Barb Lang says Jamestown Community Foundation is there for the long term
Apr. 1—JAMESTOWN — Barb Lang said she didn't really know anyone when she moved to Jamestown in 1987. A native of Valley City, North Dakota, Lang had lived in Houston, Texas, for 22 years, working in the banking industry.
Lang's parents, Roy and Marie Sheppard, owned Cable Services in Jamestown, and Roy wanted to retire more from the business in 1987.
Lang said that year there was a "terrible crash" of the financial services industry in Houston.
"A lot of savings and loans failed," she said.
Seeing the future — that her job would be eliminated as a result of that crash — she decided the time was right to help with the family business.
"I came back to North Dakota and worked at the Cable Services here in Jamestown for 10 years and then I retired," Lang said.
When she moved to Jamestown, she dived in.
"I started getting involved in the community pretty early after I got up here because I just didn't know anybody and I was single, had a couple of kids," Lang said. "So it just sort of evolved and after I retired, the community involvement got even more."
In those early days, she volunteered for the Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce, where she learned about the Jamestown Community Foundation, which the chamber established in 1983. The foundation, which worked on economic development, eventually evolved to a new mission when the Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp. formed.
Lang became active on the foundation board after serving as chamber president in 1995 and hasn't left.
"I told the board a couple of years ago that I was going to retire and they have basically ignored me," Lang said. "But then I guess it's my own fault because if I was truly serious, I would leave ... You really want to support the community that you live in. You want to be active, make the community better. It seems to me that's just part of the purpose of our community members is to do what they can do to help make the community a better place to live. And so I keep on plugging away."
Curt Liechty, vice president of the foundation board, said Lang's longtime service on the foundation board has been valuable.
"You've got such a great resource in what we have done and also what we would like to do in the community," he said in Lang. "She really wants to make sure we have a local impact and helps us. We've got grant guidelines that we've developed over the years and she helps us keep focused."
He noted that Lang carried much of the work for the foundation for a long time.
"She's done a very good job with leading the organization," he said.
He said she's given a lot of her personal time in getting and reviewing grants as well as promoting the foundation.
"You can tell that she really cares about a variety of different entities," he said.
Lang has been active in The Arts Center, Stutsman County United Way, AAUW Jamestown Affiliate, Zonta Club and the 1883 Courthouse Committee.
She and her husband, Art Todd, have a "big blended family" of five children and 10 grandchildren.
The mission of the Jamestown Community Foundation is to provide a convenient tax-exempt local organization for donors to fund worthy causes in Jamestown, Lang said.
"It's a feel-good organization to be part of because you're doing good things for the community," Lang said. "Permanent good things, not just money that gets drained away because you're giving to a permanent fund."
The foundation board meets quarterly to consider grant requests.
"... we have a grand time together and we're doing good work," she said. "So it's very rewarding, very rewarding."
The JCF has restricted funds designated by the donor to a specific project and nonrestricted funds, which are invested and managed by the foundation's investment committee. Income from the investments is available to grant to area projects.
Lang, the board's president, and Paulette Ritter, secretary, are the longest-serving members on the foundation board. Lang noted that the chamber's president, vice president, secretary/treasurer, past president and executive director serve on the foundation board, adding that many of the foundation board members at one time served as chamber presidents.
"Our board is almost 17 people," Lang said. "We have an advisory council as well. Those are people who are waiting who would love to get on the board, but we don't have room for them."
She describes the board as "a wonderful group" and says there are no term limits.
"Nobody ever wants to leave this board because it's fun," Lang said. "... well, they have to raise money, grumble grumble, they have to raise money. But ... we get to give grants. We are pretty careful with our granting so that the people who receive the grants use them for the purpose intended and do the work that they promised that they would do. And we have been very lucky that has always happened."
The Jamestown Community Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that helps other nonprofits.
"We do help groups that are not 501(c)(3)s but have organized for a particular need in the community," Lang added.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Lang said the foundation helped a group of mothers at Washington Elementary School that was raising money to place water bottle stations in all of the elementary schools in Jamestown.
When flooding occurred in 2009 in Jamestown, despite assistance through FEMA, there were gaps in aid, she said.
"So the churches got together and formed a group called the Unmet Needs Committee and they came to us and said 'Could you help us with the donation part?' because they're not a 501(c)(3), but if you ask people to donate to a 501(c)(3), it's tax deductible on your taxes," Lang said. "You can get better donations that way."
So the foundation did a restricted fund agreement with the committee. The donations came to the foundation and were passed to the committee, which granted the money as needed, she said.
" ... it really helped some of those people that really needed the final dollars to fix their basements," Lang said. "... And we've done that (restricted fund agreement) with other organizations."
When turtles ate the flowers at the flower garden on 4th Avenue and 11th Street Northwest near the James River, the foundation provided a grant to the group of women in charge of the garden for fencing and flowers, she said.
"We, in the very beginning, helped A Moment of Freedom ... the horse therapy program," Lang recalls. "We gave them a grant to purchase some of the corrals that they needed right at the get-go and then we also helped get them a computer."
The foundation has contributed to larger projects as well, such as Jamestown Regional Medical Center when it moved to its current campus, the new Anne Carlsen Center building project and the Raising the Bar for the Arts campaign for The Arts Center to expand children's programming.
Lang said the foundation looks to those asking for funds for a little work too.
"They will ask for an amount and we will give partially based on what our budget is, we'll give what we can," she said. "Sometimes we want to challenge those organizations to do other kinds of fundraising. We don't want to give all the money for a project, we want to give some of it and then encourage them to use that as a match for going to other people" to get other funds.
Occasionally, Jamestown Community Foundation gets grant requests from outside of the community, but those are turned down, she said.
"Our mission is to help within Jamestown and maybe a 5-mile radius around the town so that we are helping the community grow and become a better place to live, which is what we all want.
"We are, in fact, cheerleaders for the community," Lang said. " That's very much what we're trying to make sure happens is that the community gets better and better."
The Jamestown Community Foundation has an endowment fund with the North Dakota Community Foundation, which has grown over time to about $300,000.
"Their rules are that somewhere between 3 and 5% of our fund can be used for granting out each year," Lang said. "It's different each year."
Last year, the foundation was able to use about $12,000 for grants, she said.
"And then we have our own endowment fund here in town and we also have one of those 40% tax credit endowment fund accounts," she said.
Lang said gifts of any size to the foundation are appreciated.
"If you give a gift to the foundation, it is going to work for the community forever because all of the money that is donated to the foundation is put into our endowment funds," she said. "We are all volunteer. There is no staff. I always consider the donations that we get from our own board members every year more than cover expenses our little expenses (like flyers, etc.). Our expenses are very very low because it's all volunteer."
She said the business community is pretty aware of the foundation but she wishes they could reach more individuals.
"... it's hard to reach just individuals, and it's a little hard to understand the concept because we're not raising money ... 'to buy three chairs' (for example). We're raising money to put into an endowment that works for the community for the long haul," Lang said.
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* For grant applications or to donate, visit www.jamestowncommunityfoundation.com
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