Ted Roest

Ted Vander Roest served for many years as Executive Director of The Springfield Foundation, the community foundation that has "served the Clark County community since 1948." Under his leadership the Foundation grew into an institution stewarding over $110 million in charitable assets, raising and distributing permanent endowed funds to improve quality of life for residents of Clark County, Ohio. He was still leading the organization as of 2020–2022 and retired at the end of April 2022, at which point the board — after an executive search run by Benefactor Group that produced seven finalists — promoted internal candidate Susan Carey (previously Director of Grants and Scholarships) to succeed him.

Beyond grantmaking, Vander Roest was an active civic figure in downtown Springfield. He was one of the organizers of SpringForward, a nonprofit focused on downtown Springfield revitalization, and he was frequently cited by the *Springfield News-Sun* in coverage of community development and housing-development discussions. He participated in national philanthropy programming as well, including a National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP) Community Foundations Family Philanthropy Network discussion on "Working with Diverse Donors and Families" in May 2019.

Since retiring, he has remained visible in the community — for example, he was honored as a "Transplant Hero" at the City of Springfield Mayor's Breakfast (November 2024) and appeared at the Springfield Museum of Art's expansion celebration (January 2024). Detailed public records of his education and pre-Foundation career were not found in available sources and are omitted here rather than guessed.

• Vehicle is philanthropic, not venture: He directed charitable grants from endowed/donor funds, not seed-stage equity checks. Recipients are nonprofits, not for-profit startups.
• Six focus areas: The Foundation funds work in Arts & Culture; Civic Affairs; Education; Environment, Conservation & Animal Welfare; Health; and Human Services.
• Local and permanent: Mission is to "raise, strengthen, and distribute permanent charitable funds" for the benefit of Clark County and the surrounding region — a place-based, endowment-driven approach.
• Community-development bent: His personal engagement (SpringForward, downtown revitalization, housing proposals) signals a founder/organizer looking to catalyze civic and economic renewal in Springfield.
• Scale: Annual discretionary grant cycles in the high-six to seven figures (e.g., $834K, then $900K+, and $1.07M in 2025).