www.urbanhomeworks.org 927 W Broadway, Suite 301 Minneapolis, MN 55411
Looking Ahead to 2023
winter 2022
front porch
Newsletter
Updates from Equity & Engagement Tax Savvy Ways to Give this Fall
From the desk of...
Temi Ogunrinde
Equity & Engagement Director
Dear Urban Homeworks Community, My name is Temi Ogunrinde and I am the new Equity and Engagement Director at Urban Homeworks. This is more of a welcome back than a welcome, as I was a part of the UHW team last year! It feels good to be back and in this new role; I am ecstatic to join the team as we work to dismantle one of the foundations of systemic racism: policy. As we continue to grow influence in the political sphere, we want to remain unapologetically centered on our community, taking their ideas and hopes for an equitable housing ecosystem and supporting policy that matches. I am not the only new member of the Equity and Engagement team either— please join me in welcoming our new Resident Organizer: Yuri Harper! Yuri is also not a stranger to the UHW family! She worked with us as a Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ) Family Coach, doing beautiful work as a partner to our organization. I am truly so excited to dig into this work with Yuri, our Volunteer Manager Ashley Satorius, and the rest of the UHW team. As you may know, this is an election year. Hot off the press is our 2022 voter guide that will be handed out to each resident, aimed to help explain the impact each position on the ballot has on individuals’ day-to-day life,
as well as resources for learning more about who is on the ballot, voter rights, and voting. Following the election on November 8th, UHW is throwing a Post-Election Celebration for residents! Civic engagement takes so much time and energy, we want to honor and celebrate our residents for making their voices heard, as well as share next steps for holding our future elected officials accountable. With the Holiday season coming up, we’ve also begun collecting gift card donations for our families. Our goal is to give each resident household several gift cards to places like Cub, Target, Visa, Holiday Gas, and Walmart, so they can purchase whatever they may need to celebrate this season and prepare for the coming winter. As always, we cannot thank you enough for your unconditional support for our organization, our staff, and most importantly, our residents. I am looking forward to seeing the impact of your support in these last few months of 2022 and into the new year! All the best,
Temi Ogunrinde
Our 2021 Annual Report is out now! Our 2021 Annual Report is live on our website! Check out our Letter from the Executive Director, our data from 2021, some updates on our policy work, and a special thank you to our donors! www.urbanhomeworks.org/annual-reports/
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Two Tax-Savvy Ways to Donate As the end of 2022 draws near, we want to remind you of taxadvantageous ways to donate to your favorite charities this holiday season.
Donate stock
A Note from Our Finance Committee We are happy to report a clean audit for 2021 from our outside auditors earlier this summer. Good stewards are supposed to get a clean audit, but more importantly the Urban Homeworks financial statements reflect growing stability. We ended last year with more money in the bank compared with the prior year, lower levels of debt, and more gifts and grants. We hope these numbers reflect the confidence donors and funders have in Urban Homeworks and our work. The past 10 months have come with their own financial challenges, with levels of inflation we have not seen in the economy in 40 years. Our financial results, though, continue to be solid. We continue working to strengthen our strategic financial management, including undertaking a deep review of our portfolio of affordable rental properties. When this review wraps up next year, we will be able to determine priorities for repairs and renovations and make thoughtful decisions on where to invest to fulfill our mission. These results cannot be accomplished alone. Thank you to the staff, board, and supporters for investing in the health and stability of this mission and organization. And thank you for investing in the strength and future of our community.
Lee Schafer
UHW Board Treasurer & Finance Committee Member
@UrbanHomeworks
While the market hasn’t been great lately, it is still up 25% over five years ago. Donating that appreciated stock is a fantastic, cost-effective way to make a gift! Donating appreciated stock to your favorite charity allows your giving to go further by avoiding capital gains tax (which can be up to 20%), and minimizes both your state and federal income tax if you itemize your deductions.
Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD)
If you have a traditional IRA, you are required to begin drawing from those funds at age 72. Those distributions are taxed as ordinary income, potentially bumping you into a higher tax bracket. However, beginning at age 70½, the QCD rule allows you to donate those distributions to a charity to meet your required minimum distribution (RMD), AND deduct the donation from your total taxable income.
Donate to UHW
We would love for you to consider donating to Urban Homeworks using these methods! Below you will find the information needed to make a stock or QCD gift. Gifts of stocks are typically transferred without information that identifies the donor. Please notify Urban Homeworks of your gift to ensure you are properly thanked and receipted for tax purposes. Contact Emily Lassiter, Senior Development Officer at 612-429-0374 or EmilyL@ urbanhomeworks.org.
Brokerage Firm: Charles Schwab Account Number: 6415-9968 Account Name: Urban Homeworks, Inc Tax ID Number: 41-1821520 2
You’re Invited! Drop by on Saturday, December 10th between 10 AM and 1 PM to walk through one of our newly renovated homes! At 11:30 AM, Executive Director AsaleSol Young will give a short program on how Real Estate Development fits into our larger mission. Enjoy light refreshments as you see firsthand the impact your support has in making homeownership a reality for first-time buyers. Reigister to attend using the link below:
urbanhomeworks.org/event/ holiday-open-house-2022/
Saturday, December 10 10:00am – 1:00pm 3335 Vincent Ave N, Minneapolis, MN 55411
Looking Ahead to 2023 Urban Homeworks owns and manages 136 apartment units across 43 buildings. We believe that a dignified home is one that is both well-maintained and beautiful. Yet, there are many deferred maintenance needs required across those properties to ensure that we deliver on our mission to provide dignified apartments to individuals and families. We’ve known about these repairs for some time, but have had to defer again and again as we looked at the reality of our operating budget. As we have sought to keep the interiors of our homes livable and hospitable, the common areas and exteriors of our homes have been sorely neglected. Those exteriors and common spaces are the source of so much of the dignity and respect any of us find in our homes—front entries that are welcoming and well-lit, painting that
shows care and attention to detail, roofs that keep out the elements. We have struggled in our organizational past to build up the reserves needed to create a sustainable rental model that supports our community AND invests in our properties. This is not our future. Beginning in 2021, our leadership team made it a priority to address deferred maintenance needs and build reserves for future repairs. By raising funds specifically for home repairs this year and refinancing many of our properties in the coming years, we are excited to share that we have begun the important work of reinvesting and restoring dignity to our apartment homes. We look forward to bringing you along in that work. If you would like to make a gift to support this work, visit: www.urbanhomeworks.org/donate/
“We recognize that you cannot stabilize and grow homeownership in any community without stable renters living in safe, dignified housing. Therefore, we are looking to invest a minimum of $3 million into our 136 units of housing to ensure that they are not only safe, but that they exude a compassion, a care, and a respect that we believe all humans deserve...Dignity must exist beyond the entryway to your home, it must extend beyond the stoop, onto the sidewalks and into the streets.” - AsaleSol Young, Urban Homeworks Executive Director
@UrbanHomeworks
Watch the Perpetuate the Hope recap: urbanhomeworks.org/event/pth-22/ 3