Editor's note: This story initially appeared in the Spring/Summer 2022 issue of Duke Nursing magazine.

When their communities need help, alumni and friends of Duke University School of Nursing step up, whether that means providing direct nursing care or supporting other individuals or organizations providing care.

“The word that comes to mind is service,” says Ellen Donaldson, BSN’81. “As nurses, we provide such an amazing service to patients and their families and our colleagues in the health professions. Lots of times people who have that service mindset can go on to provide service to the communities in which they live.”

Donaldson worked for three years as an ICU nurse at Duke before moving north and transitioning to a corporate career, first in the pharmaceutical industry and then in medical communication. She sold her medical communication company in 2005 and a few years later, decided to make some changes. She wanted to be closer to her elderly parents in North Carolina, and she wanted to get involved in a local community.

“I wanted to give back because I’ve been so blessed,” she says. “I ended up retiring from corporate life and moving down to Davidson and starting a whole new life.”

She got involved right away, joining numerous local boards and committees, including the Town of Davidson Planning Board. The more she learned about the town’s needs and resources, the more she believed that the town needed a community foundation. That’s why she and a friend, Dave Cable, founded the Davidson Community Foundation, a donor-advised fund under the umbrella of the Foundation for the Carolinas.

The Davidson Community Foundation raises money and awards grants to local nonprofits that serve clients in need of support.

“Our idea is to not get a piece of the existing pie but rather to dramatically grow the pie through our leadership and engagement,” she says. “We help assess the need and galvanize the community around addressing those needs.”

She and Cable spent months interviewing community members, both philanthropists and those in need of philanthropy, before launching the foundation in April of 2020. Because of the timing, the initial three rounds of grants addressed the economic needs of families affected by the pandemic. The foundation raised $350,000, and, by giving grants to nonprofits, helped 230 families, totaling a little more than 750 individuals.

“None of the people we helped got evicted and none of the people had to default on their mortgage and everybody had food on the table and kept the utilities on,” she says.

The foundation also helped keep some local nonprofits afloat. Now the foundation is pivoting to focus on affordable housing. In particular, the foundation is working to support “naturally occurring affordable housing” in the historically African American West Davidson community. Many are seniors and own their homes but may not have the resources to make safety renovations and upgrades, such as getting the electrical wiring up to code. The foundation also plans to help increase the availability of affordable rental housing in Davidson, a college town of 15,000 that is one of the wealthiest towns in North Carolina.

“We want to help provide affordable housing, so the police officers and firefighters and teachers and nurses who serve us valiantly every day can afford to live in this college town,” Donaldson says.