WILLIAMSBURG — When Nancy Cote Sullivan joined the Williamsburg Community Foundation in 2004 as president and chief executive officer, the charitable organization had just celebrated its fifth anniversary, was being run primarily by volunteers and its own board of trustee members were seeding grants with their own money.
Fast forward 20 years and the foundation is celebrating its 25th anniversary — and things look a bit different. The organization — which provides grants and scholarships for the community’s most pressing needs — now has a staff of four, a 24-member board of trustees, 50 volunteers and assets that have grown from $60,000 in 1999 to $26 million thanks to generous gifts from individuals, families, business and other groups in the community who want to leave a legacy in Williamsburg.
“Our biggest source of funds come from people who leave something in their will,” Sullivan said. “They know they can leave something here and it will be safeguarded for the long term.”
Thanks to its healthy endowment fund, WCF has been able to award more than $11 million in grants and scholarships to more than 123 local nonprofit organizations and over 1,000 students since it started — a testament to the generous communities of James City County, York County and Williamsburg, which it serves.
“One of the most important things about the work that we do is that we’re really just made up of people who live here and work here and want to support this community,” Sullivan said.
To celebrate these accomplishments and its own silver jubilee, WCF held a community event earlier this year where it did two things. First, it announced a challenge to the community to raise $750,000 in new endowment dollars by the end of January 2025, which would allow it to increase its grant-making capability by $25,000 a year in perpetuity.
Second, WCF announced it would give out $2,500 surprise grants to a local nonprofit each month for a year. At the event, a drawing was held to select foundation supporters who would choose the surprise grant recipients.
Both efforts have so far been successful.
As of June, the foundation had already raised $552,000 — $169,000 of which were raised during the anniversary celebration, Sullivan said.
“We wanted to raise a little money that night, but we didn’t charge for the event. So we developed a Giving Tree, and we were selling leaves,” she said. “Our goal was to raise $25,000!”
As for the grants, that was something a little different.
“The surprise grant drawings were a lot of fun,” Sullivan said. “We figured this was a great way to get more people involved, so that they understand what type of organizations we support in the community.”
BikeWalk Williamsburg, which advocates for safe places to bike and walk in the city, received one of the surprise $2,500 grants in April. The money will go toward one of the organization’s outreach programs — the Bicycle Co-Op of Williamsburg — which refurbishes donated bikes and then gives them, along with helmets, lights and locks, to clients referred to them by social services and partner organizations who are in need of safe and reliable transportation.
Andy Ballentine, one of the founding members of the program and on the Co-Op’s leadership team, said the WCF has awarded the Co-Op two competitive grants in the past, which were both “crucial” in getting the Co-Op off the ground.
The Co-Op has a storefront in the James-York Plaza off Merrimac Trail where volunteers offer a full-service bike shop, teach people about bicycling and sell some merchandise.
“Anything that we sell helps us pay the bills, so we can fulfill the mission,” Ballentine said.
Since starting three years ago, the Co-Op has grown by leaps and bounds, and this year alone volunteers have already refurbished nearly 200 bicycles.
Ballentine said the fact that a WCF supporter chose BikeWalk as a recipient is reaffirming.
“It’s great to know they still think we’re an asset to the community,” he said.
Nonprofits Postpartum Support VA, Literacy for Life, 3e Restoration and Dream Catchers have also received surprise grants.
“It’s great for everyone involved because the nonprofit gets a grant they didn’t have to apply for, and for the person who’s presenting the check, it’s kind of nice because they didn’t have to make the gift but they get to give the money away,” Sullivan said.
As the foundation marches toward its goal, Sullivan said she is grateful for the “continually expanding pool of generous folks” who make up Greater Williamsburg, but she emphasized that it’s also important to recognize that there is a “fair amount of need” in the area. It just tends to be more hidden.
“Part of our role is to make people aware that there are needs in the community, and part of why we try to publicize our grants and organizations that we fund is to make sure that, as people move here, they realize that and that there are others things that need to be supported, such as environmental causes and arts organizations,” she said. “I think there’s a lot of good will and good-hearted people in our community. They just have to find a place where they can make a difference.”
To learn more about the Williamsburg Community Foundation, visit williamsburgcommunityfoundation.org.
Amy McCluskey, amccluskey79@gmail.com
