The Heritage Fund

What The Heritage Fund does

Heritage Fund – The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County is an Indiana-domiciled nonprofit community foundation founded in 1976 and headquartered at 538 Franklin St in Columbus, Indiana. Its stated mission is to inspire generosity, gather and grow community leaders, and act to ensure that Bartholomew County is an exceptional place to live, learn, work, and play. The organization serves three primary stakeholder groups: (i) donors and philanthropists who establish donor-advised, memorial, designated, field-of-interest, scholarship, and agency funds; (ii) Bartholomew County nonprofit organizations that receive competitive grant funding with strategic emphasis on Youth Development, Downtown Vitality, and Arts/Culture/Architecture/Design; and (iii) local students who apply for a portfolio of named scholarships including the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship and the Brown Music Awards. In addition, the foundation runs community recognition programs such as the Reams Family Awards for Excellence in Teaching and the Jurgemeyer Community Awards.

The foundation's core service lines are Scholarship Programs, Community Fund Grants, Charitable Funds Management, Donor Services, and Community Leadership. Approximately $750,000 is distributed annually from the unrestricted Community Fund alone, and more than $7M is awarded annually to students and nonprofits across all programs combined. The Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program — administered locally by Heritage Fund since 1997-98 — has produced 59 named Bartholomew County scholars to date. The foundation is governed by a 26-member board (Chair Michelle Schaefer, Vice Chair Lori Thompson, Secretary Phil Luzius, Treasurer Maggie Kamman) and led by President & CEO Edie Blakeslee, with a nine-person staff spanning operations & development, communications, finance, community impact, scholarship and grant administration, and office management.

The business model is that of a traditional community foundation: it is not a revenue-generating enterprise but a tax-advantaged philanthropic steward that sustains operations through (a) investment returns on a diversified endowment corpus, (b) ongoing contributions from individual, family, and corporate donors, and (c) fees on certain fund types where applicable. No fees are charged to nonprofit grant recipients or scholarship applicants. Distribution occurs through direct competitive grant awards to nonprofits, scholarship disbursements to students, and an online donation portal (heritage.fcsuite.com) for inbound giving. Marketing and donor engagement run through the heritagefundbc.org website, Constant Contact email newsletter, and social channels on Facebook, Instagram, and X (@heritagefundbc). The foundation does not maintain a software product, mobile app, API, or proprietary technology platform; technology is administrative rather than strategic.

Name

The Heritage Fund

Legal name

Heritage Fund – The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County

Website

https://heritagefundbc.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1976

Operating status

Operating

Short description

The Heritage Fund is the community foundation of Bartholomew County, Indiana, founded in 1976. It manages donor-advised, scholarship, and endowment funds; distributes roughly $7M+ annually in grants and scholarships to local nonprofits and students; and administers programs such as the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Foundation Services

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Community Foundations (BPAGAKAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Scholarship & Fellowship Foundations and Trusts (EDADAHAC), Education Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAK), Arts, Culture & Humanities Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAJ)

Keywords

• Community foundation services
• Charitable fund management
• Donor-advised funds
• Grantmaking services
• Scholarship administration

Headquarters

HQ city

Columbus

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Charitable Fund Management: Heritage Fund manages charitable funds on behalf of donors, stewarding donations and distributing grants to qualified nonprofits and scholarship recipients in Bartholomew County.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Heritage Fund is a community foundation that manages charitable endowment, donor-advised, designated, field-of-interest, and agency funds on behalf of individuals, families, and organizations in Bartholomew County, Indiana. It distributes competitive Community Fund grants (approximately $750,000 annually) to local nonprofits in Youth Development, Downtown Vitality, and Arts/Culture/Architecture/Design, and administers scholarship programs (including the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship, Brown Music Awards, and dozens of named scholarships) for Bartholomew County students, awarding more than $7 million annually in combined grants and scholarships.

Product overview

The Heritage Fund is a community foundation serving Bartholomew County, Indiana. It operates as a unified platform of philanthropic services rather than a modular software product. Its core offerings include Scholarship Programs (administers scholarships including Lilly Endowment, Brown Music Awards, and named scholarships), Community Fund Grants (competitive grants of approximately $750,000 annually to nonprofits), Charitable Funds Management (endowment funds, donor-advised funds, designated funds for donors), Donor Services (ways to give and establish funds), and Community Leadership (civic leadership and collaboration). The organization connects donors with causes and strengthens the community through strategic philanthropy.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Scholarship Programs Administers numerous scholarship programs for Bartholomew County students including the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship, Brown Music Awards, and dozens of named memorial and designated scholarships for various fields of study and recipient criteria. Open to Bartholomew County high school students pursuing higher education or musical excellence.
• Community Fund Grants Competitive grant program distributing approximately $750,000 annually to local Bartholomew County nonprofits supporting Youth Development, Downtown Vitality, and Arts/Culture/Architecture/Design impact areas. Open to qualified 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations serving Bartholomew County residents.
• Charitable Funds Management Manages hundreds of endowment funds, donor-advised funds, designated funds, field of interest funds, and agency funds for individuals, families, and organizations to support charitable causes in Bartholomew County, Indiana.
• Donor Services Facilitates charitable giving through various vehicles including establish-a-fund, establish-a-scholarship, and multiple ways to give, connecting donors with causes they care about in Bartholomew County.
• Community Leadership

Quantifiable outcome

• $750,000 distributed annually to local nonprofits
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Lilly Endowment Inc. Major private foundation that funds the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program administered locally by Heritage Fund. As a peer grantmaking institution, Lilly Endowment's strategy, scale, and program structure shape the operating environment for every Indiana community foundation.
• National Philanthropic Trust: National donor-advised fund sponsor and grantmaking infrastructure provider. Comparable to Heritage Fund as a charitable intermediary channeling donations to nonprofits, but operates at national scale with a DAF-centric model that competes for donor share.
• Fidelity Charitable: The largest U.S. sponsor of donor-advised funds, offering an alternative giving vehicle to community foundations. Relevant peer because Fidelity Charitable and similar DAF sponsors compete with community foundations like Heritage Fund for the same donor dollars.

Others

• Council on Foundations: National membership association for grantmaking institutions, including community foundations. Relevant ecosystem peer providing Heritage Fund with industry standards, peer benchmarking, and policy advocacy for the community foundation sector.

Direct peers

• Central Indiana Community Foundation: Indianapolis-based community foundation administering donor-advised funds, scholarships, and competitive grants across Central Indiana. Closely comparable operating model to Heritage Fund with a substantially larger asset base, making it the primary regional peer for benchmarking scale, grant programs, and donor services.
• Community Foundation of Elkhart County: Elkhart County, Indiana community foundation offering donor-advised funds, scholarships, and competitive grants. Directly comparable county-level foundation with similar programmatic mix and operating structure.
• Community Foundation of Greater Indianapolis: A larger Indianapolis-area community foundation focused on grantmaking, scholarships, and donor-advised fund management for the Indianapolis region. Directly comparable as a community foundation serving a defined Indiana geography with similar scholarship and competitive grant programs.
• The Columbus Foundation: One of the largest community foundations in the United States, based in Columbus, Ohio. Operates the same community foundation model of donor-advised funds, competitive grants, and scholarships, providing a scaled peer benchmark for Heritage Fund's program design and donor services.
• Hamilton County Community Foundation: Indiana community foundation administering charitable funds, scholarships, and grants within Hamilton County. Operates the same single-county community foundation model as Heritage Fund with scholarship administration and donor fund management as core services.
• Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County: Indiana-based community foundation serving Monroe County with donor-advised funds, scholarships, and competitive grant cycles. Comparable to Heritage Fund in scale, Indiana footprint, single-county focus, and breadth of giving vehicles.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/heritagefundbc
• Facebookfacebook.com/HeritageFundbc
• Instagraminstagram.com/heritagefundbc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments1 record

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Heritage Fund