in Vanesa a strong work ethic and a desire to give back. Vanesa shared, “I wouldn’t be where I am now without my parents.” She continued, “These scholarships have propelled me to pursue my dream of becoming an engineer.” Vanesa aims to develop technology that will help address disparities in health care.
The annual Scholarship Luncheon showcases the power of community support in shaping the futures of lifelong learners. Each scholarship awarded provides resources and motivation for students to carve out their paths, creating an impact in Berks County and beyond.
Another recipient, Tanesha Purohit, received a scholarship from the Wilson Scholarship Fund. This scholarship, created to support graduating students from Wilson High School in any form of post-secondary education, prioritizes well-rounded individuals who excel in academics, extracurricular activities, and community service. Gary Coller, representing the fund, stated, “It’s important to provide financial help to students as they start their educational journeys and give them access to the necessary experiences.”
Looking to make a difference in the lives of local students through educational support? Give to one of our many scholarship funds today!
A program initially started in upstate New York has made its way to Berks County. At the Sinking Spring Public Library, the First Lego League Robotics Club came to life thanks to Randi Zaborowski, the library’s Youth Services Coordinator, and Heather Delity, a STEM teacher at Southwest Middle School in the Reading School District. Coach Delity led many teams prior to facilitating this program at the Sinking Spring Public Library. The program teaches students science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) basics, as well as teamwork. Participants will apply what they learn during regional robot competitions and ultimately strive to earn an invitation to the Lego World Championship.
First Lego League is designed to inspire youth to experiment and grow their critical thinking, coding, and design skills through hands-on STEM learning and robotics. Participants gain real-world problem-solving experience through a guided, global robotics program.
At Sinking Spring Public Library, students in fourth through eighth grade met three Saturdays per month to build robotics designed to overcome a specific set of obstacles and challenges in competition. Students learned how to code their programs, build robots, and work together to present their creations.
“The Sinking Spring Public Library (SSPL) is proud to offer the first program of its kind in Berks, welcoming students from across the county, not just SSPL patrons,” said Randi Zaborowski, Youth Services Coordinator. “This innovative initiative opens new doors for learning and community engagement, setting a precedent for inclusive educational opportunities.”
All the robotics come in a bag in tiny pieces. It’s up to the students, with the supervision and encouragement of a coach, to build each model from scratch. Students also write the coding on a computer and save it to an external “brain” attached to the robots to feed them directions and commands. The robots are programmed to complete a series of challenges. The team earns points for successfully completing these challenges. The highest score a team can achieve is 500, but the focus isn’t just on the competition score.
In the photo, from left to right: Phoebe Z., Zoe Z., Kavini A., Alice Z., Ethan B., not pictured Jeffrey N. Coach Heather Delity (left) and Randi Zaborowski
Emphasis is placed on real-time problem solving, working together to find solutions, making unplanned adjustments, sharing ideas, and celebrating students’ hard work. And yet, sometimes, there is failure in the hard work.
Throughout the different rounds of the competition, students reflected on the importance of failing instead of becoming upset. “It’s important to fail because it gives you a chance to fix your mistake. It’s okay to make mistakes,” student participant Ethan B. from Wilson School District said.
Learning to work together in those failures really gave the students the opportunity to make decisions and pivot their original plan. Sometimes, there could be disagreements on which decision to make to get the most points for their presentation, but one thing they all agreed on was they needed a T-shirt design for their new club.
The team named themselves “Robo-Pants,” so the logical final design decision was a robot wearing funky pants. The decision for this robot to have a mullet was also unanimous. Student participant from Wilson School District, Alice Z. explained, “The hardest part of deciding on a final design was trying to get everyone to agree on all the cool ideas.”
The First Lego League Robotics Club is hopeful to continue into fall 2024 and eventually be part of the world championship. The club is funded through Friends of the Berks County Public Libraries Fund of Berks County Community Foundation. This fund was created to award grants to Berks County libraries for emergency needs and special projects. For more information on the fund, please click here.
The generosity of our donors allowed us to award $610,000 in scholarships in 2023. Each scholarship has specific eligibility criteria based on the donor’s intention when the scholarship was created. Our scholarship application opens on January 1 each year. The deadline to submit all applications is 11:59 P.M. on March 1. Applications cannot be edited or submitted after the March 1 deadline. To maintain a fair process, we cannot make exceptions.
All of the scholarship opportunities currently offered by the Community Foundation are available to students with no need for any documentation from FAFSA for this year only.
How do I apply? Create an account in our online portal using a personal email address. Do not use your school address. Once you create an account, this account will serve as a hub for your universal application. Ensure you have ample time to complete the application, as it may require up to an hour.
What’s a universal application? It’s a single form that matches your answers to the scholarship(s) for which you may qualify.
How do I know if I am eligible for a scholarship? After submitting your application, check your dashboard for additional questions or requests that need to be considered for the matched scholarship.
Where is my dashboard and how do I access it? Click here to watch a video guide on accessing your dashboard.
Should you have questions during the application process, our FAQ section provides helpful information. We wish you the best of luck. If you have questions, you can email scholarships@bccf.org or call us at 610.685.2223 and ask for Kim Sheffer, Lifelong Learning Program Officer.
Innovative classroom projects can serve as a catalyst for strong academic performance. Librarians at Brecknock Elementary School wanted to enhance the conventional reading curriculum by introducing a project that would excite children about reading and promote collaboration and creative thinking.
To ensure students would enjoy the project and meet their required goals, the library staff tapped into a pre-existing student interest in trading cards. The project allowed students to learn about different book genres while collecting unique trading cards they helped to design.
The students worked with the library staff to brainstorm book categories and genres. These categories later corresponded to characters on the trading cards. Within each category, graphic design students at Governor Mifflin Senior High School designed fantasy characters that were then printed on the cards. Students could collect different sets of character cards by reading books in a variety of genres.
Both the elementary students and high school students imagined the specific details of the land the characters lived in, making for a much more collaborative and personalized project. They printed the cards in-house at the Governor Mifflin Print Shop.
“The cards motivated third and fourth grade library users to thoughtfully explore new books that represent diverse characters, topics, and genres, and promote a sense of belonging and connection,” said Rachel Sebastian, Learner-Centered K-4 Teacher Librarian.
The cards often encouraged children to pick books outside of their comfort zones. Teachers sometimes find it challenging to get children to develop an interest in nonfiction work, specifically nonfiction that is not about animals. This trading card project tackled this challenge by rewarding students for reading books outside of their comfort zone, as children collected different cards by checking out books of various genres from the library.
In May, the library held a trading card convention, where students set up booths to share their favorite cards.
The Literacy Trading Card program at Brecknock Elementary School breathed new life into the world of reading. By mixing the joys of reading and collecting, the initiative has succeeded in creating excited readers who view books as more than just words on paper. This innovative project shows students the magic that lies within every page and the endless possibilities that words can unlock.
Funding for this project came from the Teacher Mini-Grants program of Berks County Community Foundation. To apply for a teacher mini-grant, please click here.
This article is part of our 2023 Annual Report. To read the entire report, download it here.
On November 8, Berks County Community Foundation held its Annual Meeting at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Reading. More than 100 civic leaders attended the event, which included brief presentations by the Community Foundation’s program officers and an overview of the year by Kevin K. Murphy, foundation president.
“This year marked the culmination of our plan to increase our impact in Berks County by expanding the number of program officers working on specific causes,” Murphy said. “Our annual event gave us the opportunity to introduce these new faces to the community.”
The program officers oversee distributions from more than 346 charitable funds that were created by Berks County residents to support causes in the community that were important to them. In fiscal year 2023, those grants and scholarships totaled more than $6.2 million. That brings the total amount of grants and scholarships distributed since the Community Foundation’s founding in 1994 to over $101 million.
In addition to Murphy, who provided a recap of the West Reading Disaster Relief Fund, attendees heard from:
Vice President for Programs and Initiatives Monica Reyes about an effort underway with the Berks County Medical Society to share the results of a study about public health released by the Berks County Commissioners this year;
Health and Human Services Program Officer Cindy Milian about the work she oversees to support animal welfare and to assist families who have children with special needs;
Environment and Energy Program Officer Emily Smedley about grants that are increasing energy efficiency for local organizations and grants that are improving soil health by monitoring the flight patterns of birds of prey;
Lifelong Learning Program Officer Kim Sheffer about teacher mini-grants, which support innovative classroom projects across Berks County.
Details about each of these initiatives are available in the Community Foundation’s 2023 Annual Report.
In addition to learning about the work the Community Foundation is undertaking, attendees were invited to pick up a brush and add their touch to a Berks County mural, and to listen to a trio of local student musicians.
If you’d like to join the Community Foundation at future annual meetings, please send your name and email address to info@bccf.org and ask to be added to the invitation list. If you’d like to learn more about the Community Foundation, including how to start a charitable fund of your own, visit www.bccf.org.
Teachers across Berks County are finding new ways to keep children engaged in learning by innovating the pre-existing curriculum. Teachers at Mifflin Park Elementary School wanted to help their students who struggle with reading, which may or may not be the result of the student learning English as a second language. By modifying the curriculum with their Stories and Steps Program, teachers were able to make literature more accessible and fun for students who needed extra help.
The Stories and Steps program was created in 2021 to help students get more comfortable with reading and understanding the English language. Students participating in the program were primarily struggling readers, and or in the process of learning the English language. The program had 101 students participate in total. These children walked together while listening to audiobooks of children’s literature.
According to Corinne Brumbach, librarian at Mifflin Park Elementary, and Diane Richards, chief financial officer, students were incredibly responsive to the program. It was reported that 100 percent of the participants wanted to take part in another audiobook club. When asked about the program’s impact on the students, Brumbach and Richards shared quotes from the students.
Has the audiobook helped you? How?
“Yes, I learned new things and I can hear it just like the author wanted it to be heard.”
Do you enjoy listening to audiobooks?
“Yes, I could hear how to say words.”
Because of the program, students developed deeper engagement with the reading material and a stronger interest in reading. In the future, Mifflin Park Elementary hopes to offer the program for the entire school year instead of a portion of the school year.
This project was funded by a mini-grant from the Berks County Association of School Retirees Scholarship and Grant Fund. This fund was created to provide a scholarship to a Berks County senior and mini-grants for classroom projects. To learn more about this fund, visit https://bccf.org/funds/berks-county-association-of-school-retirees-scholarship-and-mini-grant-fund/
Reading, PA, July 13, 2023 –Berks County Community Foundation, and McMahon, a Bowman company, is pleased to announce that Andrew Kline, an engineering undergraduate student at Villanova University, has earned the 2023 Joseph and Peggy McMahon Transportation Engineering Scholarship. This marks back-to-back awards of the scholarship to Kline. The award is competitively selected through the Berks County Community Foundation.
Established in 2018, the Joseph and Peggy McMahon Transportation Engineering Scholarship provides financial assistance for college students who have demonstrated a commitment to transportation engineering as their chosen career. The scholarship seeks to recognize individuals who demonstrate leadership and actively give back through programs dedicated to helping individuals and communities served by the engineering industry.
Building on a strong academic foundation from 2022, this year Kline stepped up his leadership role as the President of the Villanova University Student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), by coordinating the 2023 ASCE Mid-Atlantic East Student Symposium, which saw participation of 12 schools and more than 250 attendees. He also served his second year as the College of Engineering Senator within the Villanova University Student Government Association and was elected to serve as the Speaker of the Senate. Kline was also appointed as a student representative of the Villanova University Board of Trustees. Outside of his professional and school activities, Kline has served as the Judge of Elections for the Berks County Election Services department running polling locations for the last three elections.
Academically, Kline has started taking transportation-oriented internships and engineering classes and plans to expand that to include transportation system design in the fall of 2023. While being extremely active in school and professional societies, Kline has also maintained a 3.47 GPA in his civil engineering major.
“I appreciate the commitment that Joseph and Peggy McMahon have made to the transportation engineering field as a whole and am honored to receive their scholarship for the second year in a row,” Kline said. “Their continued support is enabling me to attain my goals and dreams to help communities through thoughtful and important transportation engineering design.”
“We are proud to provide the Joseph and Peggy McMahon Transportation Engineering scholarship for its fifth year,” said Joseph McMahon, P.E., Founder of McMahon Associates, Inc. “It’s gratifying for us to see the remarkable contributions that students like Andrew are already making to our profession. He is demonstrating year-over-year his strong commitment to serving our professional and local communities, and this is the very core of why we established the scholarship. We wish Andrew good luck in his upcoming academic year and continued success in his career pursuits.”
The Joseph and Peggy McMahon Transportation Engineering scholarship was created by the Board of Directors of McMahon Associates in tribute to the firm’s founder Joseph McMahon, and his wife, Peggy McMahon. The couple established McMahon in 1976 with a “Pay It Forward” dedication at its core, and this scholarship fund preserves their legacy and promotes that commitment into the future to support new engineering generations. The fund, established through Berks County Community Foundation, provides scholarships to college students who have declared and have been accepted into, the major of civil engineering with a focus on transportation engineering. For more information, interested and qualified students should go to https://bccf.org/funds/joseph-and-peggy-mcmahon-transportation-engineering-scholarship-fund/.
About McMahon
Since 1976, McMahon has specialized in delivering innovative transportation engineering, planning, design and technology solutions to our clients. We have built trusted and lasting relationships by satisfying, and often surpassing, the needs of both governmental and private sector clients. We provide services and consulting expertise for transportation projects in a variety of travel modes from planning, to design and permitting, through construction.
In May 2022, McMahon joined forces with Bowman Consulting Group Ltd, as an acquisition of the publicly-traded firm. Bowman is a trusted, multi-disciplinary engineering & survey consulting firm offering a broad range of real estate, energy, infrastructure and environmental management solutions to both public and private clients from locations across the country.
About Berks County Community Foundation
Berks County Community Foundation is a nonprofit corporation that serves as a civic leader for our region by developing, managing, and distributing charitable funds aimed at improving the quality of life in Berks County.
Media Contact:
Erica Caceres, Communication Manager, Berks County Community Foundation | ericac@bccf.com 610.685.2223
There’s talk sometimes that all is not right with the children, or in the case of a recent op-ed by Pennsylvania Senator Ryan Aument, that all is not right with our public schools. While that doom-and-gloom position may win headlines and votes, it’s far from the reality on the ground, at least here in Berks County. Our school districts are using innovative, creative learning experiences to ensure students have the skills they need to succeed not only in the classroom, but in life.
We recently attended the Governor Mifflin School District’s first-ever Mustang Nation Learning Expo, where teachers and students at every grade level showcased innovation and expertise for the community at large. The visitors at the packed-house event had the chance to experience more than 80 interactive presentations, during which students were eager to share their knowledge on topics ranging from Entrepreneurship in Elementary School to Analyzing AI: Student Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence through a Literary Lens. We even met a group of first graders who have become real experts on Rainbow Trout. Throughout each presentation, at every grade level, students were applying their classroom learning to real world questions and problems.
Contrary to Senator Aument’s assertion that our students are being failed by an “antiquated system … with goals that are no longer relevant,” the Governor Mifflin event demonstrated ways our schools are preparing and motivating students not only to enter today’s workforce, but to be ready for the uncharted jobs of the future in disciplines of science, math, technology, humanities, arts, and beyond.
Teachers and administrators at Governor Mifflin are so determined to ensure their students hit the ground running upon graduation, they’ve become students themselves in the Total Experience Learning® program at Albright College. This groundbreaking teaching methodology supports educators and gives them the tools to transform what could be hum-drum lessons into hands-on, interactive, entrepreneurial learning experiences. There’s a real focus on encouraging students’ organic curiosity and interests to create meaningful engagement.
And, it is not just Governor Mifflin School District. School districts, administrators, and teachers across Berks County, from Reading to Boyertown and beyond, have engaged in Total Experience Learning programs, to ensure that K-12 education in Berks County continues to be relevant and motivating to today’s students, and that the PA Department of Education learning goals are not just met, but exceeded.
A dedication to continuous improvement and lifelong learning is critical not only for our students and teachers, but also for our elected leaders. Senator Aument’s proposal to study the current education system and learn from other systems around the world is admirable. But to start from the premise that all parts of the current system are irrevocably broken and that increased funding is not the answer fails to recognize the stellar achievements of dedicated administrators, teachers, and students across the Commonwealth. Our local schools rise to the challenge of educating our students for a global economy every day, despite being funded at wildly varying levels with little to no regard for the demographic and social make up of their student cohorts.
Rather than simply dismissing all PA public education as broken, the legislature should look at the actual data and do its constitutionally mandated job to provide for a fair and adequate level of school funding so that all children, regardless of their zip code, can achieve the kind of success that we saw at the Mustang Nation Learning Expo.
