Brandi Weyer
Brandi Weyer’s first encounter with a community foundation was the Spencer County Community Foundation. When she worked as the Communications Director for the Lincoln Amphitheater, they applied for and received grants from the Community Foundation. As a result, she knew the Community Foundation as a granting organization but had no idea how it worked.
When she started her career with WBIW, she became acquainted with the Lawrence County Community Foundation (LCCF) and its campaign. She now understood that the Community Foundation could award grants because of the generosity of local donors who gave to LCCF. Furthermore, those gifts would impact the community for many generations because they were invested in permanent endowments. At that time, Brandi was in her early 30s and starting to think about ways to give back to the community. She had limited funds and wasn’t sure where to start. Then she thought about the Community Foundation. “With the Community Foundation, it warmed my heart knowing my $30 per month investment, what I could afford at that time, would benefit many local nonprofits and help meet the community’s immediate and future needs. The Community Foundation has the pulse of the community and understands what the needs are in real time, year after year,” explained Brandi.
As Brandi became more involved with the Lawrence County Community Foundation, serving on the PR Committee and eventually as a Board member, her admiration for LCCF’s good work deepened. She knew that when she could, she would create her own community fund with LCCF.
Even though Brandi isn’t from Lawrence County and doesn’t live in Lawrence County, she still wants to support Lawrence County as it is the community where she built her career. The people and business owners of Lawrence County have welcomed her with open arms and have trusted her to help them market their businesses. As a result, she wants to leave a lasting, positive impact on the community that has treated her so well and put food on her table and shelter over her head.
Brandi shared “It’s my personality to not be just a survivor but a thriver. So, I created the Thrive On Community Fund. I want this community to thrive in the same way it helped me thrive.” Brandi found the Community Foundation made it easy to set up her fund. She chose to establish an unrestricted fund because it will have the ability to support many organizations and a variety of community needs. And this support will continue forever. “What I love about the Community Foundation,” said Brandi, “you can give $5 or $50,000! It doesn’t matter. You’ll be able to benefit the community where we live and work forever and in a number of ways.”