Community West Foundation Board of Directors Spotlight: Amy McMaken

“I strongly believe in philanthropy and foundation work” says Amy McMaken. She became an active member of the Community West Foundation in 2017 and, just a year later, was invited to join the Board of Directors. “The more I found out about Community West Foundation, it was easy to say yes,” she admitted. Amy recently took on a leadership role within the Board as chairwoman of the Audit Committee and serves on the Grants Committee.

Amy grew up in St. Louis where most of her family still resides. She attended Georgetown University in Washington D.C. where she met her husband, Kurt. Amy graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, magna cum laude. After graduation, she worked as a Certified Public Accountant for many years before taking a break from her career to focus on their growing family.

Amy is dedicated to giving back to causes about which she is passionate. She is a long-time supporter of the Cleveland Public Library where she was on the Board of Trustees of their Friends group, including 3 years as President. She completed her Master of Library & Information Science degree at Kent State University in 2016 and worked for the Cleveland Public Library until 2019. “It’s a place I absolutely love. CPL’s Main Library and 27 branches within the city of Cleveland opened my eyes to the important work of community-building in the city.”

: Amy McMaken, right, with fellow Community West Foundation Board Member, Barbara Jaco-bus, left, and Caroline Merk, at the CWF Annual Meeting last fall.

: Amy McMaken on a site visit to the non-profit Community Corner, one of the St. Vincent de Paul Food Cen-ters.

Amy and Kurt live in Rocky River and have three teenage sons. She looks forward to leveraging her financial, analytical and research skills to support the efforts of the Community West Foundation.

Community West Foundation is dedicated to supporting organizations that provide the basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, and medical care in the greater Cleveland area. Originally known as the Fairview/Lutheran Foundation, Community West has been supporting these Cleveland Clinic hospitals as well as many community non-profit agencies through grantmaking since 1997. Under the guidance of the Board of Directors, Community West has grown its giving exponentially over the past 20 years. In 2019, Community West distributed $7M in grants.

Community West Foundation staff and Board of Directors are guided by the words in Matthew 25:40: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

For more information, contact Community West Foundation at 440-360-7370 or visit CommunityWestFoundation.org.