Directors Kelly Dawson, Hans Auer, Raymond Fashano, Thomas Becker, Alexis Singleton, Betsy Shults, Tariq Khan, and Linda Swanson- Executive Director, Janette Salter- Administrative Assistant.

The Sheldon Foundation is celebrating is 75th anniversary of philanthropic endeavors in the local community.

Linda Swanson, executive director, told The Post-Journal that the Sheldon Foundation was founded in May of 1948 by Isabella Sheldon in memory of her husband, Ralph C. Sheldon. Started as a “very small” family foundation, Swanson said the Sheldon family contributed small amounts of money each year. Eventually, the Sheldon family donated stock that appreciated. Two trust funds for Ralph and Isabella Sheldon’s two children eventually were contributed to the foundation in the 1980s, since neither of the Sheldon children had biological children of their own.

“It started as a small foundation, always with the intent that it would be managed in perpetuity,” Swanson said. “That’s what we intend to continue to do.”

Asked if the Sheldon Foundation is planning on doing anything to celebrate its 75th anniversary, Swanson said, the foundation is going to continue normal operations, while acknowledging the “big milestone” of serving the community for 75 years.

Over the past 75 years, Swanson said the Sheldon Foundation has provided a “steady safety net,” by engaging in “traditional philanthropy” and responding to needs in almost every sector of southern Chautauqua County.

Swanson told The Post-Journal that the Sheldon Foundation prides itself in providing both capital and operational support for local nonprofit organizations.

“While grantees do approach us for specific programs, we generally let the grantees decide how best to invest when we do an operational support,” she said. “We recognize they do need help for administration and payroll and audit and utilities and all the things that come with running a not for profit.”

According to Swanson, the Sheldon Foundation has historically contributed to most of the “major institutions” in southern Chautauqua County, including youth agencies, the Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance, Jamestown Community College, UPMC Chautauqua, Chautauqua Institution, James Prendergast Library and multiple other libraries in southern Chautauqua County.

Additionally, Swanson said the Sheldon Foundation is a “major contributor” to United Way’s yearly fundraising campaign, as well as the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts.

Swanson said “perennial grantees” include the Audubon, Boy Scouts, the Young Men’s Christian Association, the Young Women’s Christian Association, the Boys and Girls Club, Jamestown Community Learning Council, the Mental Health Association, Chautauqua Striders, Infinity, Meals on Wheels, Jamestown Adult Daycare, the Renaissance Corporation, United Christian Advocacy Network City Mission, Fenton History Center, Salvation Army, Roger Tory Peterson Institute, and Feed More Western New York.

“Those are kind of the perennials that tend to come to us, and then we just take new applications from new organizations pretty much every year,” she said. “Our mission is basically to provide funding in the support of the arts, education, youth, health care and the environment throughout southern Chautauqua County As you can see, we’re kind of just in every sector.”

Asked about future plans for the Sheldon Foundation, Swanson said the foundation’s goal is to continue to be responsive to the “changing needs” of the local community. By striving to better understand the needs of the local community and continuing its “special interest” in maintaining Chautauqua Lake and the Chautauqua Lake Watershed, Swanson said the Sheldon Foundation will continue to make impactful contributions in Chautauqua County.

“As a private foundation, we are kind of working with the original assets that were deposited, and we just manage it,” Swanson said. “Unlike a community foundation, we don’t raise money from the community, and it’s a totally independent board, no family members anymore, so we are now considered a private foundation.”

As the Sheldon Foundation celebrates its 75th anniversary, Swanson also emphasized the importance of recognizing some of the long-serving members of the foundation.

“We’ve had some long-serving directors,” she said. “The early board were the advisors for Isabella Sheldon, and eventually replaced by other community leaders that contributed their time and talents. It’s still a relatively small board. We’ve had some recent retirements and additions to the board. Two long-serving members were Peter B. Sullivan and Mark Hampton, who retired in the past few years.”

For more information about the Sheldon Foundation, people can visit the Sheldon Foundation’s website, which is ww.rcsheldonfoundation.org.