Greater Seymour Trust Fund

The Greater Seymour Trust Fund operates less like a typical open-door foundation and more like a hyper-local trust with two distinct giving tracks run through JCBank as corporate trustee: individual scholarships (distributed through 57 named component funds under the General Fund) and Special Grants to 501(c)(3) organizations located within the City of Seymour. Governance sits with a Board of Managers composed of the Mayor of Seymour, four at-large community members, and two JCBank officers (the President/CEO and Senior Vice President of Wealth Management) — meaning both City Hall and the bank's wealth-management arm shape every allocation decision. Crucially, the trust states plainly that unsolicited requests cannot be accepted; organizations must watch local papers and the trust's own site for an annual notice before a funding window opens, which sets this funder apart from foundations that accept applications on a rolling or published-deadline basis. First-time applicants should understand that most giving flows through purpose-restricted, named funds rather than a general discretionary pool — for example, the Fredrick H. Kasting Fund distributes fixed annual amounts to only two pre-designated beneficiaries (Developmental Services, Inc. and the American Cancer Society of Jackson County), meaning some of the trust's 57 funds are effectively closed to new applicants regardless of the general cycle. Historical grantee data bears this out: 990 filings show disbursements aggregated into rolled-up statements (for example, $649,784 across two scholarship-fund line items and $493,124 across two youth/civic/health/religious/education line items) rather than itemized per-recipient detail, consistent with an administratively lean trust that channels most dollars through pre-set funds instead of a formal competitive RFP. A representative filing shows $331,662 spread across 193 individual scholarships alongside a handful of discrete, purpose-tied Special Grants — $35,000 in three tranches to Davidson United Methodist Church, $25,000 to Exhibit Columbus for community design programming, and $15,000 in two tranches to the Ada Jenkins Center for education and community guidance. The clear takeaway for grant seekers: this is a relationship- and geography-driven funder that rewards specific, modest, well-justified requests tied to a named fund's purpose, not broad general-operating appeals from outside Jackson County, Indiana.

Total assets stood at $12,739,945 in the FY2024 filing, though the trust's own site now states assets of 'over $17 million' as of 2026 — a roughly one-third jump that likely reflects new gifts (such as the 2025 Kirsten Lynn Nolan Nursing Scholarship Fund) rather than investment performance alone. Total giving has stayed in a relatively narrow band over the past five reported years: $731,544 (2019), $763,055 (2020), $925,750 (2021, the peak), $763,548 (2022), and $815,509 (2023) — no strong upward trend despite rising assets. The narrower 'grants paid' line shows a similar pattern: $495,163 (2019) to $524,637 (2023), peaking at $620,362 in 2021. The typical_grant_size field in the data (median $167,000, range $6,264-$338,318) reflects only three large aggregated 990 statement line items and should not guide applicants on realistic award size. Real-world 2025 figures are far more instructive: 136 scholarships totaling $451,698 (average $3,321 per scholarship) and 16 special grants totaling $23,000 (average just $1,437 per grant), plus roughly $249,000 in separately reported designated gifts to local and non-local organizations — putting total 2025 disbursement near $724,000. By program mix, one representative filing shows scholarships/education absorbing about 82% of itemized Special Grant + scholarship spending ($331,662 of $406,662), with the remainder split across religious (Davidson United Methodist Church), arts/civic (Exhibit Columbus), and human-services (Ada Jenkins Center) purposes. The trust is heavily investment-income-funded rather than donation-driven in most years: net investment income was $571,474 (2023), $767,657 (2022), and $582,572 (2021), while new contributions received were modest ($177,288 in 2023, just $39,390 in 2022) except for an outlier $2,270,340 gift in 2013. Trustee (JCBank) compensation has risen steadily alongside assets under management, from $87,417 in 2013 to $214,503 in 2023. Geographically, virtually all documented and web-confirmed activity is concentrated in Seymour and Jackson County, Indiana; the database's secondary 'KS' geographic tag appears to be a data artifact with no supporting grantee, news, or filing evidence.

Greater Seymour Trust Fund is both the smallest by assets and the most restrictive by process among these four Indiana funders serving overlapping or adjacent counties — even its same-county peer, the Community Foundation of Jackson County, holds twice the assets and runs a conventional open grant process. Where Bartholomew County's Heritage Fund and Johnson County Community Foundation operate at $3M-$6.5M in annual giving with hundreds of grants, GSTF's per-grant amounts (often under $5,000 for Special Grants) reflect a much smaller, tightly targeted funder better suited to individual scholarship seekers and small Seymour-based nonprofits than to organizations seeking large general-operating support.

The most notable recent development is the February 2025 announcement (reported by the Seymour Tribune) of the Kirsten Lynn Nolan Nursing Scholarship Fund, established by the family of Roger Nolan through JCBank as trustee, for graduating Seymour High School seniors pursuing undergraduate nursing degrees — the newest addition to the trust's 57 component funds. For the year ending June 30, 2025, the trust reported disbursing $451,698 across 136 scholarships (both new high school graduates and adults continuing their education), $23,000 in special grants to 16 Jackson County organizations, and approximately $249,000 in additional designated gifts to local and non-local community organizations — combined disbursement of roughly $724,000, in line with the trust's five-year historical band of $731K-$926K in total annual giving. No leadership or governance changes surfaced in web research; the Board of Managers structure (Mayor of Seymour, four at-large community members, and two JCBank officers) appears stable. The trust's operating rhythm is consistent year over year: the Board of Managers meets each November to review investment performance and set the following year's scholarship and grant allocations, with a Special Grants Reception held in the first quarter to formally award funds to recipients. No major capital campaigns, executive transitions, or strategic-priority pivots were identified beyond the incremental growth of component funds.

Because Greater Seymour Trust Fund does not accept unsolicited requests, the single most important tip is timing: monitor greaterseymourtrustfund.org and the Seymour Tribune in the fall, since the Board of Managers sets the coming year's allocation each November and a Special Grants Reception follows in Q1. Reach out directly to the trust office (812-524-4411, PO Box 1001, Seymour, IN 47274) ahead of that cycle to confirm whether your organization or scholarship category is currently open — cold applications outside an announced window will not be considered. For scholarships, prepare every required document before starting the online portal, since it cannot be saved mid-session: the first page of Form 1040 (or FAFSA confirmation), a current high school transcript, and a personal letter. Because financial need is explicitly weighted above GPA in review, the personal letter should lead with a clear, specific need narrative — how the applicant is contributing financially to their own education, what the scholarship would mean concretely, and how career/education goals connect to that need — rather than an achievement-focused essay. Deadlines are strict: submissions close at 11:59 PM EST on the due date, sliding to the following Monday only if the deadline itself falls on a weekend. For Special Grants, the eligibility bar is narrower than many applicants expect — the 501(c)(3) must be located within the City of Seymour itself, not simply Jackson County, so county-wide or regional nonprofits based outside city limits should verify eligibility before applying. Because several of the trust's 57 component funds have fixed, pre-designated beneficiaries (for example, the Fredrick H. Kasting Fund splits automatically between Developmental Services, Inc. and the American Cancer Society of Jackson County), applicants should review the published fund list to identify which funds are genuinely open to new requests versus structurally closed. Given that 2025 special grants averaged just $1,437 per organization, request amounts should be modest and tied to a specific, describable purpose — historical grants of $15,000-$35,000 to organizations like Davidson United Methodist Church and Exhibit Columbus were paid in defined tranches for named projects, not as unrestricted general support. Building familiarity with JCBank's Wealth Management team and the Mayor of Seymour's office — both represented on the Board of Managers — is a legitimate relationship-building step given the trust's small, locally governed structure.