Agency Fund Spotlight: La Crosse County Historical Society Endowments
August 21, 2020
 | By Jamie Schloegel, Chief Executive Officer |
La Crosse County Historical Society Endowments
Photo: Phil S Addis
La Crosse County Historical Society discovers, collects, preserves, and shares the history of La Crosse County. While the work of the organization today looks very different from when it first started in 1870 as the La Crosse County Pioneer Association, its commitment to enriching lives through engagement with the history of La Crosse County has been unwavering.
The La Crosse County Historical Society Endowment Fund was established in 1990 by bequests from Walter Sands, Clarence Smith, and Margaret Bott. Its distributions support the ongoing operations of the organization, which has grown to include archiving nearly 15,000 local artifacts, management of two museum locations with 3,000-plus annual visitors, and several annual events highlighting unique stories or periods of our local history.
“Our endowment funds at LCF ensure stability for the organization. You could say they ensure the region’s history for the future,” says Peggy Derrick, current executive director at the society. “Our board has selected LCF to administer our funds because we know they are trustworthy and are as 
committed to this community as we are.”
The society has since established two additional agency endowment funds at LCF, including the Anita and Robert Funke Historical Society Fund and a fund specifically for their Hixon House museum with gifts from Hixon family descendants.
More about agency funds:
Agency funds are a type of designated fund established by a nonprofit organization for its own benefit. Each year the nonprofit can choose to take the set distribution amount or continue to grow the fund with its annual earnings to eventually become a sustainable revenue stream.