Paula Fritz Eddy makes the nonprofit organizations she’s a part of better, from the inside out.
With a degree in human ecology and teaching certificate in home economics, but unable to secure a permanent teaching position after college, she served as a substitute teacher and worked summers at a resident Girl Scout camp in Warren. She was offered a full-time post after one of those summers and went on to work as field executive for Penn Lakes Girl Scouts Council recruiting, training and retaining volunteers in the Erie area for nearly a decade.
After that, Eddy was offered a position as executive director of the McKean, Cameron and Potter County units of the American Cancer Society, which brought her to Bradford. She served the American Cancer Society locally for 12 years, eventually being named income development director for its Northwest PA Region.
Now, she’s executive director of the Community Foundation of the Northern Alleghenies and its two affiliates, the McKean County and Elk County community foundations.
In this role, she oversees the foundations’ day-to-day operations including finances, programs, grant administration and asset development, reporting to the affiliate boards of directors as well as the parent board of trustees.
“It is exciting being involved with not only the donors who want to give back and make a difference in their community, but the grantees as they go through the grant writing process and then to see the success of their programs and projects,” Eddy said.
When Eddy started out with the Elk County Community Foundation in 2005, it claimed 39 funds and $2.5 million in assets.
Instrumental in the founding of the McKean County Community Foundation as an affiliate of the Community Foundation of the Northern Alleghenies, Eddy has facilitated its growth since its establishment at $100,000 in Kane funds transferred from ECCF, to $2.6 million in assets today. The two foundations currently boast more than 280 funds and $19 million in assets, combined.
“I absolutely love my job and love our mission,” Eddy said. “I am excited about the work we do in the communities that we serve.
“I love working with our special groups that include the Women’s Giving Circle in McKean County and the Women Who Care group in Elk. I have had the privilege to meet and help over 200 individuals and organizations fulfill their philanthropic goals. Every one of our donors has a different story and motivation for giving back to their community.”
Eddy, together with her family, is a donor who advises two funds — one with her siblings in Elk County, the Hal and Pauline Fritz Family Fund; and another in McKean County with her husband and stepdaughter, the Martha C. Eddy Memorial Scholarship Fund.
“The other part of the foundation’s work that I am in constant awe of is the overwhelming amount of support we have to provide to our youth as they embark on their education and training for their careers through our scholarship program,” she said.
While living in Bradford from 1991 to 2003, Eddy was a member of Zonta Club and its scholarship committee.
Currently she is a member of the Elk County Family Resource Networking Board and regularly attends McKean County Collaborative Board meetings, helping with communications and networking between area nonprofits. She represents small community foundations on the statewide Pennsylvania Community Foundation Association (PACFA).
Eddy can also be found volunteering for the Benedictine Gift Shop, St. Marys Catholic Church, Catholic Daughters of the Americas and Elk County Catholic school system. She is secretary/treasurer of Citizens Against Physical, Sexual and Emotional Abuse (CAPSEA) as well as its supporting organization the PEACE Foundation. From 2001 to 2020 she served on the board of Community Nurses Inc., for several years as its secretary.
Eddy said, “Being able to give back and help those in need has always fulfilled a personal goal and seeing those results is what motivates me to continue.”
