In his will, Benjamin Franklin left $2,000 to the city of Philadelphia and $2,000 to the city of Boston with the direction that it could not be drawn on for 100 years and could not be distributed for 200 years. The funds were invested and after the first 100 years, the funds began making personal loans to the citizens of Philadelphia. After the 200 years were up, the State of Pennsylvania directed the money to be split between most of the community foundations in the state. Distributions from the Ben Franklin Fund at Centre Foundation are used to make grants to Centre, Clearfield, Huntingdon and Mifflin counties, benefiting Citizens of the Commonwealth and paid to qualified charities within the region. Grants from this fund are currently distributed as part of our competitive grants process.