History

The idea of starting a community foundation in the Bandera area took root in 1999 after a group of local citizens attended a grant-writing class. The instructor, Dr. Don Udell of Oklahoma City, presented several success stories of how rural community foundations, through their donors, supporters and volunteers, had significantly improved the quality of life for citizens in their area. 

These stories had a common theme: an individual, family, group or business became motivated to address a community need. To meet the need, they discovered they could contribute to a community "nest egg" or establish their own individual funds by making tax-deductible donations through a community foundation.     

"Dr. Don's" presentation started the wheels turning. After tossing the idea around, we concluded, "Why not Bandera? Couldn't the citizens and nonprofit organizations in our area benefit from having and working through a community foundation? Let's get together with some other folks we know and see if it's worth pursuing."

So began a series of ad hoc exploratory meetings hosted by Lynne Sims at her Abundare Ranch. Many local folks attended those meetings and some later became our first board of directors. They include Pat and Cindy Breedlove, Diane Conoly, Bob Cowan, Dr. Louis DeBose, Dave Demers (Pipe Creek, President), Carolyn Edwards, County Judge Richard Evans, Suellen Ehrmann, Paul Garrison Jr. (Medina/Board Member), Anton Haner (Tarpley/Board Member), Linda James (Bandera/Board Member), Claire Johnston (Bandera, Secretary/Treasurer), Gary Johnston, Don Jones, Thomas "Bub" Keese, David Kelly, Shirley Klepfer, Tom Larson, Betty Lebo, Nat Lyons (Lakehills/Board Member), Patricia MacMullan (Bandera/Board Member), Patricia Moore, C.L. Mendenhall (Lakehills/Board Member), Reagan Peterson, Frank Schubert, Lynne Sims (Bandera/Vice-President), Genie Strickland,  Susan Tracy, Louis Vannatter,  Norris Warner, Kay Welch and Ray White. Many of these still serve on the foundation's committees and act as our eyes and ears in their part of the county.

An important community event that had happened during 1998 further inspired us to form the foundation. A new family foundation in San Antonio, the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation, wanted to know the priorities for funding in Bandera County. A committee led by Dennis Juren, made up of citizens from every part of the county, worked together to provide the Kronkosky Foundation with list of community needs the committee considered to be the most urgent. The ad hoc committee thought it was important to continue to build on that committee's "team" effort and the idea for a community foundation in Bandera was born.

We realized we needed some help from some experienced "hands" and decided to affiliate with another community foundation, the San Antonio Area Foundation (SAAF). From the outset, the SAAF has provided assistance in every area of community foundation work. They have also benefited Bandera County by providing hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to area nonprofits.

Finally, we want to give a Texas-size THANK YOU for the support everyone has given the BCF since we began in 1999.  We would not exist today without the anonymous donation for a start-up operating budget and the backing of many individuals, businesses, sponsors, donors, and a considerable number of tireless volunteers. We appreciate y'all!

Please see our Achievement Highlights for additional historical information.