Looking Back, Moving Forward: Connie Struebing
Photo Provided By Connie Struebing
Mason Beuhring, Communications & Program Services Director at Marietta Community Foundation, sits down with past Marietta Community Foundation Executive Directors to see how the past has influenced our present, and how it will shape our future.
Mason Beuhring: Good morning, Connie, I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me! What was your background before coming to Marietta Community Foundation?
Connie Struebing: I grew up outside of Buffalo, New York, and lived there until I moved away to attend Marietta College. Marietta had a strong pull for me, my father went to school there and my mother received an honorary degree because she put my father through college while he was in the service… that was one of the early degrees they gave out to women.
While attending Marietta College I met my husband, Andy. I received my degree from the college and started teaching in Marietta City Schools, where I taught for 11 years. Dora Jean Bumgarner, who was the superintendent for the schools, was also one of my professors. She told me to come to see her if I wanted a job after I graduated.
So, I went and saw her, was hired, and taught there until 1992.
MB: What happened in 1992?
CS: My husband was transferred to Kansas City, but we only lived out there for about 15 months. At that point our family was growing, we had three children when we moved back to Marietta.
MB: Were you able to step back into your previous role with the schools when you came back?
CS: As chance would have it, I was not able to get a job back in the City Schools, because there was a hiring freeze for anyone who had 10 or more years of experience. So I took a little time off, began to look for a job, and that is how I joined the Foundation.
MB: How did your background in education help you in your new position at the Foundation?
CS: It helped me in a couple of ways. For one, I was very in tune with the community. Through education, I knew a lot of people in the area… I had met a lot of families that would later show up in the Foundation. People like Betty Hadler, who was on our original Steering Committee, and Karen Osborne.
Also, it helped that I have a great love for learning. In the early days of the Foundation, I had to develop the information in written form and be able to educate the public on what the Foundation was… the Foundation wasn’t as well-known as is today. A part of my job was to raise awareness and educate others in the community.
MB: What was that process like?
CS: It was fun, but it was challenging. Luckily, I had great support from the board and the people around me. Bob Kirkbride, Bill Thompson, Teri Ann Zide, Jack Moberg, they were right there by my side… they were very active board members.
Bob taught me how to talk about the Foundation, Bill taught me how to write about the Foundation, Teri Ann helped me go from being an educator to a businesswoman, and Jack Moberg taught me how to comprehend the financials so I was able to speak intelligently with potential donors.
MB: It’s great to hear that many of the names you mentioned are still very much present in our work almost 30 years later! You were with the Foundation from 1995 through 1998, what are some of the highlights from your time at the Foundation?
CS: I know that when I started, we really focused on building the literature to be able to give to donors. I remember talking at a Rotary meeting of about 50 people, and my goal was to get them to understand that the Foundation had touched each of their lives in some way.
I had everyone in the audience stand up and I started listing names of the organization that had been touched by the Foundation. I said I wanted them to sit down when I named an organization that meant something to them or if they had a direct link to it.
I started with the O’Neill Senior Center and some of the smaller organizations, and a few people would sit down here and there. I got to the end and the last organization that I named was the library, and everyone left standing sat down.
It was a moment when I thought that this really does affect everyone in our area in some shape or form.
MB: As the Executive Director of the Foundation, what did you focus on to take the Foundation to the next level?
CS: Initially, I wanted to get a grant process started for the community. I felt it would help the Foundation get more of a spotlight and people would be more aware of it. I knew it would also help us talk to donors and make them want to give to the Foundation.
MB: And, it obviously worked! I recently found a Q&A article with you, written by the Marietta Times, back in 1998. In the article, you mention that at the time the Foundation had 25 funds, assets were at $4 million, and the grants given out to the community totaled up to $200,000.
How does it feel to know that because of the work you and others put in, we now manage over 300 funds, our assets are over $40 million, and our total grants given to the community are now over $22 million?
CS: I feel very honored to have been a part of an organization that takes its stewardship so seriously, and focuses on giving back to the area it serves. I think that we tried to build trust early on in the organization and that trust continues to this day.
It’s a vehicle to support the area that many many people love, and I am happy to see it still has its finger on the pulse of this community.
MB: If there is one thing from your experience with the Foundation, even years after the fact, that you would want people to know, what would that be?
CS: Every donation, no matter the size, can really make a difference. The grants that Marietta Community Foundation makes really address the causes and not the symptoms in the community.
MB: Connie, thank you for speaking with me! It’s been great to look at the beginning years of the Foundation, knowing where we are today.
New installments for our Executive Director Series will be published throughout 2021. Follow us on Social Media to make sure you don’t miss the first-hand accounts of the Foundation’s history, told by the people who were there! Click the button below!
