Giving as a family affair

Rob Tracy is a “3g.” In Tracy family lingo, that means third generation.

At 27, he sits on the board of the Tracy Family Foundation with the “2gs,” or second generation board members. Created in 1997 with profits from a successful business founded by Robert and Dorothy Tracy, the nonprofit foundation now run by the Tracy offspring aims to improve the lives of people in the Mount Sterling area in west-central Illinois.

Rob Tracy, who is earning a master’s degree in business administration at the University of Denver, travels back to Illinois for annual board meetings and has conference calls with his uncles, aunts and cousins about once a month to discuss foundation business.

On the board, no one pulls rank, and the involvement of “3gs” is encouraged. “Everyone’s opinions are valued,” says Rob Tracy.

Robert and Dorothy Tracy had 12 children, raising their brood in Mount Sterling, where Robert Tracy started Dot Foods, a food redistribution company, in 1960. Today, the company is a major employer in the area, and those 12 children have 12 spouses, including Republican state Rep. Jil Tracy, and 47 kids.

In its first year, the Tracy Family Foundation gave $38,000 to charities. Last year, it gave just under $2 million in grants, says Jean Buckley, president of the board. This year the foundation will give away about $1.6 million, she says.

The foundation focuses on causes that benefit children, families and youth and is currently intent on improving area schools. The foundation has funded a consultant to help local public and private schools concentrate on the best teaching practices. Five years ago, the foundation and the company donated funds to build a YMCA in Mount Sterling.

Philip Krupps, executive vice president of Brown County State Bank in Mount Sterling, says the foundation also helped spur a movement in Brown County for a complete communitywide assessment.

“They were very proactive on addressing the issue, not just in a monetary sense, but really empowering people to see what lies ahead and how to handle it,” says Krupps, who is also president of the local United Way.

The Tracy family has an annual meeting at a hotel or a resort where members are updated on the business and the foundation. Pat Tracy, chairman of Dot foods and a foundation trustee, jokes that the family doesn’t torture anyone by making one person host the huge group of Tracys at his or her home. The board meetings are businesslike but filled with family banter.

“We’re kind of a process-oriented tribe. We follow processes like in the business,” says Pat Tracy. “We’ve always had a pretty informal air to our work together.”

Crystal Yednak

Illinois Issues, June 2009