Incourage is a community foundation that serves the South Wood County area.
We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, tax-exempt public charity that relies on the generosity, creativity and compassion of community members and donors to move our work forward.
We partner with individuals and organizations to support a community that works well for all people – led by values of equity, opportunity, and shared stewardship.
Through the generosity of charitable donations, we are uniquely positioned to establish, manage and grow a pool of funds that, in turn, are invested back to the community in the form of grants, scholarships, and financial support for a variety of projects and partnerships that benefit residents, organizations, our community, and beyond.
It all started with an idea from a local resident. Virginia Brazeau had big dreams – one of which included the creation of a community foundation for the benefit of the people of the greater south Wood County area, and ultimately the sustainability of a charitable organization that could help to meet the changing needs of the community.
Under the guidance of the initial Board of Directors (Virginia Brazeau, Jon Barsanti, and WIlliam Rieser), the South Wood County Community Foundation, now known as Incourage Community Foundation, was established in March of 1994.
Since its inception, Incourage has evolved in response to community need from a traditional grantmaker into a values-led, resident-centered and place-based organization stewarding and connecting all forms of resources or capital – moral, social, human, intellectual, reputational, financial and natural – toward a powerful shared vision: a community that works well for all people.
We operate from a central belief that people are our most important asset and positive community change happens when individuals have the opportunity to realize their full potential. Residents who feel a sense of ownership, shared responsibility and shared destiny by virtue of a shared place are essential in shaping healthy, sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
Explore 30 years of highlights with our comprehensive timeline from 1994 to 2024.
We envision a community that works well for all.
Equity
A community in which all can participate and prosper
Opportunity
Fair access and circumstances that enable everyone to pursue a healthy, fulfilling and productive life
Shared Stewardship
The commitment of all to grow and safeguard essential community assets – human, social, economic, cultural, environmental – for the common good
In working to create a more participatory culture and grow our economy, Incourage learned that residents have an appetite for change and are ready to help shape our community’s future. This was affirmed in a Community Survey conducted by Edge Research, when residents identified four community priorities:
We serve the south Wood County area, which reaches across many city limits and civic borders. Roughly, our service area (population 45,000) includes the areas in, around, and between the towns and cities of Wisconsin Rapids, Port Edwards, Nekoosa, Kellner, Grand Rapids, Biron, Rome, Rudolph, Pittsville, and Vesper.
Incourage is classified as a “community foundation” by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which means it is categorized as a “501(c)(3)” organization. This refers to the section of the federal tax code that also applies to many other 501(c)(3) organizations such as a YMCA or a Boys & Girls Club. There are two main types of 501(c)(3) organizations: public charities and private foundations. Community foundations are “public charities”, which means they can collect and hold donations from individuals, businesses, government sources, and other nonprofit organizations including private foundations.
Community foundations can invest the donations they receive and spend a defined percentage of the balance (often called an “endowment”), or they can spend the entire balance of a fund on programs and activities that primarily benefit the community – depending on the type of gift received. Programs and activities can be accomplished by Incourage directly delivering them, or by granting funds to others for them to deliver the programs and activities.
Like other 501(c)(3) organizations, a community foundation’s activities must promote purposes permitted by the IRS, including “charitable” and “educational” activities. Charitable activities have been defined by the IRS to include many different activities that make a community a good place to live – for example, teaching job skills, making people healthier by supporting recreational activities or increasing access to nutritional food, cleaning up the environment, or supporting a business that will create jobs in a place that has high unemployment.
Incourage receives its funding from many different sources, including local, regional, and national donors representing private, public, and philanthropic contributions. Most of the funding Incourage receives for its community work is in the form of donations, either as unrestricted gifts or through the establishment of a charitable fund for a specific purpose, including those designated to support Incourage operations. As of December 2024, approximately 96% of Incourage funds are designated for a specific purpose, with the remaining 4% undesignated, flexible and at the discretion of the Board of Directors to further Incourage’s mission/vision. Incourage also seeks and receives grant funding for its programs, earns income and gains/losses on its investments, receives rent from organizations sharing its building, and earns some revenue from delivering community programs.
Since its inception, Incourage has continually evolved to meet the changing needs of the community. Over the past decade, Incourage has learned that our community will be strongest if we focus on the many different kinds of assets we have here. We refer to these assets as different forms of “capital.” For example, in addition to financial capital, there is knowledge to share (intellectual capital), people with many talents and interests (human capital), interconnected networks of residents and support (social capital), an abundance of natural resources (natural capital), and recognition that decisions made about the future impact us all (moral capital).
We are working on ways to make sure that all of these forms of capital are used to the fullest extent possible to realize a community that works well for all. Some of this work is done by Incourage staff, some by community volunteers, and some through partnerships with area organizations and municipalities.
Along with continuously evaluating ways to use all of our capitals most strategically, we are also working to make sure that we are investing our funds for the longer term in ways that will most benefit our community (this is often referred to as 100% for Mission). This means that we may buy shares in a company that creates jobs in our area, invest in real estate that will provide value to our community, provide loans to organizations that relend the funds to create economic opportunity in a variety of ways and screen our investments to make sure that the kinds of businesses we support align with our vision and values as much as possible. Read our Investment Policy Statement Preamble for additional details.
Board members are not paid to serve Incourage. As a 501(c)(3) public charity, it is important that members of the public volunteer to serve and lead our Board of Directors. Because Board members have a range of responsibilities, from finance to programs to managing the Board itself, Incourage looks for Board members with a variety of areas of expertise. However, the central unifying criteria among all Incourage board members is a deep belief in Incourage’s vision and values. Sometimes Incourage recruits specific directors, while others have come forward themselves, often starting out on a committee or volunteering in some other way. The Board itself votes on new members and helps prepare them for, and orient them to, their important roles. Each Board member serves at least one term, ranging from one to three years, with a maximum service time of nine consecutive years.
Residents who feel a sense of ownership, shared responsibility and shared destiny by virtue of a shared place are essential in shaping healthy, sustainable and inclusive economic growth. We operate from a central belief that people are our most important asset and positive community change happens when individuals have the opportunity to realize their full potential.
We believe an informed and engaged community is a healthy community. To us, this means that residents must have open, civil space for authentic dialogue on issues that affect their lives and the lives of their families. No one knows this better than the residents themselves. Our commitment to this community is more than residents “being heard” – our commitment is to active listening and giving residents the opportunity for dialogue where various opinions and perspectives are respected, encouraged, and ultimately acted upon.
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