Business & Merchant

Last Updated on Thursday, 30 January 2025 19:49

The Washington County Community Foundation (WCCF) announces the retirement of its President & CEO, Betsie Trew

Betsie Trew, retiring WCCF President & CEO.

She was recruited in 1998 as its first Executive Director when the Foundation had less than $250,000 in assets. In 2010, recognition of her successful efforts to grow the Foundation’s assets and establish its unquestionable community impact, she was named President & CEO. Under her leadership, the Foundation is recognized as one of the fastest growing community foundations in the country by CFLeads, the national network of community foundations. Cumulatively, the WCCF has awarded over $30 million in grants to local nonprofits and has assets of approximately $60 million.

“Betsie Trew has contributed to the community in ways few people have achieved in Washington County,” said Michael Anderson, Chairman of the Board of the WCCF. “She has left an indelible mark on the Foundation. We will always appreciate and honor her contributions to building the Foundation into the county’s foremost philanthropic organization.”

During her tenure, the WCCF was one of the first community foundations in the country to be approved for the National Standards for Community Foundations. It was her vision to initiate WCCF Gives, an annual community-wide giving event that supports over 100 local charities and has raised over $12 million over the past eleven years.

She facilitated the Foundation’s first real estate gift, the Samuel T. Brownlee House, a grand 1848 facility on the National Register of Historic Places, securing more than $1.5 million to rehabilitate the structure and build an endowment to maintain the building. The Foundation’s offices are located on the second floor of the Brownlee House, with period-accurate Scotch-Irish Heritage Rooms occupying on the first floor. A three-car garage has become the CARE Education Center.

Under Betsie Trew’s leadership, the Foundation created the Close to Home Disaster & Emergency Fund, which provided over $1 million in grants to local nonprofits working to address local emergencies, including the community impact of the COVID-19 virus. In 2023, she led the effort to create Community Snapshot, a web-based needs and assets database to educate Foundation donors and community leaders about the needs of the greater community, as well as the most pressing needs of individual nonprofits.

In retirement, Betsie looks forward to spending more time with her family and enjoying nature.