Culture Works is pleased to announce that for a second year, the organization is the recipient of a $100,000 challenge grant from The Harry A. Toulmin, Jr., and Virginia B. Toulmin Fund of The Dayton Foundation.  If Culture Works successfully secures a minimum of $100,000 through new and increased donations for the 2011-2012 Campaign for the Arts, the challenge grant will match the increased funding dollar-for-dollar.

“This provides an excellent incentive for new donors to participate in the Culture Works Campaign and achieve a 100 percent return on their investment,” said Alan Schaeffer, chair of the Culture Works Board of Trustees, “not to mention an opportunity for longtime supporters to leverage the impact of increased giving.”

During the 2010-2011 Campaign, Culture Works was successful in raising more than $100,000 in new money, allowing the organization to receive the matching funding provided by the 2010-2011 challenge grant. Culture Works hopes to build on last year’s success in 2011-2012 to ensure that the matching funding is again met.

“Culture Works is very grateful for the opportunity provided by this challenge grant,” said Culture Works President & CEO Martine Meredith Collier. “The Harry A. Toulmin, Jr., and Virginia B. Toulmin Fund of The Dayton Foundation has been very supportive of Culture Works and the entire Dayton cultural community.  Receiving this funding for a second year speaks greatly to an understanding of the important role that arts and culture plays in both economic development and quality of life in the Dayton region.”

In 2010, Virginia B. Toulmin gave a $26.4 million dollar legacy gift to The Dayton Foundation in her name and that of her late husband, Col. Harry A. Toulmin, Jr.  The gift is the largest single gift since the Foundation’s establishment in 1921.  Mrs. Toulmin had called Dayton home for over 41 years and said that she and her husband had a very happy and successful life here and wanted to give something back.

“Virginia Toulmin loved the performing arts,” said Michael M. Parks, president of The Dayton Foundation. “This grant from The Harry A. Toulmin Jr. and Virginia B. Toulmin Fund of The Dayton Foundation is a wonderful way to honor Virginia’s legacy and strengthen the organizations in our community that she cared about so deeply.”

“We are looking forward to a successful 2011-2012 Campaign that will enable us to increase the allocations we provide to Dayton arts organizations,” said Collier. “Culture Works will put every effort forward to meet this challenge and put this grant funding back out into the arts community.”