Newlsetter Spring 2017

the community foundation of western north carolina PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Spring 2017

Since we moved into our new offices more than three years ago, CFWNC has been adding local artwork to our walls. The most recent acquisition was commissioned from Burnsville nature painter Robert Johnson. After talking with us about our work and the region we serve, Johnson created a quilt painting called Communities of Western North Carolina (detail above and full painting on newsletter back).

Johnson spent the month of September traveling, hiking and sketching the counties CFWNC serves. The resulting work is based on the design of a quilt with squares representing twelve unique plant communities.

Johnson said, “Unlike a typical quilt pattern where each square is distinctly separate, I have made the edges overlap just like one sees in nature. A map of the counties served is outlined on top so that the painting shows both the communities of people and the communities of plants.”

To me, the painting represents the way that CFWNC strives to operate in the region. Our collaborative work crosses borders. Through our competitive grant programs and focus area work, we make grants to nonprofits that build partnerships and share best practices. We seek to highlight the things we have in common. We recognize that there is strength in working together and working across lines.

In this newsletter, we report on more than $460,000 in recent focus area grants. Strength through partnerships is exemplified by many of these grants. Through our Food and Farming grants, schools, land trusts, aggregation centers, food hubs, food pantries and farmers work to eliminate duplication of efforts. Together, they are building a network of food producers, distributors and educators to ensure a safe, affordable and plentiful source of local nutrition.

An Early Childhood Development (ECD) grant funded a partnership between Smart Start and United Way to improve outcomes for young children in Transylvania County. Another ECD grant was made to five collaborating organizations working to improve access to quality, affordable early childhood education in Western North Carolina.

The Homebase project at Western Carolina University (WCU) is a joint effort of Baptist Children’s Homes and WCU to provide support to some of the most vulnerable students on campus (see page 3). An empty building has become a hub of community and resources with the potential to transform lives through education.

Jordan Ahlers of Blue Spiral 1 and Elizabeth Brazas installing the painting in the Cooper Community Room.

Photo courtesy of CFWNC.

It is exciting to see the Women for Women giving circle planning for a 2018 high impact grant that has partnership and collaboration at its core (see page 6). The giving circle exists because generous women band together to help other women and girls.

Supporting this collaborative work is a crucial role for The Community Foundation. As an organization, we accomplish more because we partner with our fundholders who co-invest with us in grants as well as provide generous direct nonprofit support through their donor advised funds. Private foundations continue to seek us out as a resource for their grantmaking, and we are happy to support them in achieving their charitable goals across our region.

The Johnson painting represents diverse communities of plants and people.

There are differences amongst counties, and there is an urban versus rural divide in our service area. But at a time when rancor and division often seem insurmountable, nature can remind us that lines and borders can be crossed and that there is common ground. It is what we share and how we work together that makes us stronger.

POWER OF THE PURSE®

Power of the Purse® to feature Doris Kearns Goodwin Doris Kearns Goodwin, declared the United States’ “Historian-in-chief” by New York magazine, is the keynote speaker for the sold-out 13th annual Power of the Purse® taking place May 23. Response to this year’s event was extraordinary, with reservations selling out in record time.

A renowned presidential biographer and award-winning author, Goodwin earned a Pulitzer Prize for her book No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II and the Carnegie Medal for The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and the Golden Age of Journalism. Steven Spielberg has acquired the film and television rights to The Bully Pulpit. He and Goodwin previously worked together on his 2012 film Lincoln that was nominated for twelve Academy Awards.

Goodwin received a Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University where she went on to teach. At the age of 24, Goodwin became a White House Fellow, working with President Lyndon B. Johnson. She served as an assistant to President Johnson in his last year in the White House and later assisted him in the preparation of his memoirs.

Goodwin appears frequently on NBC, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, CNN, The Charlie Rose Show and Meet the Press, as well as satirical news shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

Continued on page 7.

Masthead photo: Robert Johnson’s Communities of Western North Carolina (detail), oil on canvas, photo courtesy of Blue Spiral 1.

Doris Kearns Goodwin

FOCUS AREA GRANTS

$460,450 in Focus Area Grants Awarded Thirteen focus area grants totaling $460,450 were recently approved to support regional projects in People in Need, Early Childhood Development, Natural and Cultural Resources, and Food and Farming.

The Foundation’s focus areas were identified to benefit the region and enable the Foundation to work strategically and deeply in specified areas. Grants are made through significant staff collaboration with regional nonprofits to identify funding opportunities. The following grants were approved by the Foundation’s Board on February 22.

OnTrack Financial Education and Counseling was awarded $8,640 in People in Need funds to match savings account deposits made by 81 participants in a pilot financial education program. In May 2016, OnTrack was one of three organizations that partnered with CFWNC to implement a proactive investment in asset building specifically intended to help low-income people build a savings reserve for emergencies. Initially, CFWNC awarded $50,000 to help 60 low-income participants gain knowledge and tools for financial management while establishing a savings habit and accumulating emergency savings through a 3:1 matched-savings program. Enrollment exceeded expectations, and this additional funding ensured a match for all participants who successfully completed the program. The savings have helped families with debt reduction, transportation, housing, education and more.

Early Childhood Development - $175,000

Through grants for evidence-based programs, community awareness and advocacy in Early Childhood Development, the Foundation seeks to help young children reach their full potential.

Smart Start of Transylvania County was awarded $100,000 over two years to partner with the United Way of Transylvania County to implement the Smartly United Early Childhood Collective, a collective impact model for addressing early childhood opportunities in Transylvania County that will improve outcomes for children and improve the quality of care. The June Litchfield Charitable Fund partnered with CFWNC to fund this grant.

Southwestern Child Development Commission received $75,000 for 2017-18 for continued planning and work to educate and engage stakeholders about improving access to quality, affordable early childhood education in WNC. Funds will be shared with four organizations: Children First/ Communities In Schools of Buncombe County, Verner Center for Early Learning, Children & Family Resource Center of Henderson County and Pisgah Legal Services. The Wasson - Stowe Charitable Fund and the Dogwood Charitable Endowment Fund partnered with CFWNC to fund this grant.

Natural and Cultural Resources - $108,000

Grants in Natural and Cultural Resources aim to protect and enhance the health of the region’s natural systems and support and develop the region’s arts-based economy.

Asheville Museum of Science (AMOS) was awarded $8,000 to develop a series of four video vignettes that orient museum visitors to Western North Carolina’s unique geological, ecological and cultural settings. Through a regionally-focused museum, AMOS wants to educate and inspire residents and tourists to celebrate and protect WNC’s natural landscapes. The Peterson Endowment Fund and Riverbend Fund partnered with CFWNC to fund this grant.

Carolina Public Press received $20,000 to provide in-depth, investigative and explanatory journalism on the present and future of the more than 1.1 million acres of national forests spanning WNC in a public awareness effort to inform and engage readers on one of the top issues facing the region.

In-depth stories will offer balanced reporting on the cultural, environmental and economic impacts of the region’s forests.

Madison County was awarded $50,000 over five years to create an art sculpture park along the greenway in Mars Hill. The Manufacturing Art Park will create an outdoor art gallery to enliven the rural landscape, create a dynamic visual experience for residents and visitors, create more venues for public art in Madison County and connect a manufacturing history to an economic development future.

NC International Folk Festival/Folkmoot received $30,000 for the continuing development of the Folkmoot Center as a Multi-Cultural Exchange location (see page 4). New programming supports sustainability, encourages community dialogue and includes a regional conference on increasing awareness of cultural disenfranchisement. The Mountain Jewell Fund and the J. Aaron and Adora H. Prevost Endowment Fund/The Fund for Haywood County partnered with CFWNC to fund this grant.

McDowell County NC Cooperative Extension was awarded a $20,000 Food and Farming grant to support planning for a community food and health hub in McDowell County. Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust matched the funding with another $20,000. The hub will be a place and a system to support farmers, provide greater access to food and promote healthier living and eating. The facility will provide farmers with equipment to wash, pack, temporarily store and distribute produce as well as a warehouse and distribution center for donated food from MANNA FoodBank and other sources for pantries throughout the county. In addition, it may include a commercial kitchen, teaching kitchen, classrooms and community meeting space. The proposed site is the former Spectrum Dyed Yarns plant.

Photo courtesy of Jim Burgin.

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CFWNC and the Black Mountain – Swannanoa Valley Endowment Fund awarded Bounty & Soul a $20,000 People in Need grant to expand programming that incorporates an integrative approach to health and wellness to educate the community on nutrition, self care, physical exercise and positive mental and emotional practices. Bounty & Soul works to create healthier communities by providing fresh healthy food, nutrition literacy and health and wellness resources for disadvantaged people.

Photo courtesy of Bounty & Soul.

FOCUS AREA GRANTS

Food and Farming - $168,810

Grants increase opportunities for local farmers and food entrepreneurs who support the sustainability and profitability of WNC farms and address regional food insecurity and nutrition.

Bountiful Cities, serving as fiscal agent for the Asheville Buncombe Food Policy Council, was awarded $24,650 to support the Fair Food Network’s Double Up Food Bucks Pilot Project in Asheville and Buncombe County. The program increases local growers' produce sales by providing a 1:1 match when produce is purchased with SNAP dollars, and increases consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables by low-income shoppers. The Ken Hughes Charitable Fund and Riverbend Fund partnered with CFWNC to fund this grant.

The Organic Growers School was awarded $25,000 to support programs for farmers that will increase the number of successful beginning and expanding organic farmers in WNC and directly address the needs of the farming community. Training and support are offered and include practical skills and farmer-led, farmer-driven and strategically-aligned support services.

Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy was Bowditch Bottoms farm in Yancey County has been saved from development and placed into production through private philanthropy and represents a new approach to making agricultural land accessible to local farmers in areas awarded $29,500 to grow the local food economy where land prices have soared. TRACTOR entered into a long-term partnership with Bowditch Bottoms to farm by expanding its agricultural business incubator for the acreage. beginning farmers and its hands-on educational Photo courtesy of CFWNC. workshop series at the Incubator Farm in Alexander.

The funds will match and be leveraged by the USDA Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program grant and cover staff, as well as modest equipment, infrastructure and training costs. The Dogwood Charitable Endowment Fund partnered with CFWNC to fund this grant.

Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, serving as fiscal agent for WNC FarmLink, received $16,000 to support WNC FarmLink, a program to facilitate strong relationships between farmers looking for land to farm and landowners aspiring to keep their farms and forest land in agriculture.

Southwestern NC Resource Conservation and Development Council was awarded $24,000 for farm assessments to maximize opportunities for 65 farms in a 7-county area, including Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians tribal farms. Programs may include community college agriculture business classes, an Appalachian Farm School, a Rural Food Business Assistance Project and intensive agriculture workshops.

Toe River Aggregation Center Training Organization Regional (TRACTOR) received $49,660 to add a full-time sales position and part-time bookkeeper, expanding operational capacity to increase sales channels and actual sales. The salesperson will continue sales to the current 44 TRACTOR markets and oversee a new CSA pilot project with the local hospital.

People in Need Grant Supports Homebase at WCU

R E S O U R C E C E N T E R F O R AT-R I S K S T U D E N T S N O W O P E N

A $20,000 People in Need grant provided funds for a technology resource room at Homebase on the Western Carolina University campus.

Homebase, a joint program of the university and Baptist Children’s Homes of NC (BCH), provides supportive programming for students who have been wards of the state, orphaned, aged-out of foster care, homeless or otherwise unsupported.

“If you’re a former foster student or orphan, who do you call to help you?” said Jim Dean, who oversees Homebase and is a licensed therapeutic foster parent. “What we’re trying to do is help students succeed. We’re really just a resource for the university for students who might need help, support, encouragement, a trip to get groceries, a trip to get toiletries, whatever it is.”

With little or no support available to them, these students often struggle and many drop out of school. Of the students aging out of foster care in North Carolina who choose to go to college, only 8% make it to graduation.

Sophie Calhoun was orphaned as a child. As a WCU student, she leads the Resilient Independent Student Association and drafted a paper that the university referenced when the partnership with BCH was launched.

About the target group Homebase was designed to serve, she wrote: “the students were most likely expected to become almost entirely financially independent when they become of age. That is a very difficult thing to do at 18, but it’s even more daunting when you make the decision to go to college.”

Senior Program Officer Virginia Dollar and Homebase Director Jim Dean Photo courtesy of CFWNC.

Homebase has meeting and social areas, a fully-stocked kitchen with food, laundry facilities and emergency housing. The program provides individual, family and group services to students who need assistance in transitioning to college living and interventions throughout their college experience.

“Sometimes it is the little things that seem overwhelming,” explained Dean. “A $21 lab notebook can pose a hurdle to a student in a chemistry lab, but we can help them cope with unexpected challenges and also provide assistance with life skills such as filling out financial aid forms and balancing a checkbook.” Another goal of the program is to allow students who have had similar childhood experiences to support one another and build community.

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A F F I L I AT E N E W S

Folkmoot and Western Carolina University’s Office of International Programs and Services partnered to host a Middle Eastern Friendship Dinner.

The Darren Nicholson Band performed at the Appalachian Friendship Dinner.

Photo by Patrick Parton.

Photo by Hilary Lindler. Courtesy of WCU.

Folkmoot Redefined In 2015, Folkmoot, North Carolina’s International Folk Festival in Haywood County, was awarded a grant from CFWNC and The Fund for Haywood County to transform the former Hazelwood School into a Center for multi-cultural exchange. Folkmoot was challenged to develop: a clear program plan, a detailed strategy for use of the facility, new pathways for the festival and a succession plan for Folkmoot’s Chair of Group Relations, Rolf Kaufman, who is approaching retirement at 86 years old.

Step one was to grow the two-week annual festival to a year-round calendar of programs, events and activities. The new programming gave Folkmoot a chance to engage the community in expanded ways. Gone were the days of Folkmoot as a singular event with its greatest appeal to seasonal residents and tourists. Instead, the journey forward provided an opportunity to engage a broader audience.

In 2015, the first-ever Halloween “Spookmoot” haunted house and December “Falala Sing-along” events were held. In 2016, Folkmoot doubled the attendance of these seasonal events and added a large quilt show, cultural leadership training and hosted a historical lecture in conjunction with the Town of Waynesville. Additional cultural events were made possible by grant funds, including events highlighting the food, people and culture of Serbia, the Middle East, Eritrea, the Cherokee and Appalachia.

“We have always enjoyed community support of the festival,” said Folkmoot Director Angie Schwab. “It seemed timely to foster that support, apply new creativity, bring the community into the building and expand programs that contribute to cultural understanding.”

Adding new audiences, sponsors, partners and performance venues has made the festival more available and has enhanced Folkmoot’s reputation. The 2016 festival was the most successful in recent history.

Kaufman, a founding board member who has devoted more than 30 years to Folkmoot, provided vision and direction for the process. He has gently, but relentlessly, encouraged the organization’s board and staff to dream big, to make Folkmoot meaningful to more people and to transform the organization and its Friendship Center into a year-round resource for people to come together in the spirit of understanding and peace.

Folkmoot has redefined itself and become more relevant and sustainable. In preparation for Kaufman’s retirement, Folkmoot honored him by focusing on goals he championed and positioning itself for strength in the future.

Many thanks to Jan Poppe for her contributions to this article.

CFWNC and the Transylvania Endowment awarded $20,000 to Transylvania Christian Ministry to expand the Getting Ahead program into the local middle and high schools and to provide programs for teens navigating generational poverty. Working with Transylvania County Schools social workers, administrators and teachers, low-resourced students enrolled in the "Navigate Your Path—Getting Ahead for Youth" class will receive education and guidance to build resources for a more promising future. This program identifies and attempts to address common barriers for youth trying to break the cycle of poverty.

Photo courtesy of Transylvania Christian Ministry.

The Rutherford County Endowment exceeded $1 million in grants awarded since inception with the distribution of $60,000 to projects exhibiting the greatest community benefit. KidSenses Children's Interactive Museum received $7,500 to support the "Making Your Own Future" initiative in THE FACTORY, a new facility designed to engage youth in STEM-related programs.

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Photo courtesy of KidSenses.

The Cashiers Community Fund awarded $6,060 to Girls on the Run of Western North Carolina for the program at the Boys and Girls Club of the Plateau. In this photo, the focus of the lesson was identifying emotions and normalizing them as comfortable or uncomfortable. While the girls ran in pairs, they discussed healthy personal strategies, like playing outside and engaging in physical activity, that help them cope with uncomfortable emotions. The girls are on track to meet their running goals in preparation to complete the celebratory GOTR 5k on May 21st.

Photo courtesy of GOTR of WNC.

GRANT NEWS

Learning Links Two Learning Links grants to Bowman Middle School purchased materials for use in a Makerspace STEM lab.

The Makerspace at Bowman has a 3-D printer, a robot that replicates paintings and Makey Makey touchpad kits that turn everyday objects, such as bananas, into wired computer touchpads. The lab was built through a Golden LEAF grant awarded to Mitchell County Schools to implement STEM curricula. “These labs provide students valuable hands-on manipulative and interactive resources,” said Chad Calhoun, superintendent of Mitchell County Schools. “They will be used to build a strong foundation of math and science skills.” The Learning Links program offers grants up to $800 to public schools in 11 WNC counties in order to provide "hands-on" creative learning projects to students. This year's grants were made possible by the Ben W. and Dixie Glenn Farthing Charitable Endowment Fund, the Dr. Robert J. and Kimberly S. Reynolds Fund and the Cherokee County Schools Foundation Endowment Fund of The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina.

Students working in the STEM lab at Bowman Middle School.

Photo courtesy of Brandon Roberts/Mitchell News-Journal.

The French Broad Riverkeeper and MountainTrue are combating sediment erosion by planting live-stakes that will grow into trees along eroding riverbanks.

YES Camps engage middle and high school students in hands-on learning about water quality. A student examines a salamander found at Purchase Knob (left). A group of students learns about the Waynesville Watershed (above).

Photo courtesy of MountainTrue.

Photos courtesy of YES Camp.

Pigeon River Fund Exceeds $6 Million in Grants Over the last twenty years, the Pigeon River Fund has invested more than $6 million in projects addressing water quality in Haywood, Madison and Buncombe counties. Since 1996, the Fund has helped to protect waterways, restore natural habitats, invest in green opportunities and educate about the importance of preserving natural resources.

In its latest grant cycle, the Pigeon River Fund awarded 11 grants totaling $309,635 to: Asheville GreenWorks — $27,000 to continue the Youth Environmental Leadership Program engaging youth from low-income communities in water-quality testing and wetland restoration.

Environmental Quality Institute — $17,800 to support the Volunteer Water Information Network that provides data to partner organizations and engages volunteers in monitoring water quality.

Haywood Waterways Association — $60,000 to continue efforts to address water quality issues, implement the Haywood Watershed Action Plan and increase public education, and $39,600 toward the costs of repairing failing septic systems for low-income homeowners.

Madison County — $25,000 to install stormwater best management practices on three school campuses through projects that involve students onsite and in the classroom.

Maggie Valley Sanitary District — $25,000 toward transactional costs associated with the purchase and conveyance of the 558-acre Wilder Tract that protects the Jonathan Creek watershed.

MountainTrue — $7,700 toward the purchase of live-stakes, a raft and equipment needed for stream bank planting along Hominy and Cane creeks.

Mountain Valley Resource Conservation and Development Council — $45,000 to support water monitoring in the Ivy River watershed, septic repair, youth education programs and an electronics amnesty program at the landfill.

ReCreation Experiences Missions and Ministries — $25,000 toward material costs for septic system repairs for low-income homeowners in Madison County.

Southwestern NC Resource Conservation and Development Council — $24,815 toward the 2017 Envirothon and YES Camp programs engaging middle and high school youth in hands-on learning about water quality issues and $12,720 to aid in developing the Beaverdam Creek Watershed Action Plan.

“The Pigeon River Fund has been a critical partner in our water quality improvement work,” said Eric Romaniszyn, Executive Director of Haywood Waterways Association. “They’ve supported many projects around Haywood County, projects that include stabilizing streambanks, planting streamside vegetation, educating and engaging the public, removing trash from streams and conservation easement transactions.

The end result has been greater public awareness of water resources and improved water quality. We’ve also had two streams come off the state list of impaired waterways as a result of Pigeon River Fund support.”

Grant decisions are made by an advisory board appointed by the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality in accordance with a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license agreement. Pigeon River Fund grants are awarded in March and September.

To learn more about the Pigeon River Fund, visit www.cfwnc.org.

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FUND PROFILE

Mountain Air Residents’ Community Fund Marks Ten-Year Anniversary This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Mountain Air Residents’ Community Fund (MARCF).

Since starting grantmaking in 2008, MARCF has made 104 grants totaling more than $418,000 to more than forty Yancey County nonprofits.

The Fund was created by a group of Mountain Air residents to support their neighbors. In 2014, the median household income in Yancey County was around $37,000, and the unemployment rate remains higher than the national average (according to the NC Department of Commerce).

Focusing on six key areas, MARCF makes grants twice a year to organizations with missions addressing health, education and literacy, family issues, economic development, the arts and the environment.

One MARCF grantee, WAMY Community Action, Inc., has been fighting poverty and working to enhance the quality of life for residents since 1964. An acronym for Watauga, Avery, Mitchell and Yancey counties, WAMY offers an array of supportive services. One of WAMY’s most unique services is its garden voucher program. Each summer, vouchers are provided to low-income families, enabling them to grow their own produce. One Yancey County man received a voucher and now tends an abundant garden teeming with fruits and vegetables such as beans, corn, watermelon and sweet potatoes. He shares his bounty each year with at least thirty disadvantaged families because, according to him, “there is always someone in worse shape than me.” Ashley Cook, Development Director at WAMY, said, “We are so thankful for Mountain Air residents and their love for those in our community.”

“The need is great. This year we received grant applications totaling more than $158,000, but we only had the funds to support approximately $38,000 of the requests,” said MARCF Board President Becky Schmidt. “In addition to raising money, we also have residents who volunteer year round at a variety of nonprofits – delivering food, building houses for Habitat for Humanity, helping children at the Appalachian Therapeutic Riding Center, and planting and harvesting food at the Dig In Community Garden.”

Garden voucher participant Christopher Edwards.

Photo courtesy of MARCF.

The Mountain Air Residents’ Community Fund celebrates its tenth year with the intention to grow its grantmaking ability, enabling greater impact on its neighbors in need.

WOMEN FOR WOMEN

Women for Women Planning for High Impact Grant The Women for Women giving circle recently announced the 2018 Collaborative High Impact Grant, an award up to $450,000 to be paid out over three years. Funds will support a project in the circle’s grant focus area of safe living environments for women and girls. To be eligible, at least one of the applicants must be partnering with at least two other agencies and at least one of the agencies must be a former recipient of giving circle funds.

“We are pleased to be able to provide this high impact grant to a group of nonprofit organizations in Western North Carolina,” said Deborah Fulton-Helmer, chair of the Women for Women giving circle. “Our goal is to see groups collaborate on a widereaching program that will promote systemic change and achieve transformational results for women and girls in this part of the state. The outcome of this grant can make a real difference in the community through genuine and lasting change.”

Since its first grant cycle in 2006, the giving circle has distributed more than $2.75 million in grants ranging from $15,000 to $100,000 to nonprofits supporting WNC women and girls. Members commit to a tax-deductible gift of $1,100 per year for three years and have a vote in how funds are distributed. The giving circle always welcomes new members. See information at www.cfwnc.org/womenforwomen.

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Becky Donatelli and Ellie Fulton

On February 24, the Women for Women Advocacy & Education Committee hosted a crucial conversation about human trafficking in Western North Carolina. North Carolina was among the top ten states with the highest number of reported human trafficking cases in 2016, according to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center. There were 3,225 documented calls for service and 754 confirmed cases in the state. Speakers at the event included state Senator Terry Van Duyn, D-Buncombe, pictured above.

Photos courtesy of CFWNC.

Katherine Janes and presenter Christine Long

GIVING BACK

Funds Created Between July 1 and December 31, 2016 A Charitable Gift Annuity allows donors to make a future gift and receive income and tax advantages now.

• Jane Tara Cicchetti Charitable Gift Annuity • Cynthia and Roy Gallinger Charitable Gift Annuity • John Hazlehurst Charitable Gift Annuity 9 • John Hazlehurst Charitable Gift Annuity 10 • David Slobodin Charitable Gift Annuity 3 • Suojanen Charitable Gift Annuity

Designated Funds support specific

nonprofits named by the donor when the fund is established.

• George and Diana Bilbrey Fund 2016 • Broadwell Designated Fund 2016 • Nancy Crosby Designated Fund #2 • Cliff and Betty Dickinson Scholarship Fund • Environmental Scholarship Fund for McDowell County • Hickory Nut Gorge Foundation Founder's Circle Fund • Gresham Orrison Designated Fund • Robinson 2016 Charitable Fund • Women for Women Endowment Fund

Donor Advised Funds allow donors to make a charitable contribution, receive an immediate tax benefit and recommend grants over time.

• Filbert Fund • LMG² Fund • Miller Hope Fund • Joan and William Rocamora Fund • Hale Winkler Fund • W.M. Winkler Fund

Expectancy Funds are established to receive assets at a later time, typically through an estate plan, charitable gift annuity or charitable trust.

• Ann McKee Austin Charitable Fund • Pamela Braznell Charitable Fund • Nancy Bresell Fund • Eagle's Nest Foundation - Suojanen Campership Funds • Fannie Fund • Gallinger Fund for Mentally Handicapped Services in Western North Carolina • Hornsby Group Educational Fund • Julia Pays It Forward Fund • Jean and Joseph Karpen Fund • John W. Mason Designated Fund Upon Death • Susan and Raymond McClinton Endowment Fund • Jane Rocamora Charitable Fund • Lee Rocamora Charitable Fund • Susan Rocamora Charitable Fund • Share the Love Fund • David Slobodin Fund • Gregory and Marjorie Zack Charitable Fund

Nonprofit Funds are created to invest and steward a nonprofit’s long-term or endowed assets.

• Albert Carlton Community Library Foundation Inc. Fund

26th Annual Professional Seminar PL ANNING WITH RETIREMENT ASSETS: TECHNICAL BRIEFING, CASE STUDIES AND PRACTICAL IDEAS

Natalie Choate is one of America’s leading authors and speakers on estate and distribution planning for retirement benefits. Her book, Life and Death Planning for Retirement Benefits, is an elemental resource for estate planning professionals. Reviewers have described the text as “the single essential reference guide for financial planning, retirement planning and estate planning professionals.”

Featuring Natalie B. Choate, JD Nutter, McClennen and Fish May 4, 2017 Registration and Breakfast 8:00 a.m.

Ms. Choate is former Chairwoman of the Boston Seminar Bar Association Estate Planning Committee, 9 a.m. to 12:15 pm. which she founded in 1981. She is a former Regent of the American College of Trust and Estate Lioncrest on Biltmore Counsel and former Chairwoman of its Employee Asheville, NC Benefits Committee. She is a member and former officer of the Boston Probate and Estate Planning Forum. She was named “Estate Planner of the Year” by the Boston Estate Planning Council and was one of the first ten attorneys to receive the “Distinguished Accredited Estate Planner” award from the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils. She is listed in The Best Lawyers in America.

A Boston native, Choate is a graduate of Radcliffe College and Harvard Law School.

She has spoken at the Heckerling, Notre Dame and various other Tax Institutes. Her comments on estate and retirement planning have been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Forbes, Financial Planning, USA Today, and Financial World.

In addition to a gourmet Appalachian breakfast buffet at the Biltmore’s Lioncrest Restaurant, the seminar will offer effective financial, tax and estate planning information for retirement assets. Choate’s practical, case-based lecture will cross a wide range of client situations to inform professional advisors seeking to assist clients with: • Funding credit shelter trusts and QTIP trusts with retirement benefits • Charitable contributions of retirement plan benefits • Administration of inherited IRAs or other retirement plans • Dealing with an IRA that is out of legal compliance Cost: $110; $120 after April 28.

Details at www.cfwnc.org.

Power of the Purse® continued from page 1.

In the spirit of the Foundation’s Food and Farming focus area, and in partnership with Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP), victory gardens will adorn each table at the luncheon. During WWII, about a third of the vegetables produced in the U.S. came from small victory gardens planted to prevent food shortages. Following the luncheon, the gardens will be planted at local schools through ASAP’s Growing Minds program. Growing Minds connects farmers, distributors, and school food leaders to ensure students have access to healthy, local food. In addition to the garden, copies of the book The Vegetable Alphabet will be added to the libraries of the schools.

The afternoon will include the announcement of the 2017 Women for Women grants. The giving circle has awarded more than $2.75 million in grants to programs that address issues affecting women and girls. The giving circle is always accepting new members. Proceeds from Power of the Purse® benefit The Women’s Fund, a permanent endowment to improve the lives of women and girls in our region. Spendable income from the fund is awarded through the Women for Women grant program.

Sample vintage victory garden posters.

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CFWNC Meets High Standards This year, CFWNC again earned the right to display the National Standards for U.S. Community Foundations seal, confirming our adherence to the highest standards of operational excellence and integrity in community philanthropy. Our compliance holds us accountable in several key areas: governance, resource development, accountability and fundholder relations.

Our Affiliates

CFWNC

Phone: 828-254-4960 Fax: 828-251-2258 www.cfwnc.org

Black Mountain–Swannanoa Valley Endowment Fund Cashiers Community Fund The Fund for Haywood County Highlands Community Fund The McDowell Endowment The Fund for Mitchell County Rutherford County Endowment Transylvania Endowment The Yancey Fund

Management Team

Sheryl Aikman, Vice President, Development Philip Belcher, Vice President, Programs Elizabeth Brazas, President Lindsay Hearn, Communications Director Graham Keever, Chief Financial Officer

The Foundation’s strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency have also earned it a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator.

Officers

What does all this mean? It means that CFWNC strives for organizational excellence and transparency. Our unique role in the communities we serve is based on relationships and trust. We hold ourselves to high standards so that we can be as effective as possible in serving our fundholders and building philanthropy for Western North Carolina.

Maurean B. Adams Caroline Avery James Baley Guadalupe Chavarria William Clarke Jennie Eblen

Board of Directors

A.C. Honeycutt, Jr., Chair Laurence Weiss, Secretary

Board Members

Stephanie Norris Kiser, Vice-Chair G. Edward Towson, II, Treasurer Ernest E. Ferguson Michael Fields Charles Frederick Howell A. Hammond Susan Jenkins Lowell R. Pearlman

Scott Shealy Anna S. (Candy) Shivers J. Chris Smith James W. Stickney, IV Sarah Sparboe Thornburg Stephen Watson

Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage

PAID

4 Vanderbilt Park Drive, Suite 300 Asheville, NC 28803

Asheville, NC Permit No. 518

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Confirmed in Compliance with National Standards for U.S. Community Foundations

Communities of Western North Carolina, a new painting by Burnsville artist Robert Johnson, graces the wall of CFWNC’s Cooper Community Room.

The acrylic and oil painting on canvas depicts twelve plant communities found across the region. To prepare for the painting, Johnson spent the month of September traveling, hiking and sketching from Cherokee County to McDowell County. Johnson provided a guide to the painting that lists the flora, fauna and wildlife and location of each plant community to assist in identification.

Visitors are invited to view the painting when they visit CFWNC offices.