Karen Bilowith: President
Erie, PA – Karen Bilowith has been named President of The Erie Community Foundation. With over 20 years of experience in philanthropic and nonprofit leadership, Bilowith has a track record in leading community foundations to address shared issues through thoughtful philanthropy.
Bilowith is currently President and CEO of the Idaho Community Foundation, a statewide public charitable foundation with more than $218 million in assets and 640 individual funds providing grants in every county in Idaho. Previously, she was President and CEO of the Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region in Albany, NY and has also held an executive position with United Way of the Greater Capital Region in upstate NY.
Bilowith serves on the boards of Philanthropy Northwest, the Idaho Nonprofit Center, the International Women’s Forum Idaho Chapter and is a member of Idaho Women’s Charitable Foundation. Formerly, she was appointed to NY Governor Cuomo’s Capital Region Economic Development Council and the Saratoga-Capital District Park, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commission.
In the past five years, the Foundation has averaged $21.3 million annually in new gifts and $19.9 million in annual grantmaking, and has worked closely with corporate and civic leadership to raise $27 million in start-up funding to transform the downtown area, while also strengthening adjacent neighborhoods. It has led the effort to establish a community college, a center city Innovation District and the Magee-Women’s Research Institute in Erie, a $26 million medical research facility that represents a unique partnership of UPMC Hamot, a 423-bed hospital, and Penn State University, the Behrend Campus. Currently, the Foundation is home to over 850 endowments and scholarship funds valued at over $335M.
