Bonnie Gettys is the founding president of the Barry Community Foundation. Under her leadership, the foundation has grown from an initial investment of $350,000 to over more than $55 million under her watch.

Bonnie lives in Hastings, the County seat of Barry County, which has a population of nearly 60,000, and is nestled in between four urban cities: Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, and Lansing. Bonnie’s loves where she lives!

Bonnie’s passion is public speaking and training. She travels all over the United States to teach recruitment, retention, membership, volunteerism, leadership, and rural fund development to communities.

Bonnie formally served as co-chair of the Michigan Rural Philanthropy Affinity Group (managed and staffed by the Council of Michigan Foundations) and is chair of the Rural Partners of Michigan (managed & staffed by the CEDAM). Her current focus is on rural housing challenges.