Article Options

Bauer becomes new SICF executive director

BY SCOTT FITZGERALD, The Southern

Friday, May 16, 2008 11:28 PM CDT

MAKANDA - Southern Illinois Community Foundation board chair Pat Bauer praised outgoing executive director Maggie Flanagan Friday during Flanagan's retirement celebration at Blue Sky Vineyard.

A few minutes later, Flanagan took center state and praised the board of directors' newly chosen executive director, Pat Bauer.

"Pat has been my partner since day one," Flanagan said in her outgoing remarks. "We started with a board of five people. It's going to be hard for me to let go."

Flanagan is letting go after eight years at the helm of SICF, which she helped create with Bauer's assistance. The women met in 1998 at the urging of Southern Illinoisan Publisher Michael Rehberg, who saw they had similar goals.

Flanagan was looking at ways to provide rural philanthropy in the region through a grant program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Bauer said she had just created a single-county community foundation. She is a former mayor of Benton and has owned several small retail firms.

Two years later, both women established the SICF as an outgrowth of the Franklin Community Foundation. Since that time, SICF has grown through conservative investing with more than $1 million in assets and disbursed grants to community staples to the tune of $492,000.

SICF serves a 17-county region in Southern Illinois. The latest effort has been the CommunityWorks Endowment, where $200,000 has been raised to be given in grants to activities associated with early child care and education, land use and protection and workforce development.

Bauer said it was a thrill to be named the foundation's new executive director. She said she wanted the job because she's endeared to Southern Illinois and wants to help people.

"I've got the baton now. I promise to work hard," Bauer said to the audience of approximately 50 people.

She credited Flanagan for building a legal structure and framework for the foundation. Flanagan said she wants the foundation to move more into the public light.

"We'll become more donor focused. We will educate the public on what the foundation offers," Bauer said.

scott.fitzgerald@thesouthern.com

351-5076