Fountain City Forward becomes Wayne County's newest nonprofit organization

FOUNTAIN CITY, Ind. — Wayne County is an oasis to nonprofit organizations with about 60 different organizations under nonprofit status.

Make that 61.

In a press release sent out in an email by the Wayne County Foundation on Friday, Fountain City Forward became the county's newest nonprofit organization after the Internal Revenue Service granted it nonprofit 501(c)(3) status on Oct. 27, 2023.

Last June, Fountain City community members met with the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce and Forward Wayne County to see if there was interest in forming a main street organization.

The first official meeting of the planned organization was held July 12, 2023, with 17 community members attending. Nominations for the board were taken and voted on, ideas for the organization's name were shared and voted on, and discussions were held about bylaws needing to be written, what grants would be given to it, and coming up with ideas that the organization could do, among others.

There were six names that were thought up, with the only two garnering votes being "Friends of Fountain City" with four votes and "Forward Fountain City" with 12. It was unanimously renamed at the Aug. 3, 2023, meeting to "Fountain City Forward" so that it would not be confused with Forward Wayne County.

The July meeting put in place the inaugural board of directors made up of the following community members: President Kristy Anderson, Vice President Robert Williams, Secretary Elizabeth Williams, Treasurer Anthony Johnson and board members Keith Webster and Angie Smith.

In August, discussions were held about the values the organization wants to represent, with "WIFI" or "Wouldn't It Be Fantastic If Fountain City could have …" being one of the ideas.

Events surrounding the upcoming April Eclipse were also talked about in order keep people in town even after it has ended, as well as creating an official Facebook page and discussing areas in Fountain City that could help and promote it. Some ideas that were mentioned included Levi Coffin, the highest point in Indiana, the basketball teams from the 1920s and artists, to name a few.

By the October 5, 2023, meeting, Fountain City Forward had a logo, with Levi and Catherine Coffin serving as the center image as an homage to preserving the town's history while working on building the community.

At the meeting, bylaws were approved and the decision was made to add two additional directors, which Rett Foster and Terry Wiesehan agreed to were and approved to join the board. This was also the meeting where discussions to register the organization through the articles of incorporation as well as filing for nonprofit status, with four of the 12 steps required to become one having already been completed.

On Dec. 7, 2023, updates were given by the Eclipse Committee on more events happening in April, announcements about the Facebook page and website being up and running were made, and it was reported in the minutes that they had received 501(c)(3) status and had been connected with the Eastern Indiana liaison for the Main Street organization to work on other steps, such as opening a bank account.

Ideas for 2024 and this upcoming Christmas were also started, such as giving custom-designed mugs to new residents of Fountain City with local coupons and items and business "Pop-Ins," where organization members visit local businesses and promote them on social media.

A complete run-through of the minutes can be found through its website and updates about the organization can be found on its Facebook page.

Evan Weaver is a news and sports reporter at The Palladium-Item. Contact him on X (@evan_weaver7) or email at eweaver@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Fountain City Forward welcomed as newest nonprofit group in Wayne County