With the wisdom to save every penny and a passion for giving back to the community, a grandmother’s nickname, Penny, has been turned into a family legacy. From an early age Kaelyn Ahola learned the importance of helping people as she comes from a family of givers. Repeatedly she has witnessed her family offering their gifts to people, from well-known neighbors to strangers. Her parents have a large garden they sell their produce from and donate much of it to local food pantries, kids who cannot afford school lunches, and their neighbors and friends.  

The giving nature of her family and her grandmother’s lessons have stayed with Kaelyn throughout her life as she strives to give back to the community. As an employee working in the nonprofit industry at Achieve Brown County, Kaelyn understands the value donors provide to support the wonderful work of area nonprofits, especially through unrestricted funds.  

Kaelyn Ahola

“I told myself that, if I believe in the necessity of nonprofits—if I believed enough to dedicate years of my life to this work—I could find the money to give to causes I believed in,” said Kaelyn. “So, I started saving any spare penny I could and two years later I had enough to start my donor advised endowment fund. I could only put down the minimum amount to open it, so I am probably just under a decade from giving out my first grant, but I believe in investing in the future of my community, just like I invest in my own future. Slowly, intentionally and with my whole heart.” 

To honor her family, along with her grandmother and the lessons she taught their family, Kaelyn created the Every Penny Fund within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region. By creating this fund, she is not only showing her admiration for her family, but Kaelyn is also imbuing her family’s personality into the way she impacts the community around her. This endowed fund will support local nonprofits forever, as they carry out their good work in our community.  

“I know I am the tiniest minnow in a very vast ocean, but I remind myself that when I put $5 into my fund instead of buying my morning coffee, I am choosing this. I am choosing to invest my time and money in our—yours, mine, our—community,” said Kaelyn. 

When deciding to start a fund, Kaelyn found the Community Foundation was the only place that someone like her could start to invest in the community in an impactful and sustainable way. Many other options required her to put down a third of her yearly income just to open a fund, something that was going to be impossible for her to do. Through our mission, the Community Foundation is able to meet people where they are and help them to meet their philanthropic goals. We are a community foundation for all as together, we flourish. 

We make it very easy to start a fund. To learn more about leaving your legacy by creating a fund to support causes most important to you, call Michelle Lippart Hardwick, Director of Gift Planning at 920.702.7622 or email mlippart@cffoxvalley.org.