MORGANTOWN — The Merriam-Webster definition of “philanthropist” is “one who makes an active effort to promote human welfare.”
Paul Daugherty, CEO of Philanthropy West Virginia, said the organization serves a diversity of individuals, foundations and companies involved in investing and giving in West Virginia communities and organizations.
To Daugherty, a philanthropist is any individual, group of citizens, a foundation or corporation putting forth financial resources at different levels to improve and strengthen communities and the state of West Virginia.
Much of where that support goes is into 501(c)(3) organizations that support a myriad of citizens, downtown revitalization projects and scholarships, among other citizens in need.
“It might be putting the resources into nonprofits, but at the heart of it, it’s supporting the services and benefits to every citizen in West Virginia,” he said.
Philanthropy WV celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. It was created in 1993 with five volunteer foundation leaders gathered around a table wanting to find ways to increase the number of foundations and philanthropic resources to benefit West Virginia communities.
According to Daugherty, to have a strong community and state, there are four critical legs of the “table.” Those are the public, business, a strong nonprofit sector and strong philanthropy.
“We have a growing business sector. We have an improving nonprofit sector, but we really need to increase the state’s
variety of philanthropic institutions,” he said.
To make sure the analogy of the table remains strong, Daugherty said there needs to be a platform set. For the last five years, Philanthropy WV, in collaboration with the West Virginia Nonprofit Association, hosted an Annual Policy Institute. This allows for government officials and nonprofits, as well as philanthropists, to come together and discuss those issues.
This year’s Policy Institute highlighted the work of the WV Nonprofit Association and improving the grant-reporting processes at the State Auditor and Governor’s Offices so funds can get to nonprofits to serve their communities.
Daugherty said there was a history of funds flowing through state government getting “held up.” New practices were announced to streamline those dollars so nonprofits get the work done to serve the state.
Another key part of the Policy Institute was the meeting of the West Virginia Impact Commission. This meeting of West Virginia executive and legislative branch leaders, along with Philanthropy WV and the WV Nonprofit Association, briefed state government leaders on the economic and community benefits of foundations.
In 2019, Daugherty said policy improvement on the federal level will be the focus.
On the state level, Daugherty said Philanthropy WV wants to continue to keep things efficient and improve opportunities to allow foundations to grow and citizens to give to causes they care about in their own communities.
The priorities as an organization in the coming year include launching programs that will bring together CEOs from different philanthropic institutions and offering grant maker courses in the spring. They’d also like to connect philanthropy with some of the state’s greatest challenges, such as the opioid crisis.
Daugherty said it’s a historic time to set the course for West Virginia when it comes to philanthropy. Being a part of improving any community is investing in it, he said. Giving to communities propels them to a whole new level of success.
“It’s our chance to put a mark on moving West Virginia forward. Not just for one year, but for the next century,” he said.
Twitter @DominionPostWV
SMarino@TheDominionPost.com
