FUND FOR THE ARTS ANNOUNCES IT WILL EXCEED HIGHEST GOAL EVER OF $8,000,000; SIXTY-NINE NEW CORPORATE GIFTS AND SEVEN NEW EMPLOYEE CAMPAIGNS CONTRIBUTE TO SUCCESS!

Victory Celebration Set for Friday, June 29, 5:30 p.m., at Fourth Street Live

New Board Members and Officers Are Also Elected at 2007 Annual Meeting

Louisville, KY—At its annual meeting today, the Fund for the Arts made several major announcements including the highest fund raising campaign total ever in its history. A final campaign total will be publicly announced at the Fund for the Arts campaign celebration on Friday, June 29, 5:30 p.m,. at Fourth Street Live, however the total amount will be in excess of $8,000,000. The Fund for the Arts also announced its new board members and officers, appointing Philip R. McHugh, President and CEO of Fifth Third Bank (Louisville), as Campaign Chair for 2008 and re-appointing P. Richard Anderson as Board Chairman.

The 2007 Campaign Chair, Ronald P. Murphy, was also congratulated at the annual meeting for his achievements in leading an $8,000,000 plus fund raising campaign. “Working closely with Fund for the Arts Executive Vice President, Barbara Sexton Smith, Ron was instrumental in making numerous in-person fund raising calls throughout the campaign season and helped keep Fund for the Arts staff and employee campaign coordinators motivated and energized throughout the year,” explained Allan Cowen, President and CEO of the Fund for the Arts.

Campaign Success Continues Trend of Positive Growth

The Fund for the Arts received new gifts from four Foundations, sixty-nine corporations and seven first-time employee campaigns, along with major increases in employee/workplace campaigns from long-time supporters.

Highlights of the 2007 Fund for the Arts campaign include:

• Sixty-Nine New Corporate Gifts

Lead by gifts from SHPS and J.J.B. Hilliard Lyons, these new corporate donations helped the Fund for the Arts reach its ambitious goal. The Fund for the Arts NeXt young professionals association assisted in opening doors and soliciting many new contacts at the sixty-nine companies and organizations throughout the region.

• Four New Foundations Contributed to Total Dollars Raised

Fidelity Investments, Ameriprise Foundation, William Barth Foundation and the Crawford Foundation all made significant gifts to the Fund for the Arts for the first time in 2007. Long-time supporter, the Alcoa Foundation, doubled its gift from $10,000 to $20,000.

• Seven New Employee/Workplace Campaigns Raise New Campaign Dollars

New Employee/Workplace campaigns include Hospice & Palliative Care of Southern Indiana, King Southern Bank, Mainstream Investment Advisors, Merit Health System, River City Bank, SHPS, Inc., Turner Construction Company.

• 30th Anniversary Employee/Workplace Campaigns Highlights:

• Humana, Inc., the largest Fund for the Arts employee/workplace campaign, raised a total of $455,000+, a 23.4% increase over the previous year
• Brown-Forman raises a total of $355,000, using innovative events including a furniture, art and wine auction, to achieve a 9% increase from the previous year
• Republic Bank posts a 20% increase
• Chase employees raise $116,000
• U.S. Bank garners a 32% increase
• PNC achieves a 19% increase
• Central Bank generates a 133% increase
• Norton Healthcare raises $123,000, a $21,000 increase
• Louisville Urban League achieves a 49% increase
• HCA – NPAS exceeds its goal with a 69% increase
• Montgomery Chevrolet sees a 67% increase!

• American Commercial Lines posts a 20% increase
• Metro United Way reaches a 12% increase
• Actors Theatre employees achieve a 31% increase
• Stoll Keenon Ogden realizes an 85% increase
• The Metro Corrections Center was the #4 department in money raised for Metro Louisville

New Board Members and Officers Appointed

New members and officers elected to the Fund for the Arts Executive Committee include: P. Richard Anderson, Jr., Board Chair, Greenebaum Doll & McDonald, PLLC; Philip R. McHugh, 2008 Campaign Chair, Fifth Third Bank; Robert L. Shircliff, 2009 Campaign Chair, Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s HealthCare; Jonathan D. Goldberg, Secretary, Goldberg & Simpson, PSC; John H. Hawkins, Jr., Treasurer, Chair Finance Committee, Deloitte; Thelma B. Ferguson, Chair, Nominating Committee, Chase Kentucky; Carl M. Thomas, Chair, Compensation Committee, Gheens Foundation, Incorporated;  Norma Oberst, Co-Chair, Allocations Committee, Oberst Corporation; Sam Corbett, Co-Chair, Allocations Committee, Sam Meyers Formal Wear, Incorporated; Craig D. Grant, Co-Chair, Allocations Committee, PNC Bank; Benjamin K. Richmond, Chair, Community Development/Grants Committee, Louisville Urban League; Morton Boyd, Jr. Chair, Endowment, Gheens Foundation, Incorporated; Jonathan D. Blum, Member-at-Large, Yum!Brands, Incorporated; Owsley Brown II, Member-at-Large, Brown-Forman Corporation; David P. Calzi, Member-at-Large, Ernst & Young; C. Edward Glasscock, Member-at-Large, Frost Brown Todd, LLC; Marlene M. Grissom, Member-at-Large, Louisville Waterfront Development Corporation; David Klein, Member-at-Large, Ronald J. Murphy, Member-at-Large, The Glenview Trust Company; Robert W. Rounsavall III, Member-at-Large, Dixie Real Properties, LLC; Mary Lou Northern, Representative, Louisville Metro Government; Thomas T. Noland, Jr., Representative, Partnership for Creative Economies, Humana, Incorporated; and John P. Neary, Representative, NeXt, Humana Incorporated. 

At the Annual meeting, the Fund for the Arts also approved a slate of new members who will join its Board of Directors. These include: Angela Leet, Volunteer; Jacqueline D. Griffin, AEGON Institutional Markets; Deborah L. Moessner, Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield; Anthony L. Newberry, Kentucky Community and Technical College System; James R. Rucker, Commonwealth Bank & Trust Company; Terry Tyler, Mercer Human

Resource Consulting; Paul C. Varga, Brown-Forman Corporation; and William Yarmuth, Almost Family.

Victory Celebration Scheduled for Friday, June 29, 5:30 p.m., at Fourth Street Live!

The Fund for the Arts will celebrate its successes with the many company representatives and employees who helped contribute, through their volunteer efforts or their monetary donations, to the 2007 Fund for the Arts campaign. The presentation and performance will recognize and acknowledge outstanding volunteers, employee/workplace campaigns with significant increases, and the top employee/workplace campaigns. Entertainment for the celebration will include a live American Idol-style showcase, highlighting some of the best performances from employee/workplace Idol competitions from companies such as Yum! Brands, Humana, Brown-Forman, and the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD). Each will also have representative talent from their employee teams who will sing, dance and entertain an expected audience of 300-400 guests. The Victory Celebration event is free and open to the public, however, reservations should be made by calling the Fund for the Arts at (502) 582-0100 or by emailing awolfe@fundforthearts.com.

Fund for the Arts
Celebrating 30 Years of Employee/Workplace Giving to the Arts! The Fund for the Arts provides programming and administrative support to twenty-four member groups and programs, including grants to nearly 200 community organizations and schools, throughout the Louisville, Kentucky region. The Fund for the Arts is the oldest united arts fund in the country and has raised over $125 million in the community since its establishment in 1949. The Fund for the Arts receives partial funding from the Kentucky Arts Council, a state agency in the Commerce Cabinet with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.