Scripps Howard Fund

NATIONAL PHILANTHROPY DAY 2025: Foundation of the Year

At Lincoln Heights Elementary, the excitement is hard to miss. Students dash between cases stacked with colorful books, eyes lighting up as they select titles to carry home at their free school book fair. 

For many, these books will become the first volumes in a personal library – 10 books each year, enough to generate a love of reading and boost school testing scores.

This moment is made possible by the Scripps Howard Fund’s “If You Give a Child a Book …” campaign, a signature program of the Cincinnati-based foundation, which champions journalism education, childhood literacy and vital local initiatives. 

The fund, created by The E.W. Scripps Company, invested nearly $10 million nationwide last year, including $1 million in Greater Cincinnati. That local impact has earned the organization Cincinnati Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Foundation of the Year award.

“This award is a reflection of the Scripps Howard Fund’s vision to uplift communities,” said President and CEO Meredith Delaney, who took the helm in 2024. “By championing book access and essential local programs focused on childhood literacy, the fund helps ensure underserved children in our community have the support they need to learn to read.”

Path shaped by literacy, philanthropy

Delaney’s career in philanthropy began at the University of Cincinnati Foundation, primarily with UC Blue Ash and UC Clermont, where she raised scholarship funds and worked closely with first-generation and returning students – many of whom had paused their education.

While these open-access campuses provide valuable community resources, they also show that many students who enroll are vastly academically underprepared, Delaney said. She recalled seeing students test at multiple grade levels below where they should have been.

“Somehow the system failed them,” Delaney said. That literacy gap shaped her understanding of the need for early intervention and ultimately drew her to the Scripps Howard Fund. She joined the fund in 2017 as director of development, later became director of philanthropic strategies and was promoted to lead the organization last year.

“It gave me chills,” she said of the job description. “I thought, ‘This is my opportunity to help on the front end.’ My goal became ensuring kids graduate with the foundational literacy skills needed to succeed at places like UC Blue Ash or UC Clermont.”

Partnerships enhance impact

That focus defines the fund’s approach to local giving. About $500,000 a year supports nonprofits working in literacy, tutoring, mentoring and afterschool education. 

Beyond the Greater Cincinnati grants, the fund’s “If You Give a Child a Book …” effort invests hundreds of thousands of dollars in its Greater Cincinnati Title I schools, giving students the ability to select their own books to build home libraries. Research shows that children in homes with 100 books, for instance, have a 90% chance of completing ninth grade, compared to 30% in bookless homes.

This year, the fund is projected to invest more than $1.8 million in Title I book fairs nationwide, pushing it closer to a milestone of distributing its 2 millionth book overall. At Lincoln Heights, Principal Dawn Bailey said students are reading more independently. 

“They’re making the connection between learning to read in class and enjoying books on their own,” she said of students in the school just north of downtown Cincinnati. The program also eases the financial burden that traditional book fairs often place on parents.

“I know our students look forward to the book fairs and get very excited when picking books,” Bailey added.

The fund also champions collaboration. It was an early supporter of the Queen City Book Bank, helping the nonprofit secure its West End warehouse and expand book access throughout the region. To date, it has partnered with QCBB on everything from supporting a summer reading program to physically distributing books to students through its curation program.

Book Bank CEO Michelle Otten Guenther referred to Delaney and her team as a “true partner in every sense of the word.”

“From the very beginning, they have championed our mission and share our belief that a strong literacy foundation is the key to lifelong opportunity,” Otten Guenther said.

It starts with a single book

At a time when nonprofit funding is increasingly uncertain, Delaney says the fund plays a critical role in filling gaps.

“Reliable funding streams that nonprofits used to count on have either become vulnerable or disappeared. And a gap in funding always equals a gap in services,” she said. “That’s why philanthropy and generosity are more critical than ever.”

That urgency led to a major change in 2022, when the Scripps Howard Foundation, a private foundation, formed the Scripps Howard Fund as a public charity to allow residents to offer support to programs like the book campaign.

“We’re unique because we’re tied to the Scripps and Howard families, the E.W. Scripps Company and to Cincinnati itself,” Delaney said. “We’re better when we’re working together – with other nonprofits, schools and communities. Winning this award highlights the power of that connection.”

The fund now operates in more than 40 Scripps markets across the country. Still, Cincinnati remains its anchor. Nearly 9% of all annual giving – more than $5 million in the last decade – has supported local initiatives.

For Delaney, the mission couldn’t be more personal. She calls her role her “dream job.” The moments that matter most, she says, are standing with a child picking out a book at a fair or hearing a young journalist talk about their newsroom experience.

“Those moments fill my bucket,” she said. “Sure, there are board meetings and what feels like endless calls, but every night when my head hits the pillow, I go to bed with a full heart. I have the best job in the world.”

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Association of Fundraising Professionals Cincinnati presents its annual National Philanthropy Day Luncheon, honoring Dianne and David Rosenberg, Barbara Weyand, Scripps Howard Fund, Impact 100, Zach McGinty and Jim Yunker. 

Thursday, Nov. 20, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Music Hall Ballroom

Movers & Makers is media sponsor.