About US!
History of the Foundation:
The Civitan International Foundation was formed in 1960 as a way for Civitan’s to make tax deductible contributions to Civitan International for the support of its projects. Civitan International’s founder, Courtney Shropshire, died shortly after its creation in 1965. Upon his death, the Foundation’s first official program, the Courtney W. Shropshire Memorial Scholarship Fund, was founded. Through the generosity of Civitans, thousands of students have been aided in the advancement of their education.
The Foundation first funded a wide range of projects in the 1960s, including work for Radio Free Europe, the American Red Cross, Boy Scouts of America, the American Heritage Foundation, the National Association of Retarded Children, the National Safety Council and Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge.
In the 70s, Civitan participated in President Ford’s program to resettle Vietnam refugees. They joined with the National Assocation for Retarded Citizens to promote awareness of mental retardation through a public information campaign. In 1973, the Civitan responded to the National Association for Retard Citizens need to respond to thousands of inquiries it received annually about services for retarded citizens. The Foundation made a $85,000 commitment to fund the Civitan Public Inquiry Program at NARC. By the late 1970s, the program had handled over 600,000 inquiries.
1979 began the Foundation’s support of the International Special Olympic Games. Civitan donated $500,000 and 50 volunteers for the 1979 games in Brockport, NY. In 1983, Civitan became a “prime sponsor” of the games in Baton Rouge, LA, donating almost $500,000 and providing hundreds of volunteers. Civitan. Civitan continued its support by providing half of the budget, and hundreds of volunteers for the 1987 and 1991 games.
In the 1980s, the Foundation began its support of the Osmond Foundation’s Children’s Miracle Network annual telethon. By 1987, it became the most successful telethon in the nation, due in part to Civitan volunteers and hundreds of thousands of dollars donated to the cause. In 1988, Junior Civitan’s alone raised over $100,000 for Children’s Miracle Network.
In 1988, Civitan’s Board decided to focus Civitan International’s resources on a flagship institution committed to providing clinical services and doing research in the area of developmental disabilities. After reviewing numerous proposals, the Flagship Study Committee voted unanimously to recommend the University of Alabama at Birmingham as the site of Civitan’s flagship institution, and the Civitan membership adopted the proposal at the 1989 international convention. The Civitan International Research Center was created with a 20 million dollar commitment by the Foundation. Since its founding, the Research Center has made many important discoveries, provided clinical services to children and adults with developmental disabilities, and used Civitan’s dollars to secure tens of millions of dollars in research and program grants.
While the Research Center continues as the Foundation’s flagship project, and Shropshire Scholarships are still extended to dozens of students each year, the Foundation’s role continues to evolve. New projects and programs are on the horizon, as the Foundation remains focused on supporting the educational, scientific and charitable endeavors of Civitan International.
