Community fund kick-starts projects

NEW LONDON – The New London Community Fund within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region awarded seven grants totaling $10,000 during its first-ever grant cycle in fall 2025. These grants were made possible thanks to a $10,000 grant from the U.S. Venture/Schmidt Family Foundation to kick-start granting to nonprofit organizations in the New London community.
Grants awarded support the following projects:
• City of New London – Three grants: $1,500 for the Parks & Recreation Department to purchase a lifeguard chair for the New London Aquatic Center, $1,000 to support the Eagle Scout Archery Range project, and $600 for solar lighting on navigational buoys located on the Wolf River in the New London area
• Friends of Mosquito Hill - $1,800 to support the Mosquito Hill Nature Center pond platform replacement project
• New London Public Schools - $1,800 to support the Lincoln Elementary School Lincoln Lookout Playground project

• Washington Center Community Cupboard - $1,800 to support the purchase of perishable foods
• Wolf River Art League - $1,500 to support the Sculpture Trail landscaping project
The New London Community Fund, a permanent endowment created in partnership with New London residents, Joe Van Alstine and Lori Dehlinger Van Alstine, and the Community Foundation team, will provide funding to New London area nonprofit organizations forever.
“Joe and Lori are wonderful community partners and by choosing to work with us, their efforts to create a permanent source of funding for community needs in New London will benefit their friends, family, and neighbors for years to come,” said Megan Schuessler, Vice President of Donor Services & Gift Planning for the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region. “Their fund is like a community savings account that anyone can contribute to that will be a lasting source of funding focused on community improvement.”
Joe was inspired to create the New London Community Fund by a story about the Community Foundation’s founder, Walter L. Rugland, who asked a farmer why he plowed a field under to lie fallow for a year. The farmer replied, “The land has been very good to us and if we don’t give some of it back, it probably won’t keep helping us.” As the Community Foundation celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, our founder’s mission continues through community partners like Joe and Lori.