WAUPUN — A group of Waupun business leaders met at The Rock Golf Club Thursday evening to learn more about the new local legacy program The Waupun Community Fund.
The Waupun Community Fund started last year when Mike Werner contributed $52,000 to repair the street between Shaler Park and Forest Mound Cemetery, and has since been involved in a number of community improvement projects.
While active, the Fund did not hold any formal occasions to mark their foundation, which led them to hold a “One-Year Kickoff” event to meet with some of the community’s greatest supporters.
The organization directors held a short social hour and meet-and-greet before settling down for a discussion about the purpose of the fund, and about ways they can make it have the most impact on the community.
“In 2020 Kathy Schlieve reached out to me because they were trying to get a Community Fund started because they had a local donor that wanted to donate some money to the city for a project,” Tyler Schultz said.
Tyler Schultz opened the event before turning it over to Adam Vande Slunt, one of the Community Fund directors.
“This is an exciting time,” Vande Slunt said. “It’s something that I had in the back of my mind for a while as to leave some sort of legacy for the community. Lots of neighboring communities have had them for a long time and they’ve been quite successful in giving back.”
Vande Slunt went on to explain the Fund’s long term and short term goals. The primary short term goal was to have $100,000 in the bank by the end of this year. While he mentioned that they had more than that in deposits, they had spent most of those funds on the special projects.
The way the Fund works is that contributors can either donate to a general “perpetual” fund or towards a special project. This would allow members to support projects they are passionate about and think need the support they otherwise won’t get.
The whole purpose of the Fund is to help improve the City of Waupun in as many ways as they can, and for members of the community today to leave a lasting impact on the home they live and love.
Mayor of Waupun Rohn Bishop was also in attendance, and spoke summarizing the importance of the Fund and the history behind philanthropy in the community.
“I think the whole way you sell this fund is the legacy aspect of it,” Mayor Bishop said. “Adam [Vande Slunt] made the comment that in 50 years no one is going to remember who you are. So who are the people in Waupun’s past that we remember who they are? The biggest name that comes to mind is Clarence Shaler. Why is he remembered? Because he gave so much back to the community. Everywhere you turn around his name is present because he did so much.”
Clarence Addison Shaler is one of Waupun’s greatest historical figures, having been at one time the second richest man in the State of Wisconsin. He built the Shaler Company in Waupun and donated a number of beautiful outdoor statues to the city, many of which he sculpted himself. He was also heavily involved in the creation of the Rock River Country Club, being an avid golfer in his time.
“The next person kind of like that could someday be Mike Werner, he did the donation to get this fund started with the street in the cemetery,” Mayor Bishop said. “But who wants to donate to a street in a cemetery? It’s kind of a weird thing, but it needed to be done and it was Mike’s thing. And the City stepped up and named the street after him so there’s a legacy thing in it, there’s a street named after him.”
“So who’s the next person in Waupun who wants to do something to leave their legacy behind? To say ‘I was here, I love this community and I was successful and want to leave this amount of money behind to leave my mark to make the city better,” he said. “Not so much to be full of themselves to have their name on it, but you want their name on it to honor the person who did it. And I think that’s where we can go next with this, which is like who’s going to be that next person who wants to be remembered?”
One major concern brought up at the meeting was how the Fund will be managed. Similar organizations in different cities often lose sight of their vision and become more concerned with growing their balance instead of giving back to the community. But the Waupun Community Fund hopes to avoid that fate, and be active in community investments and leaving a lasting impact on Waupun.
The Waupun Community Fund is managed in organization with the Fond du Lac Area Foundation, a non-for-profit dedicated to improving quality of life in the Fond du Lac region. The Beaver Dam Community Foundation is also under the same umbrella, and made a small donation to the Waupun Fine Arts Committee earlier this year.
Members of the community hoping to learn more about the Waupun Community Fund can reach out to the board of directors or visit their webpage here: https://fdlareafoundation.com/waupun-community-fund/
