Honoring Extraordinary Commitment to Improving Life in Winona

The Winona Community Foundation is proud to award an individual in the community who has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to improving life in the Winona area through the use of their time, talent and treasure. Individuals selected to receive the award will have the opportunity to grant dollars from the Founders Endowment Fund of the Winona Community Foundation to the charity of their choice.



Criteria

The Winona Community Foundation Founders Fund Award recognizes individuals who:

  • have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to improving life in the Winona area community through the use of their time, talent and treasure;

  • have recognized unmet needs and untapped opportunities to better our community;

  • have collaborated with others to create a vision of what could be, then motivated others within the community to take action towards pursuit of that vision;

  • serve as role models for others related to charitable activities & community projects;

  • advance philanthropic activities in the Winona area community.


Nominations are accepted from the Winona area community, with the recipients of the award selected by the Winona Community Foundation Board of Directors.

In order to avoid the appearance of bias, individuals currently running for or holding public office are ineligible. We also don’t allow current board members of the Winona Community Foundation to be nominated. 



Save the Date

  • 2025 Founders Event

  • Tuesday, October 14, 2025

  • 4 – 6 p.m.

  • Riverport Conference & Event Center (900 Bruski Dr., Winona)



History of the Award

Collage of previous award recipients

The Founders Award originated from the Founders Fund. This fund was  created in 2003 to honor all of the individuals who planted the seed for the start of the Winona Community Foundation in the 1980s. This endowed fund awards dollars to local non-profit chosen in the name of an individual or organization that clearly touched community life for all time. Past recipients of this award include:

  • 2024: BK5K Road Race Planning Committee

  • 2023: Jerry & Pat Papenfuss

  • 2022: Malia Fox

  • 2021: Phil Feiten, Community Leader

  • 2020: JC Pfeiffer, Community Leader

  • 2012: Patte Paterson, Past Board Member of the Winona Community Foundation

  • 2010: The Winona HIMS

  • 2008: Sue Cornwell, Community Leader & First President of WCF

  • 2007: Tim Burchill, Past Development Program Director at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota

  • 2005: Gloria Ames, Community Volunteer

  • 2004: Dr. Darrell Krueger, Winona State University, Past President & Louis De Thomasis, Saint Mary’s University, Past President

About the Winona Community Foundation

The Winona Community Foundation is a catalyst for igniting generosity and building the vibrant and enduring place we call home. The Foundation exists to support and build our community. We work with donors, nonprofits and professional advisors to meet immediate and long-term community needs through giving and granting. Our team of professionals are deeply familiar with the short-term, mid-term, and long-term needs of our community, as well as the nonprofits that are working to address those needs.

The Winona Community Foundation offers a range of charitable options and funds for individuals, families, businesses, and nonprofits to accomplish their philanthropic goals. As your trusted partner, resource, and steward for community philanthropy, the Foundation is committed to helping every individual give back in a way that is both meaningful to them and the causes they care about.

We strive to support and improve our community. We believe philanthropy has the power to transform lives and shape the future of our community and world. And, we believe everyone has the potential and capacity to be a philanthropist. With that as our guiding principle, we work to help people of all means improve our community and world – today and in the future.