Community Matters Aug 2009

C o mm un i ty

matters the winston-salem foundation

Community Newsletter | Aug us t 2 009

Everyone has a story to tell Building social capital by sharing stories We are all aware of the power of storytelling as a Winston-Salem’s own storytelling initiative was also intromeans of passing down information, traditions and values from duced — StoryLine, an initiative of the ECHO Council. This generation to generation. But mobile storytelling bus will travel in our high-tech world, how throughout Forsyth County, can storytelling bring strangers recording stories, building together for the greater good? community, and providing At the Foundation’s 2009 connections among people by Community Luncheon in May, telling and sharing our stories. over 740 community members Radio segments from StoryLine experienced first-hand the conversations will be broadcast powerful impact of listening to weekly on four partner radio others’ stories. Keynote speaker stations for the public to hear. and radio journalist John Biewen Hundreds of canned food introduced the audience to items were also collected at the several individuals whom he luncheon to donate to Second profiled in Nuevo South and Five Harvest Food Bank of Northwest Farms, two of his national radio North Carolina. The Foundation documentary projects. appreciates these donations as well Attendees first heard the as the 46 sponsoring organizations angry voice of a white Siler City, that helped make this community NC mother from Nuevo South, event possible. who was upset by the influx We look forward to hosting Speaker John Biewen at May 6 Community Luncheon of Hispanics in her hometown the next Community Luncheon and on her daughter’s soccer team. In a subsequent interview, on May 5, 2010. In the meantime, sign up to share your story her upbeat voice reflects warmth and affection for the Hispanic with our community today! guidance counselor who has become a mentor and friend to her To hear John Biewen’s Nuevo South documentary visit daughter. A new relationship has been formed, and a barrier to http://cds.aas.duke.edu/audio/index.html understanding others has been torn down.

Storyline continues on page 3

Foundation News echo award winners out to his diverse community by printing flyers in Spanish The 2009 ECHo Awards were also presented at the to include the Latino population in neighborhood activities.

Foundation’s Community Luncheon. Four individuals and one Robert was nominated by Ashley Huling. organization were recognized for actively building social capital Reynolda Rotary Club of Winston-Salem — by connecting and building trust among people in order to has had an innovative partnership with Cook Elementary make our community stronger.

School since 2003. Their initial involvement entailed tutoring Dr. Lee Beall started an ongoing musical exchange 20 commitments and financial donations for outdoor equipment. years ago between developmentally disabled children at Carter Vocational High School and typicallydeveloping children at Summit School.

This innovative program has resulted in relationship-building, trust, self-confidence, and enlightened minds, creating new friendships between the students. Dr. Beall was nominated by Ann Guill. mitchell britt builds social capital through his innovative monthly Supplement slow-food dinners that bring together people of diverse ages, races and income levels to share locally grown meals.

Held in backyards and living rooms across Winston-Salem, individuals come to the dinner as strangers and leave as friends. He (l-r) Harold Martin; Mitchell Britt; Robert Leak III; Sylvia Oberle of also educates others on building a more Reynolda Rotary Club and Ted Burcaw of Cook Elementary School; Deloris sustainable environment and economy Huntley; Dr. Lee Beall; and Scott Wierman through initiatives such as a compost Since then, bonding relationships have developed among exchange and community garden. Mitchell was nominated by the diverse groups of Rotary members, students, parents and Jonathan Milner.

Deloris Huntley created the Alpha and Omega Family teachers, resulting in improved student self-confidence, test Institute to provide a place where individuals could access pro- score gains and stereotype elimination. New traditions have been established, including a book fair, an annual holiday grams and services in their own neighborhood. Programming party and a scholarship fund at WSSU. The Reynolda Rotary includes afterschool tutoring help, healthy cooking classes, Club was nominated by Barbara Cassidy. prenatal classes and a children’s health fair. Residents, many Each ECHO Award recipient received $1,000 to grant to facing huge challenges, can gather information, learn new skills and ultimately learn ways to trust one another and give back to a nonprofit organization of their choice. They were selected by a committee representing the ECHO Council and the the community. Deloris was nominated by Tracey Maxwell.

Foundation.

Robert Leak III builds social capital in the Easton neighborhood he calls home. As president of the Easton Youth Neighborhood Association, he is building community — by organizing a neighborhood canned food drive, a coat drive for the homeless, a community cleanup and tutoring support for Easton Elementary School students. He intentionally reaches

The 2010 ECHO Award nomination process will begin in February 2010. Keep this in mind as you observe social capital bridge builders at work in our community!

Winston-SAlem Foundation award winner partnership with North Hills Elementary School. He is also Ed Welch has been awarded the 2009 WinstonSalem Foundation Award. The Foundation’s highest honor, the actively involved with Hospice, Senior Services, The Children’s award honors his generous contributions to our community. As Home and Arbor Acres.

Established in 1996, the award is given to individuals Harold Martin remarked in his introduction at the Community who demonstrate the Foundation’s values of generosity, excelLuncheon, “Ed has used this personal touch to improve his lence, inclusion and integrity along with visionary leadership community — our community — giving generously of his in a community activity or on time, talent and resources to behalf of a community organiindividuals and organizations in zation. Ed was selected by ways both big and small.” a committee comprised His recent leadership roles of members from various include chairing the boards Foundation committees and of both the Winston-Salem the community at-large.

Chamber of Commerce and Ed received a $10,000 United Way. Ed’s passion to grant to designate for local improve education includes nonprofits. He has designated establishing the Chamber’s $5,000 each to educational Community Education (l-r) Harold Martin, Foundation Committee chair; Ed Welch; initiatives of the Greater Collaborative as well as extenScott Wierman, Foundation president Winston-Salem Chamber of sive volunteer leadership with Commerce Foundation and the Forsyth Tech Foundation.

Forsyth Tech. As president of Winston-Salem-based IL Long He was nominated by Gayle Anderson and Gary Green.

Construction Company, he has encouraged a close employee

StoryLine: Tell Us Your Story StoryLine is a volunteer-led effort to collect and share the stories of everyday people in Forsyth County. The project was initiated to honor the rich diversity of voices throughout our community and to celebrate our history, hopes and common humanity.

How does it work? Stories will be collected via the Story Bus, a mobile recording studio that will travel to community events, churches, neighborhoods, schools and other venues throughout Forsyth County. Pairs of individuals will share uninterrupted conversation for 40 minutes, about any topic of their choice.

These oral histories will be recorded, and participants will leave the session with a free CD recording. Selected conversations (permission granted) will be edited and played on a weekly basis by radio partners WFDD, WSNC, WSJS and Que Pasa Radio, reaching a broad cross-section of our community.

StoryLine’s Presenting Sponsor is Dewey’s Bakery, and

the storyline bus

the project’s Community Sponsors include SPEVCO, CJMW, M Creative, The Children’s Home, Spot Recording and The Winston-Salem Foundation. StoryLine is a project of the ECHO Council, dedicated to building social capital and fostering trusting relationships in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.

To sign up, hear stories, and find out more, visit StoryLine at www.storylineproject.org community matters [2–3]

Grantmaking Partners: Community Builders When Walt Murray and his wife Martha Ann considered how to expand the ways in which they could contribute to the city they love, they turned to the Foundation’s Grantmaking Partners program as a way to make it happen.

“There’s a lot of opportunity in this city if you go out and look for it,” Murray says. “Grantmaking Partners is a great way to do that.” The program enables donors to partner with the Foundation to fund grant requests from eligible nonprofit organizations while leveraging more dollars in the community for a wide array of valuable programs.

How does it work? Foundation staff performs extensive due diligence on grant proposals throughout the year. On a quarterly basis, donors are given five to seven approved Grantmaking Partners opportunities for their consideration.

After a project’s completion, supporting donors receive follow-up information on the project’s community impact.

Murray notes, “There are so many things going on in the city that need help that we don’t know about. The program is a good fit for us.”

He first became familiar with the Foundation when his business, Murray Supply Walt Murray Company, established a scholarship fund for its employees that the Foundation administers. When the Murrays established

Y SAIL: Sailing into a brighter future Eleven-year-old Pamela Tejada admits she was a little scared when she first tried to sail the boat she helped build with other Latham Elementary students and volunteers of the Y SAIL program. “At the end, I got in the boat by myself for the first time, I was like, ‘Wow, I did it!’” Pamela says.

The volunteer-led Y SAIL program of the YMCA teaches children how to build and sail a sailboat.

But constructing the 7.5-foot long sailboat that weighs 75 pounds provides other lessons as well.

First, children learn how to be safe in the water through

Fred Clifford applies a boat decal with Latham students.

(Other volunteers include Roma Combs, Fred Eldridge, Dick

“Learning to work together as a team has been good for the children,” she adds, and each youngster made a three-afternoon a week commitment to Y SAIL. Volunteers also incorporated school skills into the lessons as children learned metric measurements, sailboat terminology and knot-tying skills.

Volunteer Fred Clifford built sailboats professionally for 10 years, and he and his sailing friends developed the idea for Y SAIL after they retired. The YMCA partnered with the group to begin the program, and participants from The Children’s Home and YMCA Adventure Guides have also built boats.

“We like kids,” Clifford says. “The kids have loved it.” Y SAIL volunteers will work with Camp High Hopes campers this summer, and volunteers will be back building boats next fall.

Two Foundation grants totaling $14,600 in 2007 and 2008 enabled Y SAIL to reach out to children who would not otherwise be able to participate, and Clifford says, “That made all the difference.”

Hattaway, Barry Henderson, George Lamb, Jeff Stallings, and Don Stovall)

swimming lessons. “We’ve broken a lot of barriers,” says Karen Valecillo-Pereira, Program Director of the YMCA’s 21st Century Community Learning Site. “Three to four of the children had never jumped into the water before Y SAIL, and now they’ve learned how to be safe in the water, how to build a boat and sail it.”

Y SAIL regatta on Salem Lake

the Walter V. and Martha W. Murray Advised Fund, they welcomed the idea of receiving funding opportunity recommendations from Foundation staff and felt that “this would be a good way for us to do what we wanted to do.”

Donor Services Officer Jonathan Halsey sees many benefits that come from Grantmaking Partners. First, the partnership adds to the unrestricted grantmaking resources that allow the Foundation to respond to changing community needs. In 2008, the Foundation awarded $24 million in total grants, and most grantmaking was donor-advised; only $2 million came from unrestricted funds, which provide more flexibility for community grantmaking.

“The program enables us to help more people,” Halsey says. It also provides the opportunity for staff “to introduce donors to nonprofits in our community they may not be aware of.”

“It’s a real compliment when donors participate,” he continues, “They trust the Foundation to make good grantmaking decisions and to be good stewards of their money.”

In some ways, Grantmaking Partners offers the best of both scenarios: it gives donors more choices in how their funds may be directed, and it gives the Foundation the potential to fund more unique projects.

A Winston-Salem native, Murray and his father started their business in 1965. He’s thankful for the opportunities he had growing up, and he wants to be able to share that with others. Both Murray and his wife volunteer regularly at Crisis Control Ministry, and he is chairman of Winston-Salem Crimestoppers.

Through Grantmaking Partners, the Murrays have supported projects as diverse as a Little Theatre branding study and the YMCA’s Y SAIL program (stories are adjacent).

When they choose to partner with the Foundation to support a grant, some projects naturally fit their interests: “My wife and I enjoy theater, the arts,” Murray says, but projects also appeal to them for other reasons. “The other is a need basis: it’s just an opportunity to help.”

Through Grantmaking Partners the Murrays have learned much about our community; Walt believes that participating in the program enables them to “have a bigger impact and affect more people.”

For more information on how you can become a Grantmaking Partner, contact Jonathan Halsey at 336-714-3466 or jhalsey@wsfoundation.org.

TWIN CITY STAGE: A new look for an old favorite There’s nothing “little” about the Little Theatre of WinstonSalem.

And as a result of a $30,000 Foundation grant made in 2007, a new branding campaign has been designed to clear up any community confusion.

The new name and logo “Twin City Stage” was introduced in April in anticipation of their 2009-2010 75th Anniversary Season.

“We’re not really changing anything we do, and we’re not changing who we are,” says Norman Ussery, Executive Director of Twin City Stage. “The purpose of the project was to study the branding to see what people thought of us and how people thought of us.”

The study showed that many people in the community were confusing The Little Theatre with The Children’s Theatre, which is housed in the same building.

“The word ‘little’ was getting in the way,” Ussery says. “We’re just trying to remove the barrier.”

Twin City Stage performs in a 540–seat venue, and many of those involved in productions have a performing background but have chosen to pursue other careers. As a result, patrons of Twin City Stage enjoy top-caliber performances.

“There’s very little “little” about it,” Ussery says.

“We’re just not New York.”

The new name not only removes the word “little,” but also refers to the history of the city and the two unique cities, Winston and Salem, that merged, Ussery says.

An unintended benefit of the study is that Twin City Stage will merge its children’s theatre opportunities with The Children’s Theatre of Winston-Salem, and the teen and adult programming will be offered through Twin City Stage, Ussery says.

“The Foundation has really made itself committed to the arts and cultural scene in Winston-Salem,” he says. “We identified the problem, and they funded the solution.” community matters [4–5]

Charitable Giving In Uncertain Times During the global economic downturn, financial markets meltdown, political transition, and nearcollapse of the U.S. banking system that began last year, you might expect that charitable giving would be one of the first casualties of the turmoil as charitable individuals and families find themselves forced to reexamine their motivations, and reorder their priorities, in response to changes in their incomes and portfolios.

Cash flow and asset security have become even more important as people struggle to respond to an unfamiliar financial landscape with unclear rules. Anecdotal evidence suggests that charitable giving, while not curtailed, has certainly been constrained, as more nonprofit entities report fundraising shortfalls and more restrictive grant environments.

Although the near-term outlook for charities and chari-

gifts can still be made when securities have less appreciation, as a means to step up basis in an equity position that you want to maintain; by donating the stock, and using the cash you would otherwise have used for a charitable gift to repurchase the position, the new holding will have basis equal to its purchase price, and you’ll have avoided tax on unrealized gains already built into the security holding.

It is still important to note that intent to make a gift is the single most important factor in charitable giving, as no tax or financial technique exists that allows for the transfer of assets to a nonprofit entity which leaves the donor better off economically than before the gift. Even so, as committed persons seek to continue charitable giving, advisors can play a key role in maximizing benefits for donors and the charitable entities and pursuits they want to support.

So how do you go about giving in uncertain times? Start by making the decision as an individual, or a family, to commit yourself to a charitable goal. If that goal is to help an institution or a cause that’s important to you, then decide how to fulfill it (e.g. when, with what assets, via which funding vehicle). If you want to make a commitment but aren’t certain to whom or how, contact the staff at The Winston-Salem Foundation for opportunities that might appeal to you. If being involved helps you define your interests, contact an organization like HandsOn Northwest North Carolina (www.volunteer-connections.com) to explore volunteer opportunities available in the community.

Most importantly, don’t abandon or postpone your philanthropic goals out of uncertainty or concern – seek out resources, persons, and institutions that make it possible for you to make and keep the commitments that are important to you. Uncertain times provide opportunities for us to be active in charity and willing in service.

“The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams, but in active charity and in willing service.”

– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow table giving looks challenging, there are still many who have organizations and pursuits they want to support; as a reader of this newsletter, you may find yourself in this situation as well.

Do you find that the current climate of uncertainty leads to a reluctance to act, while you also feel a need or desire to do so? Even more so than in less turbulent times, as you make your charitable giving plans, you should include your legal and financial advisors to help you realize your goals, and make your gifts work as efficiently as possible.

Some techniques that at first glance might not appear as appropriate when markets are depressed can still have use as you consider your charitable commitments. For example, gifts of appreciated stock (held for more than one year) are often made when markets are rising, because you can capture significant gains in an equity position, obtain a deduction for full fair market value and avoid income tax on the gain. However, such

MICHAEL A. TRAWICK, CPA/PFS, CFP® IS A PRINCIPAL OF SAUNDERS, STRODE & TRAWICK, P.A., IN WINSTON-SALEM.

Black Philanthropy Initiative Announces First Grant Recipients Forsyth Technical Community College to enhance in February the Foundation’s Black Philanthropy the Transitions: Next Steps program to improve retention and Initiative (BPI) announced $25,000 in grants awarded from graduation rates of minority males at the community college. the Black Philanthropy Fund’s first grant cycle. Richard N. North Forsyth High School Davis, who served as 2008 chairman of to purchase 41 graphing calculators BPI, states, “The Black Philanthropy to be awarded to student athletes who Initiative is proud to be announcing our improve their math grades through first round of grants to five very worthy required tutoring. community projects focusing on educaQuality Education Academy tion. This is a wonderful new giving trafor Project STAY, an after school prodition in our African-American commugram that focuses on Forsyth County nity, and we look forward to announcing area students (ages 13-17) at high risk BPI Grant Recipients at the February 17 our second grant cycle in late 2009.”

Grants Announcement of dropping out of school.

Grants in the amount of $5,000 YWCA of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County to purwere awarded to each of the following five organizations: chase an academic skills software program for Best Choice Family Services, Inc. to support the establishment of a Center, an after school and summer program to enhance stupermanent extended day Head Start program with a focus in dents’ academic performance. math and science.

Youth Grantmakers in Action Announce 2009 Grant Recipients An enthusiastic group of youth and parents came together on March 4 at The Enrichment Center to announce and celebrate Youth Grantmakers in Action’s fourth cycle of grants since its inception in 2005. Six grants totaling $1,690 were made to projects that will help the youth of Forsyth County make a positive difference in our community.

The Tennis Instructors at Mt. Tabor High School $200 grant to host a clinic highlighting tennis basics

and the importance of physical fitness for youth Winston Lake Family YMCA Black Achievers

$300 grant to begin a teen golf club at the Winston Lake YMCA.

Cancer Awareness and Research for Everyone (C.A.R.E.) Club $200 grant to distribute breast cancer aware-

ness and prevention materials to Reagan High School students and their families Carver High School Lunch Bunch Book Club

$370 grant to purchase books for a student-led book club at Carver High School Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Mt. Tabor High School $300 grant to host a carnival for children at

Charlois Fletcher of the

The Children’s Center

Achievers accepts grant

Forsyth Country Day Cooking Club $320 grant to

from YGA members Widnelia

prepare meals for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House

Garcia and Ana Rice

Winston Lake YMCA Black

2008-2009 Youth Grantmakers in Action

community matters [6–7]

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage paid Winston-Salem, NC Permit No. 406 8 60 W est Fifth Stree t W insto n -Salem, NC 271 0 1-25 0 6 Telep ho n e 336- 72 5- 2382 To ll Fr e e 866-227- 12 0 9 F a x 336-72 7- 0 581 w w w .w sfoundation.org

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

Foundation’s Annual Report Wins National Award

The Winston-Salem

The Foundation received the Award for its 2008 Report

Foundation has been

to the Community/2007 Annual Report entitled “where

named a Bronze Award

Integrity Shines.” Other medal winners in the same

winner for excellence

category were The Cleveland Foundation and The

in communications by

Boston Foundation.

the 2009 Wilmer Shields Rich Awards Program.

Sponsored by the Council on Foundations, the awards program recognizes effective communications

Entries to the awards program included annual or biennial reports, magazines/periodicals, special reports, public information campaigns and Web sites. This year, a total of 199 entries were submitted.

efforts to increase public awareness of foundations and

To request a copy, contact us at 336-725-2382 or lwarren@

corporate giving programs.

wsfoundation.org.