Alan Ronk, executive director of Foundation for Roanoke Valley, projected a slide before an audience of about 400 people Thursday night at the Roanoke Civic Center Exhibit Hall.

It was a copy of the group's first financial statement, barely a half-dozen lines of splotchy photocopied text.

"We started 1989 with $139.84 in total assets," Ronk recalled. "We received a staggering $841.58 in new revenues. We spent $723.35.

"And I am proud to say we finished the year in the black with $258.07."

His recollection was part of a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the foundation, which creates and administers grants from endowment funds to offer long-term support to community organizations around the valley.

In the two decades since the foundation's modest initial statement rattled out of its dot-matrix printer, the group has established 236 separate funds across 10 counties.

In his presentation, Ronk underscored how far the organization has come in its time and announced that it has received more than $6 million in new contributions over the past fiscal year.

The foundation, he said, finished the year with more than $44 million in outright assets and continues to track about $72 million in future estate commitments.

That, he said, brings "the valley's support to ... over $116 million for our first two decades."

"Over the next 20 years, we expect to work with local families to put in place several hundred million dollars in new endowments."

Ronk presented a list of the group's 35 new funds, a number that exceeds last year's record-breaking total of 34.

"Amidst a very tough economic environment, Foundation for Roanoke Valley had another extraordinary year," said Nancy Agee, chairwoman of the foundation's board of governors.

That sense of prosperity extended to the foundation's grants program as well, and Ronk announced that it had exceeded $2.5 million in annual grants, which pushed its cumulative total above the $15 million mark.

Several high school students, members of the Youth Leadership Committee of the foundation's Philanthropy Project, also took the stage to introduce five incoming members to their committee and to announce grants awarded to local nonprofits, including Goodwill Industries of the Valley, Healing Strides of Virginia and Straight Street, among others.

The foundation's first 20 years behind it, Ronk closed the evening with a prediction for what he hoped would happen during the next 20.

"We will potentially award over $100 million in grants to support the work of local nonprofits and to help individuals and families," he declared.