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February
18, 2003 North Central Community Foundations Meet in AtkinsonATKINSON—More than 50 representatives from 12 communities in Holt, Brown, Rock, Boyd and Garfield counties attended a regional meeting of the affiliated funds of the Nebraska Community Foundation on Wednesday, February 12 at the Atkinson Community Center. The community leaders shared successes in attracting and putting charitable dollars to work in their hometowns. They learned how to build a broad base of support, how to raise money to build community facilities and how to plan for large gifts from wills and bequests. Jan Krotter Chvala of Atkinson, a member of the Nebraska Community Foundation Board of Directors, and Doug Friedli of Nebraska City, the Foundation’s Development Director, led the discussion. Representatives of the Burwell Community Fund Board of Directors told of their broad grass roots support, with more than 600 individual contributions to the community, totaling more than $275,000. Only one of the donations has been more than $25,000 and 83 percent of the donations have come from local residents. Bassett leaders told of the recent announcement of an anonymous bequest, confirmed by a local resident in his will. A $100,000 gift annuity has already been funded and another $2 million or more is expected through the will. Other communities represented were Spencer, Stuart, O’Neill, Atkinson, Butte, Chambers, Emmet, Ainsworth, Long Pine and Page. Chvala told the community leaders, “Most of you are like me. We have chosen to make our home in rural Nebraska because we love it here. Our area is a wonderful place to live, to raise families and to enjoy life. But our lifestyle as we know it, and the future of our hometowns, are in jeopardy. We need to find solutions and find them now.” She said the regional meeting was organized to share those solutions. “Our local community foundations offer us some solutions. We need to know and understand what our local foundations can do for us and our communities, and to put them to work for us in our hometowns.” Friedli presented information on the intergenerational transfer of wealth that is now occurring in the United States and Nebraska, and provided information on the 50 year wealth transfer amounts expected in each of the five counties represented. “The Nebraska Community Foundation continues to support the efforts of local communities, such as yours, as you build endowments to keep some of the wealth at home,” he said. The Foundation is currently working with 54 Nebraska communities in building local endowments. Those communities now have nearly $17 million in assets and expectancies, an increase of 60 percent in the last year. Friedli also reported that the Foundation has helped its affiliated funds raise more than $60 million since it’s beginning in 1993. More than $30 million has been distributed back to community betterment and economic development projects and programs. Current assets are $16 million, with another $15 million in expectancies (planned gifts and known wills and bequests). “This generous outpouring by Nebraskans and former Nebraskans is completely opposite of what might be expected in light of the doom and gloom stories of the drought, declining stock market, terrorism, threat of war and government budget deficits. Perhaps it is in fact because of those things that donors are being so generous to their Nebraska hometowns,” Friedli said. Chvala said that she was very pleased by the attendance and information sharing at the Atkinson meeting. She reported on the meeting at the Foundation’s quarterly board of directors meeting in Kearney on February 14 and encouraged directors to host similar meetings in their regions of the state. The Nebraska Community Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization that provides financial management, strategic development and education/training services to communities, organizations and donors throughout Nebraska. It was incorporated in August 1993 and received its 501(C)(3) charitable foundation status from the Internal Revenue Service in 1994. It accepted its first affiliated funds in 1994 and now has over 154 affiliated funds operating in about 70 of the state’s 93 counties. For more information, please contact Jeff Yost, Executive Vice-President of the Nebraska Community Foundation at 402-323-7332 or e-mail him at jeffyost@nebcommfound.org. --30-- Return to TOP |
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Nebraska Community Foundation PO Box 83107 Lincoln, NE 68501 Phone: (402) 323-7330 Fax: (402) 323-7349 E-mail: webmaster@nebcommfound.org |
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