A PROFILE IN GIVING: Doug + Nancy Hindman

A Growing Legacy Rooted in Berea

Doug and Nancy Hindman led a life of service in Madison County, where their work, volunteerism and generosity are still felt today. Thanks to funds established at Blue Grass Community Foundation, that legacy is firmly planted in the community they loved while continuing to grow for generations to come.

Education, community, environmental stewardship and opportunity shaped Doug’s and Nancy’s lives. Those values guided how they spent their time, how they served others and how they chose to give.

Doug taught psychology at Eastern Kentucky University for 30 years. Nancy directed a student support services program, helping thousands of first-generation college students stay on the path to a degree. After retirement, hey moved to Berea, where they remained active through volunteer work and nonprofit leadership.

When Doug and Nancy connected with BGCF and its local geographic component fund, the Madison County Community Fund (MCCF), they found a meaningful way to turn their values into long-lasting action. Nancy served on MCCF’s founding board of advisors and helped launch this permanent source of local support. Together, she and Doug also opened the Stewart-Hindman Donor Advised Fund to support the causes they cared about most.

“We like the flexibility of a donor advised fund,” Doug said in BGCF’s 2006 Annual Report. “It allows us to recommend grants to a variety of local community groups. And the Foundation reduces the hassle factor tremendously. Now we’re able to concentrate on giving without worrying about administrative details.”

“The Community Foundation has made it possible for us to support the many charities and causes we care about,” Nancy agreed. “It’s been the perfect choice for us.”

Their generosity also reflected Nancy’s deep connection to family and education. In 2002, she established the Robert Marion and Ethel Keolker Stewart Scholarship Fund in honor of her parents, both 1935 graduates of Salem High School in Salem, Illinois. The scholarship fund supports graduating seniors from Salem Community High School who plan to attend an accredited college. To date, the scholarship has awarded $85,000 to 22 students.

Doug and Nancy also planned carefully for the future of their philanthropy. Through a legacy fund agreement, their donor advised fund would become an endowed field-of-interest fund focused on two priorities: addressing poverty in Appalachian Kentucky and supporting environmental causes across the state.

Nancy passed in 2020, and Doug followed in 2023. But because they planned for the future, their generosity continues to meet real needs today. A $40,000 grant went to Sustainable Berea, an organization they supported for years. When SNAP benefits expired in November 2025, BGCF activated the Stewart-Hindman Fund as part of a $187,000 response supporting food pantries and hunger-relief programs across its 16-county region, including God’s Food Pantry.

The charitable legacy they planted in Madison County continues to flourish in the students who receive support, the organizations they believed in and the communities they helped strengthen. Their generosity is still growing— and it will for generations to come.

You can do the same. An endowed fund at BGCF can turn your values into a permanent force for good in your community and beyond.

Whether you care about education, the environment, hunger relief or something else meaningful to your own story, we can help you build a legacy that lasts.