2017 Summer Community Newsletter

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Tony and Magda Golobic, GreatAmerica Financial Services Corporation

GreatAmerica’s Golobics Give Back This year GreatAmerica Financial Services Corporation celebrated its 25th anniversary. The company, which began operations in Cedar Rapids in 1992, has earned a reputation as a great place to work. In addition to being a leading business and employer, GreatAmerica and its owners, Tony and Magda Golobic, have also committed to making an impact in the community through their philanthropy.

Several years after immigrating to the United States, Tony and Magda moved to Cedar Rapids, and it didn’t take them long before they knew that they wanted to start a business here. That became a reality when they established their new company, GreatAmerica, in Cedar Rapids.

“Cedar Rapids has always had an excellent workforce,” recalls Tony. “The people here are well-educated and hardworking, and they believe in doing the right thing.”

The couple feels that their employees are, in large part, responsible for the success of GreatAmerica, and this fact prompted the Golobics to seek ways to give back.

“Philanthropy means supporting our community,” explains Tony. “We’ve always felt it is the right thing to do.” The couple believes that for them, philanthropy is about improving the quality of life for the community. The family, including their children, are confident that philanthropy will be a part of their business for as long as it exists.

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“The great workforce has given us an advantage over our competition,” says Tony. “We’re family, and we’re committed to making sure Cedar Rapids remains a good place to live.”

“When we started the company, we wanted to build a very different kind of company – a company that would genuinely care about its employees, its customers and community. ” — Tony Golobic With over 500 employees, it makes sense that the Golobics believe a strong Cedar Rapids community and corridor is essential to the future of GreatAmerica. Tony explains, “when we started the company, we wanted to build a very different kind of company – a company that would genuinely care about its employees, its customers and

community and a company that would always try to do the right thing, no matter what. The idea of treating employees like family naturally came out of that.”

The Golobics partner with the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation to manage their corporate philanthropy. “I served on the Community Foundation grant committee for a few years,” explains Magda, “and it opened my eyes to how the process worked, how many requests there were, and the amount of time and resources it took to review the applications. Our fund through the Community Foundation makes it much easier for us to manage.”

The GreatAmerica donor-advised fund is a competitive fund that supports a variety of organizations. Magda and Tony use this fund to support education, cultural life and social services equally: education because of its importance to growing a strong local workforce; cultural life because of its ability to make the community more attractive to new potential residents; and social services to make sure that community members live the best life possible.

GreatAmerica hopes to continue this trend well into the future. “Our goal in starting GreatAmerica wasn’t necessarily to make a lot of money,” explains Tony, “but we have been quite successful, financially and otherwise. Our goal was, and is, to build a company that would always pursue excellence. That’s what drives us. To be as good as we can possibly be and tomorrow be better than we are today.” The company has grown every year for the past 25 years, and Tony is confident that won’t change any time soon. They plan to have their philanthropy continue to grow as well. “Our goal has always been to devote a percentage of profits to charitable purposes and, as our profitability increases, our total dollars will increase as well.”

“This is a good, deserving community,” says Tony, “and I hope every business strongly considers giving back. Improving the quality of life is in everyone’s best interest.”

To learn more about Competitive Donor-Advised Funds at the Community Foundation, visit www.gcrcf.org.

Endow Iowa Tax Credits Expended As of May 9, 2017, all 2017 Endow Iowa tax credits have been expended. However, donors who submit their applications now but do not receive 2017 tax credits become first in line for the 2018 credits. Credits are awarded in the order they are received by the state.

In addition, all qualified donors can carry forward the tax credit for up to five years after the year the donation was made.

Endow Iowa tax credits allow you to receive an Iowa state income tax credit equal to 25 percent of the value of your gift for qualified endowed charitable gifts at Iowa community foundations.

To learn more about Endow Iowa, visit www.gcrcf.org/donors/tax-benefits. If you have questions, contact us at 319.366.2862 or email info@gcrcf.org.

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Grantmaking The Academy is a second home.You get to be in a classroom with people who look like you. Once you’ve experienced an education like this, where everything has an African American focus, you don’t forget how special it is.

– Afnan Elsheikh Academy alum

Goodwill of the Heartland

Academy for Scholastic and Personal Success The Academy for Scholastic and Personal Success received a Program Fund to support recruitment efforts, transportation costs, year-round activities and an on-going research project.

The Academy encourages students to fulfill their academic and personal potential by infusing African American culture into the core curriculum of a summer educational program.

This program has opened the door to a career and independent life. It allowed me to prove that I’m more than my past.

—Jaynell Gryp Training Participant

A Program Fund grant supported Goodwill of the Heartland’s Light Manufacturing Training and Placement Program.The program leverages local partnerships to help people achieve independence by offering a manufacturing certificate program.Trainees develop the occupational and soft skills necessary to gain competitive employment.

Jaynell Gryp joined the program after being incarcerated, in an effort to gain the skills and experience she would need to get a job in manufacturing. She needed a livable wage and benefits in order to provide for her children. She completed her internship this summer and accepted a full-time position with the company.

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Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center A Program Fund grant supported Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center’s effort to mitigate flooding, reduce peak discharges, and improve the habitat and water quality of Dry Creek.The grant helped repair the area surrounding a culvert and educated neighbors about storm water and what they could do in their own yards.

Caring for the land and water has always been a big part of what we do at Prairiewoods. Dry Creek runs through our property and we wanted to do whatever we could to have a positive impact.

– Emy Sautter Eco-Spirituality Coordinator at Prairiewoods

For a complete list of grant awards, visit www.gcrcf.org/grants.

GRANT AWARDS

So far this year, the Community Foundation has distributed $5 million in grants to 368 nonprofit organizations.

The awards include competitive grants from the Community Foundation’s Funds for the Community, as well as distributions from donor-advised, designated, scholarship and agency funds. For a complete list of grants made to date, visit https://www.gcrcf.org/grants/recent-grant-awards/2017-grant-awards/. The next grant deadline is Friday, October 13, 2017.

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Celebrating the Generosity of Local Philanthropists William Quarton Heritage Society Luncheon

Nearly 120 generous donors gathered for the 14th annual William Quarton Heritage Society Luncheon on June 22, 2017 to celebrate philanthropy and the commitment of members to the future of our community. The event was held at the Cedar Rapids Country Club.

Terri Christoffersen, current chair of the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation Board of Directors, welcomed attendees and shared highlights from the Community Foundation throughout the past year. Les Garner, President & CEO of the Community Foundation, discussed the work of entrepreneurs in the private and nonprofit sector - building businesses and nonprofit organizations that create jobs and provide vitality for the community.

He then asked attendees to consider the concept of entrepreneurs in philanthropy. There are many individuals who see the possibility of using charitable gifts to fuel the rise of a new idea that might have a significant payoff for the community, including two of our community’s philanthropic entrepreneurs, Barry and Gilda Boyer.

Barry and Gilda Boyer Longtime Cedar Rapids residents, Barry and Gilda Boyer, came to the Community Foundation a few years ago with a new idea and desire to support entrepreneurs in our community. They wanted to see if private philanthropy had a role in helping small businesses. From this conversation, the MICRO lending program was established, a community collaboration to assist businesses with expenses related to start-up or expansion.

To view the videos and more photos from the event, visit www.gcrcf.org/william-quarton-heritage-society-luncheon.

For more information about MICRO, visit www.ecicog.org/micro.

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Match Available for Classroom Donations to DonorsChoose.org For the third year, the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation has partnered with DonorsChoose.org to match donations to classroom projects in grades K-12 in Linn County public schools. Last year, 73 teachers in 27 schools received funding for projects that served 8,602 students. The Community Foundation has $25,000 available to match donations for the 2017-2018 school year. For more information, visit https://www.gcrcf.org/ teachers-students/ or contact Rochelle Naylor, Program Officer, at Rochelle.naylor@gcrcf.org or 319.774.2373.

Save the Date: Celebration of Community Event The Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation will host its fifth annual Celebration of Community event on Wednesday, November 15 from 4 – 6 p.m. at NewBo City Market. This event celebrates the impact of philanthropy with nonprofits in Linn County. This year’s theme is Good Work & Good People and will include a display of “Good People” in Linn County who are making a difference. The event is open to the public. The Community Foundation will also present two nonprofit excellence awards at the event. The deadline for nominations is Wednesday, September 13, 2017. For more information, visit https:// www.gcrcf.org/celebration-community/.

New Community Foundation Team Member The Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation is pleased to welcome Latonja Scott to its team as Accountant. Ms. Scott joined the Community Foundation in June 2017. In this position, she maintains and controls the general ledger and financial transactions of the Community Foundation, and assists with benefits administration and risk management. Latonja recently completed a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Upper Iowa University. Prior to that, she worked as an Account Clerk at the University of Northern Iowa for 13 years.

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UPCOMING EVENTS OCT

OCTOBER GRANT DEADLINE

CELEBRATION OF COMMUNITY

Friday, October 13, 2017, by 4:30 p.m. CST Visit www.gcrcf.org/grants for more information.

Wednesday, November 15, 2017, 4-6 p.m.

NewBo City Market Join us for this free event as we celebrate how philanthropy and nonprofits are making an impact in our community! This year’s theme is “Good Work & Good People.” The nomination deadline for nonprofit awards is Wednesday, September 13. Visit www.gcrcf.org/events for more information.

QUARTERLY INVESTMENT UPDATE Wednesday, October 25, 2017, 2-3 p.m.

Community Foundation To RSVP, call 319.366.2862 or e-mail info@gcrcf.org.

#GIVINGTUESDAY Tuesday, November 28, 2017 Join the global day of giving and make a gift to a nonprofit organization you care about.

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