Kate Dabbs learned early lessons about sharing her skills to benefit others
Story by Lillia Callum-Penso
When she considers the idea of giving back, Kate Dabbs smiles and chuckles slightly. She never really thought a lot about it, but with the perspective that growing older brings, Dabbs understands things that weren’t as apparent before.
When Dabbs was 11, she recalls her grandparents donating the warehouse space that was part of the family’s food distribution business. They could have sold it but felt compelled to donate it to a local food bank. Her grandparents were not wealthy, Dabbs says, but they always saw fit to give what they could.
“You’re a steward of whatever money you’re given, or skills,” she says of the model set by her grandparents. “You always need to be generous in proportion to what you have, whatever that looks like. I think that’s the model they set.
Today, Dabbs, 38, is carrying forward a similar commitment to giving back and to supporting community through her work with the Community Foundation of Greenville. Over the past 15 years, she has worked in various capacities to help further the Foundation’s goal of being the bridge between philanthropy and purpose. That effort and commitment have earned her the Ruth Nicholson Award.
For Dabbs, the idea of giving back has evolved over time. Every step of her life has helped crystallize what it means to truly care for community.
While a student at Furman, Dabbs, who double majored in English and political science, had the chance to do a service-learning project with Greenville Forward. The experience turned into a job opportunity after college, and Dabbs, encouraged by Greenville Forward founder Russell Stall, joined the boards of a dozen local agencies and nonprofits, becoming intimately aware of their unique needs.
Dabbs and her husband made a commitment to follow the tenet of tithing to give back, not just to their church, but to the broader community.
Once she left Greenville Forward for a job at Furman University, Dabbs realized she had to decide where to devote her time and how she could make the biggest impact.
Kate Dabbs Community Foundation Partnership
Thus began her decade-plus partnership with the Community Foundation of Greenville. Over the years, Dabbs has worked in various capacities, but always leaning into her strengths: storytelling, strategizing, and organizing. She has served on the Community Foundation’s grants review committee and its public relations committee, and is currently chairing the Margaret Linder Southern Endowment Fund.
The rewards of giving have never dulled for her. “A lot of people think if they are not physically using their hands, they are not giving back,” Dabbs says. “There is a lot of opportunity for people to use their professional skills in ways that really benefit nonprofits.”
This tenet, she hopes, opens the philanthropy space to those who may be intimidated or may feel like what they can provide is not meaningful. The ability to support, to give, and to nurture community is as unique as each person’s individual talents.
As an adult, and now the mother of two children, ages 2 and 5, Dabbs has found even deeper meaning in the idea of supporting community, both in modeling the idea for her kids but also in how she devotes her time.
“I’m definitely a person who would rather go deep than wide,” she says.
“There probably never has been someone who has done as many different things as Kate has. . . . We don’t have that many people who understand the total of what we’re about and what we do, and she’s one of those people. She’s got a lot of perspective about the foundation and our work because of her history of being engaged with us.”
—Bob Morris, president of the Community Foundation of Greenville
