A Special Column, A Special Announcement

By Chris Askin CSPG, CFRE
President and CEO

By my estimation, over the last dozen or so years, I’ve written some 550 weekly columns for you to peruse with your Saturday morning coffee. I always enjoy bringing you some type of relevant update, trend or insight.

And yet in all of these columns, I’ve never written one of this nature: I am announcing my retirement, effective Jan. 28, 2022.

As you might imagine, I feel both excited about the future and saddened to step away from this role of a lifetime that I have thoroughly loved and enjoyed for nearly 22 years. 

Building an organization that has earned the community’s faith, trust, and friendship has been the honor of my life. Leading the Community Foundation was a dream come true for me. I am grateful for having had the opportunity to build an organization from the ground up, daily work that has been so personally and professionally rewarding.

I’ve been preparing for this transition for some time, including succession planning discussions with the Community Foundation’s Executive Committee since January 2020. As of July 1 of this year, we had our annual change of Board leadership, with Kevin Melcher as our new Chair and Beau Keenan as our new Vice Chair. Under Kevin’s leadership, a search committee has been formed. That work is moving forward in earnest and a search firm has been engaged to find the next President and CEO.

The Community Foundation of Northern Nevada is in great hands. The entire team working together will continue to make our community better for generations to come.

Back in 2000 when the seven-member Board hired me, the organization itself was new, and the community foundation concept was new to our region. Our Community Foundation had been established in 1998, at a time when 650 community foundations existed in the United States. Today that number has grown to more than 750 nationwide, with recent trends for global expansion accounting for an additional 1,000 or more worldwide.

Our dynamic growth and impact in Northern Nevada, together with the success stories from around the world, are living proof that community foundations are powerful and effective, and they serve their communities and fundholders extremely well. 

The Community Foundation of Northern Nevada is in great hands. The incoming president and CEO will have the teamwork and support of our expert 11-person staff, our dynamic Professional Advisors Council, and our impressive list of members within our Board, committees, and our Ambassadors. Together they’ve just begun to make our community better for all of us and for generations to come. Our future is brighter, thanks to these committed people.

This entire team is dedicated and equipped for building on what they’ve worked together to secure. I’m immensely proud of all that has been accomplished: Today the Community Foundation totals more than $220 million in gifts received, $145 million in grants and scholarships distributed, and assets of $180 million. 

Building an organization that has earned the community’s faith, trust, and friendship has been the honor of my life. Leading the Community Foundation was a dream come true for me.

So, what is next for me, you may ask? I love world travel, adventure, and exploring and have had limited time for these passions due to the commitments in leading the Community Foundation. Starting next year, I’ll have the time to expand on those activities in a big way. You could say that climbing mountains, visiting new countries, doing some epic bicycle touring, and sailing seas will be my next profession, along with spending more time with our kids and granddaughter.

In the meantime, the high volume of my daily work continues until I retire, and I would love to visit with you if we haven’t spoken recently, or perhaps have not had the opportunity to get acquainted. You can reach me at (775) 333-5499 or email me via info@nevadafund.org.

Words cannot express how grateful I am to have had the opportunity to help establish and grow this foundation into such a vital regional resource for professional advisors, donors, and the community. Thank you for helping make the Community Foundation of Northern Nevada the strong, trusted, and valued organization that it is today – and for your continued partnership to further our service to fundholders and the vital impacts for our community.

The Community Foundation of Northern Nevada is strengthening our community through philanthropy and leadership by connecting people who care with causes that matter.

Sept. 25, 2021