A Bridge to the Future
For All of Us
The Allegany County Area Foundation (ACAF) offers an opportunity for everyone to invest in the present and future of Allegany County, NY. Support for the Foundation comes from local individuals, civic groups, businesses, and estates. We also receive a number of donations annually from persons who left Allegany County years ago but retain a fondness for their former home and want to support our local students, organizations and communities.
News & Information
ACAF Grants Have Supported
Highlighted Funds
Shakespeare Comes to Wellsville
Shake on the Lake
After School Programing
Youth Mentoring in Schools
Preserving Local History
College Scholarships
School Security Enhancement
Virtual Reality in Friendship
What is the Allegany County Area Foundation?
Founded in 1983, the Foundation is a non-profit organization that manages donations and endowments (now totaling almost $10 million) and devotes the earnings from those funds to efforts that serve the educational, social, cultural and wellness needs of Allegany County residents. The Foundation awards scholarships to individuals and grants to community non-profits. It helps organizations secure their futures by managing endowment funds and works with individuals (and their advisors) – helping them to establish endowments that create a lasting benefit to their causes and interests.
Why a community foundation?
The community foundation movement started with the founding of the Cleveland (OH) Foundation in 1914. There are now 700 such organizations in the US, and 1700 worldwide. ACAF is in this tradition. Community foundations provide for the pooling of donations and efficient investing of funds and coordinated grantmaking for the benefit of a specific community or region.
What We do
The Allegany County Area Foundation was established in 1983, with scholarships our primary focus. That continues to be our main activity, though our grantmaking has increased significantly in recent years. We currently manage 37 scholarship and 23 grant programs that have been created through gifts and endowments from individuals, business and organizations. These funds and the students and programs they support are described on the pages of this web site.
Our annual support for Allegany County approximates $250,000 for scholarships, and $60,000 in grants. ACAF’s assets of $10,000,000 are invested with Vanguard and overseen by the Foundation’s Investment Committee.
What fund options does the Foundation have?
ACAF offers donors the opportunity to establish (or support existing) Field of Interest funds, Donor-Advised funds, general unrestricted funds, and scholarships.
Judge Peter Sprague: A man with a vision and on a mission
Judge Peter Sprague, founding member of the Board of Directors of the Allegany County Area Foundation had a vision and a belief…
Scholarships 2019
Allegany County produces some outstanding students. Here are several of them – ACAF scholarship recipients with the educators they cite as being especially influential in their academic success. Photos were taken at our May 2019 scholarship ceremony.
More News
Foundation Funds Support Local Libraries
The Allegany County Area Foundation recently presented grants to the Andover, Friendship, and Scio libraries. This support came from designated funds – endowments that have been set up for the benefit of these specific organizations. Scio Memorial Library receives...
ACAF Aids in Historic Newspaper Preservation
The Allegany County Area Foundation recently presented a grant to the Bolivar Library to assist with efforts to digitize its collection of Allegany County Democrat newspapers. Published from 1867 – 1965 (initially as the Allegany Democrat) and with the tagline...
Alfred Farmers Market Receives ACAF Grant
Earlier this summer, the Allegany County Area Foundation awarded the Alfred Farmers Market a grant of $500 to support the Market’s Family Activities Tent. This award came out of ACAF’s Allegany Fund, through which the Foundation assists non-profit organizations all...
ACAF Grant Boosts Belmont Library Project
The Allegany County Area Foundation recently presented the Belmont Free Library with a check for $750 for use in a project to renovate the library building’s second floor. Founded with forty volumes in 1885 and at home in its distinctive ‘flatiron’ building since...
Your Community, Your Foundation, Your Legacy
Thank you for your consideration. If you wish to support the Foundation but prefer to do so by check, you can send that to:
Allegany County Area Foundation
6087 State Rte. 19N
Belmont, NY 14813
Our phone number: 585-296-5616
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