ALOG > About Us

“A Legacy of Giving invites students to get involved and give their time, talent, and treasure to improve and transform their communities. In Catholic schools, where service to others is the norm, it is important that we take the time to teach students about philanthropy.”

Ned F. Vanders, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Catholic Schools
Diocese of Austin, The Catholic Church of Central Texas

History of A Legacy of Giving

In the spring of 2006, the mission and vision for A Legacy of Giving grew out of an idea from a group of Austin champions of philanthropy, education, and business professionals. The founders recognized that philanthropy, as any important value, must be learned. They believed that incorporating philanthropy as part of the standard school curricula, targeting needs in the community, and sponsoring projects championed by students would provide the means for students to personally embrace philanthropy as an integral part of their lives.

A Legacy of Giving was officially established in August 2007 as an innovative education and service program under the Austin Community Foundation (ACF), a 501(c)(3) public charity.

In 2007, A Legacy of Giving officially affiliated with The LEAGUE, a national school program for service learning whose framework provides an ideal platform to build the next generation of civic leaders and advocates. Rather than creating its own curricula, A Legacy of Giving elected to leverage The LEAGUE’s web-based Learning to Give philanthropy curricula and service projects for grades K-12, knowing that it would meet state TEKS standards in Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, Math and the Arts.

In turn, A Legacy of Giving has proven to be an ideal national model and laboratory for The LEAGUE programming. A Legacy of Giving is the first organization selected to bring The LEAGUE model to Texas as the exclusive provider of their programming in the greater Austin area including the counties of Travis, Williamson, Hays, Burnet, Bastrop, Fayette, Caldwell, Blanco, and Bell.