History

Stewart Martin and Jim Harrell in the late 90’s had established a foundation in Cotulla, the Brush Country & South Texas Community Foundation, with an initial donation from Rhoda Baylor, Jim’s mother. In 2002 they realized that it needed a broader base so they approached their former childhood friend from Cotulla, TAMIU President Ray M. Keck for his help. With assistance from TAMIU Institutional Advancement Vice President Candy Hein, a steering committee was created to join them with the endeavor: Clayton Baum, Tony Trevino, Joaquin Romero, Mario Gonzalez, and Nancy de Anda were added to the orginal group of four. The Texas Center for Border Economics and Enterprise Development at TAMIU under the direction of Dr. Michael Patrick and assistance of Richard Perez conducted a feasibility study of the philanthropic interest of this community and surrounding area.

With overwhelming positive results from the study, a Board of Directors was named and the Laredo Area Community Foundation was born in 2004. The Foundation became a member of the U.S. – Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership that assisted with operational and challenge grants. Thus, the Laredo Area Community Foundation diversified their leadership to represent our area, advanced issues beyond their original agendas, and mobilized a broader range of community assets.

The original Board of Directors included: Irving Greenblum, President; Nancy de Anda, Vice President; Richard Perez, Secretary; and Mario Gonzalez, Treasurer. Other board members were Alfonso Cuellar, Javier de Anda, William B. Green, James B. Harrell, Candy Hein, Barbara Kazen, Dr. Ray M. Keck, Stewart Martin, Joaquin Romero, Jr, Hank Sames, Robert H. Summers and Anthony Trevino Jr.

An office was established with Executive Director Patricia Guajardo and in 2005 a reception was held to kick off the inaugural donations and recognize Laredo’s local donors, Irving and Shirley Greenblum and Hank and Elizabeth Sames. When Elizabeth Sames became President in 2009 to the end of her term in 2015, she reorganized the office and ran its day to day operations on a voluntary basis. Thus, the foundation grew from $1.2 million to $8.9 million. Today, the Laredo Area Community Foundation is a strong viable institution that has positive and powerful impact on this community and its surrounding area and its mission has remained constant.

The Foundation’s primary function is to make local charitable giving easy. Donors are able to make gifts without the minutia of accounting, investing and disbursement of funds as well as filing IRS tax returns. The Foundation makes sure that the donor’s wishes are followed and provide services such as scholarship application review, grant review, etc. Donors receive personalized service with the greatest deduction rate allowed by IRS, plus the incomparable satisfaction of helping others in need. The LACF embraces the highest standards so that each donor can be confident that funds invested with LACF will be used for the purpose intended.

The Laredo Area Community Foundation’s board of Directors is made up of well-respected individuals and South Texas civic and community leaders who represent a diverse range of views, skills, backgrounds, and experiences. The all-volunteer LACF board members wholeheartedly believe in the Foundations mission and have a keen desire to affect positive change in their communities through charitable giving. The dynamic group of volunteers provide financial stewardship that drives the success of the LACF. They work throughout the year to stay informed about the needs in their community so that they can better connect donors to the services the LACF can provide.