The Dayton Foundation has topped $300 million in assets — reaching a new milestone and edging it closer to the top 5 percent of all community foundations in the country.

The Foundation has grown nearly 90-fold, from $3.7 million 25 years ago, to $329.6 million in assets under management at the close of 2006.

"This is an historic event in The Dayton Foundation's and the community's history," said Fred C. Setzer Jr., chairman of its governing board. "It says that philanthropy is alive and well in the Greater Dayton region."

Additionally, legacy gifts currently stand at $219 million.

The Foundation now has nearly 2,700 charitable funds — of which 223 were created last year.

Among them: The Vicki Pegg Safe Harbor Fund that will benefit the Artemis House, which provides emergency assistance to domestic violence victims and their children.

The former Montgomery County commissioner's friends helped her establish it when she opted to give to the community instead of receiving personal retirement gifts.

"I had recognized from the years on the commission that there was an area where public funds were just not available — when a woman found herself in a situation where she had to come up with a deposit on an apartment or needed emergency cash to establish a residence," said Pegg, who had founded the Family Violence Task Force. The new Safe Harbor fund will provide that kind of assistance.

Foundation president Michael Parks said the growth in assets means "donors' charitable gifts through the Foundation will continue to grow and improve the quality of life in our region."

The regional community foundation, established in 1921, invests and manages donors' charitable funds and distributes grants to charitable organizations throughout the Miami Valley.

Parks believes a number of factors contributed to the growth in assets last year — namely the strong stock market and the Foundation's partnership with the Dayton-Montgomery County Scholarship Program.

When the two joined efforts, the $14 million program became the Foundation's single largest fund.