Community Report Winter 2016
Strengthening local philanthropy to support healthy communities.
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GIVING GCF Community Report Winter 2016
Philanthropy is alive and well and making an impact in our communities. We see it every day—from the conversations we have with potential donors to those who are focused on established endowment funds. Look within this community report for stories that illustrate the progress of local philanthropy and the ways in which it can make a difference for generations to come. No matter what your passion or favorite nonprofit organization, there are simple ways you can connect to make a difference. You can start your own fund, just like the Godsils and Hennefents who we detail in this report. Or maybe you want to ensure that your favorite nonprofit can forever fulfill its mission by giving to a Nonprofit Endowment Fund. There are many ways to give. Whatever your passion, you can make a difference. At the Galesburg Community Foundation, we believe everyone is a philanthropist. No matter the size of your wallet, the talents you possess, or the amount of time you have—we all hold valuable gifts to share. Connect with us today to learn more about making Knox and Warren Counties better places to live. Thank you for your commitment to local philanthropy. Happy Holidays!
Carl Nixon Chairman
Joshua D. Gibb President & CEO
Thank you for your continued support and involvement. If you have questions or want to know more, contact us anytime at: 309.344.8898 or jgibb@ahealthycommunity.org.
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OUR TEAM BOARD Carl Nixon Chairman Mark Kleine Vice-Chairman
STAFF Joshua D. Gibb President & CEO
Joyce Coffman Dr. Subbia Jagannathan Lance Humphreys
Susan Twomey Secretary
Thomas Maloney
David Pearson Treasurer
Joel Estes
Carol Simpson
Harry Bulkeley
Jennifer V. Anderson Chief Financial Officer
COMMUNITY TREASURES Tiffany Anderson Manager
Karlie Elliott Bowman Director of Communications Bobbi Pio Development Associate Deborah Moreno Heart & Soul Coordinator Lori Schile Administrative Assistant
HOW DOES THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION WORK? 1. It starts with donors...
2. Who use their gifts...
3. Who have a passion...
Individuals Businesses Private Foundations Nonprofit Organizations
Cash Securities Real Assets Retirement Funds Insurance Bequests
Community Arts Education Environment Community Wellness Faith
...to create endowed funds that will make an impact forever. 2
GCF NAMES
CFO
At GCF we are pleased to name our first Chief Financial Officer, Jenni Anderson. As CFO, Jenni provides leadership and oversight to all financial, operational and administrative functions. She oversees the organization’s investments and assets, and ensures the organization is poised for growth. Jenni brings a diverse skillset to GCF, including corporate accounting, and domestic and international tax consulting for Caterpillar, Inc. She also has experience with nonprofit tax preparation and auditing. Most recently she served as an owner of Galesburg accounting firm Kelly Cox & Butcher, LLC. Jenni is also an active community member, serving on the board of Anderson State Bank, as an elder for First Presbyterian Church of Galesburg and is an officer of a local P.E.O. chapter. Jenni is a Certified Public Accountant. She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from Temple University and her Master of Science in Accounting from Bradley University. Be sure to stop by to meet Jenni. Her hiring is one more example of our commitment to excellence and growth.
Jenni Anderson
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Home Heart Is IS WHERE THE
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Mark and Celia Godsil of Abingdon have always been generous community supporters. This is part two of their story, which explains how they are fulfilling their dream to give to the community they love. Part one originally appeared in our fall 2016 Community Report, which can be found online at www.ahealthycommunity.org.
Q: WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO GIVE THROUGH THE GALESBURG COMMUNITY FOUNDATION? Mark: “We knew we wanted to do something. Our professional advisor, Tom Maloney, with Edward Jones in Galesburg, recommended the Galesburg Community Foundation. We did our homework, calling local business leaders and really looked into the investments of the Foundation. We then scheduled an appointment with Josh Gibb.” Celia: “As we visited with Josh he mentioned a few goals of the Community Foundation, one of which is a new real estate segment. It would encourage the donation of homes, property and farmland. It got us thinking. We’ve always been big community supporters. We know the feeling you get when you give. There’s great value in giving. For Christmas we, along with our son Zach, give together as a family. After much conversation, our home became a mechanism for giving. We then learned about the substantial tax benefits to giving our home and we knew it was the right thing for us to do. It wasn’t a difficult process.”
Q: GIVING YOUR HOME IS SUBSTANTIAL. WHY DID YOU INVEST IT IN GCF? Mark: “We are always thinking about the long term, the future and the big picture. When you give to GCF it’s a perpetual gift because endowments last forever. Our gift will be making a difference for a long time. This was a hidden gem. It’s certainly not a normal way to give. But we doubled the benefit to us and the community.”
Q: WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS RELATED TO GIVING? Mark: “This is our first step. We want to see the benefits of our gifts. We want to give while we live. Really, we are just getting started.” Celia: “We also like that we can designate every year to the causes that we believe in and that our family believes in. This just feels good. The community is reaping a huge benefit and we are too. Life is not about what’s in your hands. It’s about what’s inside you.”
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KNOXVILLE COMMUNITY FUND MAKES AN IMPACT Community is the place you live. Community surrounds you in times of need. Community gives your kids opportunities to succeed. Community deserves stewards. For these reasons current and former residents of the Knoxville community are working to protect these important values. Knowing that every single one of us can make a difference, a group of Knoxville residents accepted the Galesburg Community Foundation’s challenge of creating a community fund.  The advisors of the Knoxville Community Fund were able to turn the match grant provided by GCF into a $100,000 fund to support the positive work of local Knoxville nonprofits. Thanks to generous donors, the Knoxville library now has a place to ask for funding when it needs to enhance technology for children. The Knoxville Food Pantry has another avenue to help supply those in need of their next meal. Already, to date, the Knoxville Community Fund has supported nine different projects. And this is just the beginning. The advisors of the Knoxville Community Fund know that people will continue to give because of what their community means to them. They know that current and former residents have the same warm memories when reflecting on what Knoxville provided and continues to provide their families. A community is made up of people. A strong community is made of people who care. The strongest community is made of people who care and choose to make it better for the next generation. This is exactly what the community of Knoxville is doing.
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A Charitable
JOURNEY
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Jack and Marge Hennenfent of Cameron have been involved in many facets of Warren County life, including 4H, county extension, farming, youth baseball, the Prime Beef Festival, and more. They raised seven children who attended the local schools. It should come as no surprise that the Hennenfents have a keen interest in the community’s school. The couple began exploring charitable giving options and how to support United CUSD 304 schools. Carl Nixon, the Hennenfents’ professional advisor and GCF board member, suggested they learn about a donor advised fund with GCF. A donor advised fund allows donors to make giving recommendations to their local community foundation, which in turn makes the charitable distribution. This relieves donors of managerial responsibilities and provides timely updates on their grants and the fund’s status. The Hennenfents took Carl’s advice and met with GCF’s President & CEO, Josh Gibb. Josh said, “We had thoughtful discussions on how they could impact more students than, say, a traditional scholarship.” With that, the groundwork was laid for the Hennenfents to determine how to best help the students and teachers. “We visited with the superintendent,” Jack recounted. “We asked him, ‘What would you like to do?’ And he answered they could really use a greenhouse.’” United Superintendent Jeff Whitsitt had no idea of the personal chord his suggestion struck. Marge’s family was in the nursery business during her childhood in Peoria. Her father, Leo Hagemann, was unable to serve in World War II. However, he found another way to support the war effort and his community. “My father served by helping folks establish Victory Gardens,” Marge remembered. “He then taught canning skills. My father’s act of sharing stuck with me, and I suppose it has influenced me throughout my life on the importance of giving back.” The Hennenfents’ donor advised fund provided the school district with a grant to build a greenhouse. A 600 square foot facility was completed this spring. Greenhouse programming will include agriculture classes, science education, and after school activities. Industrial arts students will build the furnishings. Superintendent Whitsitt said, “This is simply a wonderful addition to our curriculum. It is a welcome improvement in a time when sporadic funding has made additions very difficult to accomplish. Our kids will benefit for years to come from this act of generosity.” The significance of this philanthropic act was not lost on the Hennenfents. “We need to support and develop the community that we helped form through the years,” said Marge, “a community that has meant so much to our family.” Jack & Marge Hennenfent of Cameron stand in front of the greenhouse their donor advised fund provided to United CUSD 304 High School. 9
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LOCAL ARTS GROW WITH ENDOWMENTS GCF’s Nonprofit Endowment Challenge successfully enhanced the endowments of 20 area organizations. Endowment funds promote nonprofit sustainability by providing annual distributions in support of their respective work and missions. An endowment fund works by never spending the principal of the gift. Instead, a percentage of the value can be spent each year by the organization the fund supports. For Tuesday Çetin, executive director of the Galesburg Civic Arts Center (GCAC), and Lucas Wood, executive director of the Knox- Galesburg Symphony (KGS), establishing endowment funds with GCF were essential to take their organizations to the next level. Establishing an endowment fund with GCF is a big step for an organization. Not only does it provide financial support for their work, but it also can relieve organizations of time spent managing the money.
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THOUGHTS FROM TUESDAY & LUCAS “Taking advantage of GCF’s Nonprofit Endowment Match allowed us to double our money,” Lucas said. “Our board was happy to give control to the Foundation and not worry about the bookkeeping, management and legality connected to having an endowment.” He added, “The performance of the fund and the resources provided by the Foundation are the greatest benefit for our organization.” Tuesday was quick to note the simplicity of establishing the endowment. “It was very easy for us. Our money is in the hands of trusted professionals. We knew that by establishing an endowment fund with the Community Foundation they were looking out for us because their responsibility is to the community,” she said.
NEW ENDOWMENT FUNDS MEAN NEW OPPORTUNITIES For both organizations the establishment of their endowment fund is also an opportunity to focus on the future. Tuesday said GCAC used the process “to jumpstart our strategic conversations. We needed an organizational vision. We were ready for the conversation but establishing the endowment afforded us the opportunity. We aren’t just talking survival anymore-- now we are talking about opportunities. This is allowing us to stop living so much in the now and start planning for our future.” Before establishing their endowment fund with GCF, long range planning was on the Symphony’s backburner. Lucas commented, “We hadn’t thought much about the future. Soon we will begin revising our mission and vision and will start a strategic plan. We’re going to evaluate the needs of the community and plan to create a mission built on those needs to truly serve our region.” Knowing that an organization has a plan can be an important element in donor decision making. “To donors who are community-minded and want to invest in the community, for them, giving to an endowment fund at our Community Foundation can be seen as a way to secure the future of our community,” said Tuesday. “Having an endowment fund is helping us match donors with our organization and a trusted place to invest their money. GCF provides security and trust for donors to ensure their gift will always be used as it should be.” Tuesday said, “We’re a 93 year old organization. For us the endowment fund is the foundation for our future growth. It legitimizes us and our work to our donors. The endowment fund will help us get to where we want to go.”
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One Planned Gift.
UNLIMITED POTENTIAL. They say it only takes one person to make a difference. They say one gift can make a world of difference. For Thelma Pennington of Galesburg, “they” were right. One gift changed her life. And, for the Galesburg Lions Club, one person’s generosity will forever make a difference. Upon her passing, Thelma left $100,000 to the Galesburg Lions Club, a gift that will forever benefit the local community through the Lions Club’s service. When you ask those who knew Thelma about her as a person, most respond by saying she was an ordinary community member just like you and me. She was active in her community and had a heart of gold. Thelma, a lifelong Galesburg resident, recently passed. She was 86. While most consider her ordinary, what she left behind to benefit the community is anything but. As a young girl, she grew up poor and was one of six children. The Lions Club provided her and her siblings with much needed eye glasses—a gift she never forgot. The glasses from Lions Club, “Changed her life. They allowed her the opportunity to go to school and be a good student,” Bill Butts, attorney for Thelma’s estate said.
“You can’t put a price on charitable giving and the children, people and homes it impacts. There are many people like Thelma in this community. There are many members of our community who can make a difference just as she has.” –Bill Butts
Butts said, “Thelma lived very frugally. She wanted to share her fortune with the community. She knew that by giving a gift to the Lions Club that a lot of people would be taken care of for a long time.” Thankfully such a significant gift will make a difference for a long time, as the Galesburg Lions Club was prepared with the means to handle the donation. Because of their Nonprofit Endowment Fund at GCF they could not only handle the logistics of the gift, but also ensure her gift will forever make a difference in the lives of community members. 13
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246 East Main Street, Suite #101 Galesburg, IL 61401
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Strengthening local philanthropy to support healthy communities.