MARIETTA, Ohio — Every unrestricted gift to the Marietta Community Foundation through the end of the year will be doubled under the Foundation First Matching Campaign, a $2 million match announced by the foundation for Washington County. From Oct. 12 through Dec. 31, 2026, Ryan and Katarina Robinson will match qualifying unrestricted gifts to the foundation dollar for dollar, up to $2 million, according to the foundation’s announcement.
The campaign started with momentum. As of launch day, it had already raised $522,862 — more than 25 percent of its $2 million goal before it was publicly announced, the foundation said. A group of early supporters the foundation calls its “Friends” stepped forward first, including Artex Oil Company, in honor of Bob Kirkbride, and Wark Accounting, and every member of the foundation’s board of directors and staff has also contributed, giving the campaign 100 percent board and staff support, according to the foundation.
“Having support from this early group truly strengthens the message that this campaign is far more than just our family’s match. It’s a unique opportunity for a community to collaborate for its own greater good,” Ryan Robinson said in the Marietta Community Foundation announcement.
The Marietta Community Foundation, based at 100 Putnam Street in Marietta, was founded in 1974 and has awarded more than $37 million in grants to strengthen Washington County since then, according to the foundation. It says its assets have grown 86 percent since 2020, from $42.7 million to more than $79 million, and it now stewards more than 400 charitable funds.
The campaign targets a specific gap in that growth. Most of the foundation’s assets are directed by donors to causes they choose, while unrestricted resources give the foundation flexibility to respond to new opportunities. The foundation said unrestricted resources have not kept pace, falling from 26.7 percent of total investments to 17.2 percent over the past five years. Gifts to Foundation First will go into the Robinson and Friends Foundation First Fund, a permanent unrestricted fund stewarded by foundation leadership and the Robinson family, according to the announcement.
“I believe in the Foundation, and I believe in the people leading it,” Ryan Robinson said in the foundation’s announcement. “There are going to be opportunities in the years ahead that we can’t see today. We want to give the Foundation the resources and the freedom to recognize those opportunities, bring people together and help make big things happen.”
Heather Allender, who has served at the foundation for 19 years, said in the announcement that the match gives the foundation the ability to pursue opportunities over the next 50 years. Washington County residents can give online through the foundation’s Foundation First campaign page or by check payable to Marietta Community Foundation with “Foundation First Matching Campaign” noted in the memo line, and every qualifying gift made before Dec. 31 will be matched, the foundation said.
Photo: Warren LeMay, CC BY-SA 2.0