The Nebraska Community Foundation network today stretches statewide, comprising 1,500 volunteers and benefiting 269 hometowns. For those who were with NCF from the beginning, such as Jim and Elaine Wolf of Albion, seeing the current breadth of the network would be incredible.
Jim, a rancher and banker, and Elaine, a gifted educator, left a legacy of generosity both in their community and across the state. Their son, Jay, followed in their footsteps as a member of the Boone County Community Foundation Fund and a supporter of NCF.
“I’m so proud of their vision and what they did,” Jay said. “And those they worked with and what they created.”
The Wolfs were inclined to public service. Elaine was a member of the Albion school board for 12 years, started the community’s first Girl Scout Troop, and served on Wesleyan University’s governing board for 14 years. Jim was one of NCF’s nine original incorporators and served as chair of NCF’s Board of Directors for two years in 1998 and 1999. He also served as the national director of the Anti-Defamation League.
The Wolfs knew it would take big generosity to get NCF off the ground. So, they stepped up and initiated the nonprofit’s endowment with a $100,000 gift. That kindness, combined with gifts from other early adopters, boosted the budding organization’s credibility. The couple also led the way in recruiting other ambitious Nebraskans to grow the fledgling foundation.
“Nebraska Community Foundation is the tool to give back to the communities where we grew up,” Elaine said in November 2007. “Communities that gave us a background, a livelihood, a sense of values; all of these things we need to continue. Not many of us are able to give large sums, but large sums or small sums, they are very important.”
The Wolfs’ generosity is perhaps felt most in their hometown. The Wolfs issued one of the first challenge grants in the NCF network: $100,000 for Boone County Foundation Fund. That initial challenge set the Fund on a path to be a critical catalyst, player, organizer, and funder in projects such as a world-class early childhood development center, a new trail system in Albion, a public-school-turned-multi-purpose-community space in Petersburg, and the Boone County Agricultural Education Center. Boone County Foundation Fund’s unrestricted endowment now has $2.4 million and NCF affiliated funds benefitting Boone County now total $6 million.
“Jim and Elaine were instrumental in quite a few things,” said Kurt Kruse, chair of the Boone County Community Foundation Fund and member of NCF’s board of directors. “They were capable energizers of efforts in Boone County. We would not be in quite the same position if not for them.”
Every year when NCF’s annual report arrives in his mailbox, Jay is blown away by the success stories documented within its pages. He thinks his parents would be as well. When Jim retired from NCF’s Board of Directors in 2000, the network comprised 82 community-based affiliated funds and held $9 million in assets. Today, 164 CBAFs make up the network, which now has $256 million in assets. The Wolf’s fingerprints are all over that success.
“They would have no words,” Jay said. “It has so exceeded anyone’s dream of what it could be.”
NCF’s “Inspiring Generosity” storytelling series is lifting up the extraordinary kindness of Nebraskans who love their hometowns. As 2024 comes to a close, we ask you to consider a gift through Nebraska Community Foundation to benefit the community or cause nearest to your heart.
Visit www.nebcommfound.org/give to make your year-end contribution today. Remember, non-cash assets such as charitable IRA rollovers, appreciated securities, ag commodities, and real estate are a great (and often tax-wise) option to make an even greater impact. Contact Todd Mekelburg at 402.323.7343 or tmekelburg@nebcommfound.org to learn more.
