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Bertin C. Gamble and Philip W. Skogmo were boyhood pals and schoolmates in Arthur, North Dakota, in the early 1900's.In 1920 Gamble and Skogmo decided to make a boyhood dream a reality. They pooled their limited resources ($5,000 each), arranged for additional capital, and went into business together selling automobiles in Fergus Falls.
Eventually, the two partners owned both Dodge and Ford agencies. Because they could only afford one tow truck at first, one side of the truck was lettered SKOGMO DODGE and the other side GAMBLE FORD.
They soon discovered that the sale of auto parts and accessories was a real money maker in their car dealerships, and they opened the first Gamble Auto Supply store in St. Cloud in March 1925. They took in $250, the first day, and that was the start of success. By 1928 they had 55 stores, moved their headquarters to Minneapolis, and were off and running.
In 1948 Bert and Phil formed two family foundations, both of which focused on supporting youth, education, health, and religious organizations.
In 1982 the trustees of the two family foundations voted to combine and merge the Gamble and Skogmo foundations into one. The B.C. Gamble and P.W. Skogmo Foundation, with assets of $13 million at that time, was established as a supporting organization of The Minneapolis Foundation. Throughout its 10 year history as a supporting organization, the Foundation continued to give in the spirit of its founders in five focus areas: disadvantaged youth and families; disabled people; low-income senior citizens; secondary and higher education; and health care, research and education.
More than 1,000 grants were made by 1992, when the trustees of the Gamble-Skogmo foundation voted to terminate that entity, which today operates as a fund of The Minneapolis Foundation. Its grantmaking focus is on disadvantaged youth and families, people with disabilities, low-income senior citizen, secondary and higher education, and health care research and education.
Since 1992 the B.C. Gamble and P.W. Skogmo Fund has approved $23,784,212 in grants through May 2009.
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