Our Story (History/Timeline)

The idea for The Dayton Foundation blossomed, thanks to John H. Patterson, founding president of National Cash Register Company, Julia Shaw Patterson Carnell, a leading Dayton businesswoman, Robert Patterson, a noted civic leader, and Dr. D. Frank Garland, director of welfare for NCR.

From an initial $250,000 donation by the Patterson family in 1921, to $1.04 billion in assets held in more than 4,000 individual funds today, The Dayton Foundation is upholding the dream that D. Frank Garland and John Patterson laid forth. That dream was to help individuals achieve their charitable goals and make our region a better place to live, now and in the future.

One of the Foundation’s first grants was $500 awarded to The Barney Convalescent Center to purchase braces for children infected with polio.

The Dayton Foundation funded studies on the building needs of city schools, as well as an investigation into alleged mismanagement at the Montgomery County Board of Elections, which was accused of inefficiency and possible influence by the then-active Ku Klux Klan. This work prompted community support for improved accountability within the electoral process.

Don Battelle, The Dayton Foundation’s longest-serving director (1930-1973), was appointed.

The Foundation awarded grants to ease the plight of those in need by underwriting free, public dental clinics during the Great Depression.

The Foundation began awarding yearly grants to the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra for free children’s concerts, a program that still exists today. 

The Foundation awarded grants to fund afterschool programs for children whose parents were working in factories and in the military during World War II.

The Foundation initiated grants for innovative projects to help educate the public on ways to avoid poverty and vice.

The Dayton Foundation continued to underwrite studies of local issues, including awarding a grant that culminated in plans for a new Dayton courthouse. Plans also urged that the landmark old courthouse be made the headquarters for the Dayton (later Montgomery County) Historical Society.

The Foundation funded a study that urged Sinclair Community College to focus on student training in fields with the strongest employment prospects, ultimately securing the school's future at a time when its outlook was uncertain. 

John E. Moore, Sr., the Foundation’s first African-American Governing Board member and later chair, was appointed. A civil rights pioneer, Mr. Moore would continue to volunteer for the Foundation for more than 50 years until his passing in 2021. During his decades of service, he co-founded the African-American Community Fund, chaired the Foundation’s Diversity Task Force and co-chaired the Commission on Minority Inclusion, which spawned the Minority Business Partnership and Miami Valley Works, among other efforts. 

The Dayton Foundation appointed architect John Sullivan as director. When Mr. Sullivan retired in 1982, the Foundation had 16 charitable funds that awarded $200,000 annually.

Without Frederick C. Smith, Jr., there would be no modern Dayton Foundation. When he retired as CEO of Huffy Corporation, he set out to pursue a second career as a public citizen, becoming chair of The Dayton Foundation’s Governing Board in 1979 until 1989. 

After David L. Rike retired from the Foundation’s Governing Board, he decided to close his family foundation and contribute roughly $1 million to The Dayton Foundation to create the Rike Family Fund. This dramatically increased the Foundation’s assets and set the stage for the next step in the Foundation’s development.

Anne Greene, the first woman to serve on The Dayton Foundation’s Governing Board, brought energy and enthusiasm to her 10-year tenure with the Foundation. This period of the Foundation’s history was marked by great change and rapid growth. 

Under Fred Smith’s chairmanship, the Foundation hired its first full-time director (and later president), Frederick Bartenstein III. This era, coined the “Fred and Fred Show” because of their meetings with potential fund holders and professional advisors, included explosive growth and many key accomplishments. Among these were the establishment of the Charitable Checking Account Service^SM and asset growth from $4.4 million in 1983 to $47.8 million in 1992.

Retired former NCR Chairman Bill Anderson and his wife, Janice, established the William S. and Janice R. Anderson Fund, the Foundation’s first Donor-Advised Fund. 

Preserving the region’s rich history for future generations, Carillon Historical Park, now part of Dayton History, was endowed by The Carillon Trust fund.

The Foundation’s multi-year research efforts and Self-Sufficiency Initiative in the late 1980s worked on state and local levels to effect profound changes in the state welfare system. Following this effort, the Foundation formed a coalition of organizations to guarantee payment of a loan to enable the creation of The Job Center in the mid-1990s. Each day nearly 2,000 people are helped by the Center, which serves as the focal point for the region to help citizens gain employment and overcome barriers to economic independence.

Darrell L. Murphy was named the Foundation’s second president. In his decade of leadership, he worked with the Governing Board to back bonds for the building of the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center and oversaw the launch of The Disability Foundation, among other efforts.

The African-American Community Fund was created under the leadership of former Governing Board Chair John E. Moore, Sr., and Governing Board Member Lloyd E. Lewis, Jr., to give African-Americans an opportunity to create a permanent financial resource for generations to come. AACF is recognized as a national model for the promotion of philanthropy in the African-American community and has contributed more than $6 million to nonprofit organizations since its inception.

The Preschool/Family Prevention Project, a collaborative effort involving The Dayton Foundation, was named one of 11 exemplary alcohol and drug prevention programs in the country. The program has helped thousands of children and families since inception and continues as part of Dayton/Montgomery County Public Health.

The Foundation surpassed $100M in assets, with an additional $110 million in expected legacy funds.

The Dayton Foundation, in partnership with local nonprofit organizations, launched The Disability Foundation as a supporting organization to provide supplemental support for individuals with disabilities without jeopardizing their governmental benefits.

When construction of the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center was in jeopardy, The Dayton Foundation provided backing for bonds to be issued and contributed $1 million in grants, enabling construction to move forward. 

The Foundation awarded $300,000 in grants to hire the first planners for Five Rivers MetroParks’ RiverScape, helping to revitalize downtown Dayton’s riverfront and bring families and tourists back downtown.

The Dayton Foundation convened a 33-person Diversity Task Force to study and develop a plan to bring the issues of diversity and inclusion to the forefront. Former Governing Board Chair John E. Moore, Sr., chaired this groundbreaking Foundation leadership initiative.

The Foundation launched a new Out-of-School Youth Program to provide alternative educational programs for area youth deemed lost to the school system.

Leading The Dayton Foundation in its current phase of service to the Greater Dayton community is Michael M. Parks, president of The Dayton Foundation since 2002. Under his leadership, The Dayton Foundation has elevated its role in fostering community collaborations and leadership initiatives for efforts such as the Del Mar Encore Fellows Initiative and Learn to Earn Dayton, as well as in establishing the Greater Dayton Disaster Relief Fund, the Dayton Oregon District Tragedy Fund and the COVID-19 Response Fund, which raised and distributed nearly $9 million for those impacted by community tragedies in 2019 and 2020. Since the beginning of his tenure, Foundation assets have increased from $214 million to $1.04 billion.

During Judy D. McCormick’s two-year tenure as chair of the Foundation’s Governing Board, the Foundation grew by $43 million in assets, delivered $68 million in grants to nonprofits, continued the important work of the Diversity Task Force and launched a new leadership initiative, the Neighborhood School Centers Project, to help rebuild Dayton neighborhoods and assist families.

The Dayton Foundation Governing Board committed to making the Teacher/Leadership Academy – a powerful concept, based on a tested program of educator training – available to Miami Valley school districts and approved $450,000 for this effort over three years. 

The Foundation launched this innovative education initiative in partnership with other nonprofit organizations, school systems and government leaders to implement pilot elementary school sites in five of Dayton’s most impoverished neighborhoods. This was a pioneering approach to building neighborhood education centers that strengthen children, families, schools and urban neighborhoods.

Dayton-Montgomery County Scholarship Program was established in 1981 by former Dayton Public Schools Counselor Ruth Richardson, after social security benefits for many eligible students seeking post-secondary education were eliminated. The program merged with The Dayton Foundation in 2006, creating a partnership which awards more than $2 million each year to help youth further student education.

The Foundation helped preserve a piece of national history by assisting NCR Corporation’s gift of Hawthorn Hill, the Wright Brothers’ 1914 home in Oakwood, to The Wright Family Foundation of The Dayton Foundation.

To harness the resources of minority citizens and create greater economic inclusion for all citizens, the Foundation entered into a groundbreaking partnership that produced the Commission on Minority Inclusion and the Minority Economic Development Council (later renamed the Minority Business Partnership).

An estimated 23,000 Greater Dayton children cannot afford basic school supplies. The Foundation collaborated to start Dayton Crayons to Classrooms to help provide free educational supplies for teachers of students who cannot afford them, giving them a better chance for success in school.

In the midst of the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression, with many community nonprofits’ survival at stake, the Foundation convened partners to launch the Nonprofit Alliance Support Program. This effort continues to provide technical support to nonprofits ready to explore efficiencies through alliances, partnerships and/or mergers with other nonprofits.

An initiative launched by The Dayton Foundation, the Greater Dayton Partners for the Environment is an alliance of environmental, government and civic organizations, and public and private educational institutions. The goal is to protect, preserve, restore and promote Greater Dayton’s natural resources, including the Great Miami River and Little Miami River watersheds.

Established in 1973, The Physicians’ Charitable Foundation of the Miami Valley’s mission is to improve the quality, accessibility and cost effectiveness of healthcare services in Greater Dayton.

Upon Virginia Toulmin’s passing in 2010, her unrestricted legacy gift of $26 million was transferred to the Foundation, making it the largest single gift in the Foundation’s history. The gift endows the Harry A. Toulmin, Jr., and Virginia B. Toulmin Fund of The Dayton Foundation, an unrestricted fund to help the community where need or opportunity is greatest, today and in perpetuity.

Montgomery County Ohio College Promise was founded to help 500 local students attend college at little or no cost to them or their families. These poverty-impacted students are selected during their eighth grade year and supported throughout high school by a caring adult mentor who meets with them on a weekly basis. Thanks to additional community support, the program was extended in 2022 to include an additional 500 students.

The AACF’s largest single gift to date was bequeathed by Pearl Dale, a longtime Dayton Public Schools teacher. Inspired by her parents’ influence to instill in her a passion for education, Pearl established a deferred scholarship fund in 1990 through the AACF. She wanted to help youth pursue their educational dreams, free of the difficulties she had faced as a single African-American woman trying to make her own way. Upon her passing in 2011, she bequeathed $650,000, the largest single gift to the AACF to date, to her scholarship fund that honors her and her sister’s longtime contributions as educators in Dayton Public Schools. 

The Dayton Foundation awarded $500,000 and provided support through the Nonprofit Alliance Support Program to ease the transition of the Dayton Ballet, Dayton Opera and Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra into the newly formed Dayton Performing Arts Alliance.

To help ensure that all of Greater Dayton’s children are ready to learn when they enter kindergarten and ready to earn when they graduate from college or other post-secondary institutions, the Foundation adopted Learn to Earn Dayton as a leadership initiative.

The Dayton Foundation partnered with Goodwill Easterseals Miami Valley to combat unemployment through Miami Valley Works. This leadership initiative helps lift chronically unemployed individuals out of poverty and on a path to self-sufficiency by obtaining and maintaining employment and advancing in a career.

The Del Mar Encore Fellows Initiative, made possible thanks to a $1 million gift from Del Mar Healthcare and its DMH-Fund of The Dayton Foundation, engages highly talented and experienced older adults to help advance impactful community initiatives and other efforts. 

Under the leadership of then-Dayton Foundation Governing Board Member Dr. Ratna Palakodeti, the Asian-Indian Community Fund was created as an umbrella for charitable funds that support the giving interests of Greater Dayton’s Asian-Indian community.

When tornadoes struck the region on Memorial Dayton in 2019, The Dayton Foundation established the Greater Dayton Disaster Relief Fund to quickly distribute funds to charitable organizations working to help provide food, clothing and shelter for individuals and families affected by the storms. More than $3.5 million was received and distributed from the fund to help victims and, later, to help long-term recovery and community rebuilding needs.

In response to the mass shooting that occurred in the early hours of August 4, 2019, The Dayton Foundation established the Dayton Oregon District Tragedy Fund. Thousands of individuals and companies locally and across the country made charitable contributions to help the families directly affected by this terrible tragedy.

In a call for greater equality within the Dayton Region, the Foundation partnered with the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission, as well as local business, healthcare, nonprofit and higher education institutions, to create an equitable, age-friendly and livable community for all. 

With the outbreak of COVID-19 and an increased strain on individuals and families in the Dayton Region, The Dayton Foundation, United Way of the Greater Dayton Area and a coalition of philanthropic, government and other individual partners, partnered to establish the COVID-19 Response Fund for Greater Dayton. The fund awarded more than $2.1 million in grants to nonprofits that addressed basic human needs during the pandemic.

Thanks to thousands of caring and giving individuals and organizations, the Foundation surpassed $1 billion in grants awarded to charitable organizations since 1921.

As one of the nation’s oldest and largest community foundations, The Dayton Foundation celebrated its centennial year with a year-long campaign, including a 100 Gifts to the Community Campaign that awarded more than $2.1 million in new gifts to charity. More than 1,000 friends and fund holders celebrated this momentous year at a culminating event at Carillon Historical Park.

In partnership with the Mathile Family Foundation, The Dayton Foundation launched the Nonprofit Capacity-Building Partnership, a collaborative initiative to strengthen local nonprofit organizations in Montgomery County.

The Foundation awarded a $450,000 grant over three years to the University of Dayton Brain Health Collective, an initiative launched to help coordinate care, education and community outreach for individuals with traumatic brain injuries.