The Marietta Community Foundation was founded in 1974 and headed by the late Carl L. Broughton. The Foundation became relatively dormant before being reactivated in 1992 through a sizable gift from two former Marietta residents, Mary Carolyn McCoy Mildren and William E. Mildren Sr. They established a trust in memory of their late parents to be used as a challenge grant encouraging community leader Robert E. Kirkbride to revitalize the Foundation.

Under Kirkbride's supervision, a new Board of Governors was formed. In 1995, the Foundation received a bequest of $2.4 million from the late Lillian Strecker Smith. Although the J. Frank and Lillian S. Smith gift was unrestricted, it came with a strong directive that the Foundation focus on the needs of the elderly in the community as well as St. Mary's Catholic Parish and Marietta College. This exceptionally generous gift , along with many others to follow, provided the Foundation with unrestricted resources that makes it the envy of small community foundations everywhere. It also allows the Foundation to maintain its commitment of administering over 100 different funds without charging an administration fee.

Today, the Marietta Community Foundation has grown to nearly $10 million in assets and oversees more than 100 funds. More importantly, it has also distributed over $8 million to charities in the Mid-Ohio Valley since its creation.