Roehrig Selected To Present At National Conference

Fond du Lac Area Foundation Executive Director Sandi Roehrig recently returned from the Council on Foundations National Conference in San Francisco, CA.  Roehrig was a presenter at the conference on a panel that discussed the National Standards process for community foundations.  She currently serves the Council on Foundations in Washington, DC as a member of a National Standards Review Team to evaluate national standards compliance of other community foundations.  Roehrig also recently was selected to serve as a member of the National Standards Taskforce who were asked to review the original standards and make recommendations for restating, updating, and synthesizing.  

In addition, Roehrig worked with Lara Kalwinski, member of the legal and policy team, and Director of the National Standards for U.S. Community Foundations™ program in Washington, DC to draft the key elements for each standard to be used in the online review process who says about Sandi,  “Sandi is dedicated to her community foundation and to the community foundation field.  She has worked diligently with community foundations as a volunteer National Standards peer reviewer for 10 years.  Not only does she volunteer as a peer reviewer, she also assisted with revising the available resources for community foundations, improving the submissions process, and training on how to submit a successful accreditation application.  The National Standards Board is so grateful to Sandi for her time, passion, and expertise.” 

 “National Standards are critically important to donors,” said Roehrig. “When people make a charitable gift to us, they are putting trust in their local community foundation. They are counting on wise investment management and that their charitable wishes will be honored. The National Standards Board confirmation assures every donor that this will be the case and their wishes will be carried out.”  The National Standards is a compliance program for community foundations. By applying for accreditation, community foundations demonstrate how they rigorously self-regulate their operations, investments, and programs above and beyond what the law requires. 

Roehrig started with the Fond du Lac Area Foundation as Program Director in 1993 and has been the Executive Director since 1995.  When Roehrig started with the Foundation there were $3.5 Million in assets, 20 years later, the Foundation now has over $30 Million in assets.  The Fond du Lac Area Foundation is a community foundation that exists to service the charitable needs of the Fond du Lac area.  The Fond du Lac Area Foundation is a non-profit, public charity  that was established to receive charitable funds, oversee the investment of those funds, and use the income from the funds to benefit the community.  Donors may choose to use cash, securities, life insurance, real estate, or planned giving arrangements to make their donations.  Established in 1975, the Foundation has grown from one fund with a market value of $50,000 to over 300 funds with a market value of over $30,000,000.  During that time, grants totaling more than $10,000,000 have been awarded to local nonprofit organizations to help enhance and strengthen the Fond du Lac Community.