Established in 1974

Five local business people carried a spark ignited in 1968 and created the YSCF to help alleviate competing opportunities by supporting their local nonprofits: Dorothy Mitchell, widow of the former president of Miami Deposit Bank; Perry Stewart, president of Miami Deposit Bank; George Asakawa, president of Vernay Laboratories; Hardy Trolander, president of Yellow Springs Instrument Company; and Philip Aultman, Village of Yellow Springs Solicitor. Together, they formed the first Board of Trustees of the Yellow Springs Community Foundation.

They agreed to pool their funds and engage a committee to decide where these funds would make the most impact. The first gift of the YSCF was $10,000 in memory of Jim Mitchell. Jim Mitchell died unexpectedly in January 1974, just as he had begun to develop support for a community foundation. His wife, Dorothy, saw an opportunity to put Jim’s ideas into action – even if she wasn’t sure exactly how it would work. She asked four other people to help figure it out.

The YSCF hired its first staff member in 2002 – Virgil Hervey – as a financial administrator. Virgil passed unexpectedly in 2019 and is greatly missed by all. In 2016, Jeannamarie Cox was hired as executive director and became the YSCF’s first full-time employee.