Virgina Toulmin's gift to Dayton cannot be overstated.

The legacy gift of more than $20 million that the former Daytonian and businesswoman donated to The Dayton Foundation is four times the next biggest individual gift the Foundation has ever received.

Plus, the majority of the 3,000 funds set up by donors to the Foundation target specific groups. Of the $41 million in grants the Foundation made last year, $40 million of them were earmarked for pre-selected causes.

Mrs. Toulmin's gift, however, ultimately will become unrestricted, meaning the Foundation will get to reward groups that are making an important difference in the community through a competitive grant-making selection process. Do-gooders will be encouraged to be imaginative about what the community needs.

Speaking of her husband and her decision to not attach strings to the donation, Mrs. Toulmin told The Dayton Foundation, "Harry always said one shouldn't try to dictate from the grave."

Mrs. Toulmin is herself a remarkable story. She grew up and went to college in St. Louis. After graduation, she found herself working as a stewardess nurse for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. That's when a young patent attorney from Dayton named Harry A. Toulmin Jr. started timing his weekly train travel to coincide with her runs.

Harry Toulmin's father and law partner, Harry Sr., is a key figure in Wright brothers lore. As the Wrights' attorney, he wrote the patent application to protect their revolutionary invention--the airplane.

Mrs. Toulmin moved here in 1958, beginning 41 years in Dayton that she describes as wonderfully happy. Not long after the move, her husband, relying on her medical background, appointed her to the board of a small, bankrupt drugmaker he helped rescue.

After his death in 1965, Mrs. Toulmin became president, and over 30 years she helped create a thriving enterprise.

At the time of her husband's death, an attorney wanted her to sell the company for $1 million. She balked, and, three decades later, she sold it to a multinational firm for $178 million.

Mrs. Toulmin had many philanthropic interests in Dayton. But now that she has relocated full time to Florida, she wants a trusted community partner to help continue that endeavor, and she picked The Dayton Foundation. Its charge is to use her gift to continue to make a difference in the community long after Mrs. Toulmin is gone.

Michael Parks, the Foundation's president, said he believes Mrs. Toulmin's gift could some day double the amount of "discretionary" grants the Foundation makes each year to about $2 million.

What can that money do for Dayton? Consider some recent examples.

In the 1990s, the Foundation used discretionary funds to help launch the Montgomery County Job Center, a training and service facility that today plays a crucial role connecting displaced workers with new jobs.

Earlier this decade, it funded the Out of School Youth task force to coax dropouts back to school. That led to the formation of the Fast Forward program at Sinclair Community College, which has created alternative school programs that have helped cut Montgomery County's drop-out rate in half in five years.

Today the Foundation is working in partnership with the Dayton Business Committee on a three-year project to support minority-owned companies through the Minority Economic Development Council.

With Mrs. Toulmin's gift, the Foundation will have more latitude to address community needs. Through her generosity, the city's reputation for ingenuity and problem-solving that she and her husband helped build can continue for new generations.