Moments in Philanthropy :: September 2011
In This Issue
New Funds at Madison Community Foundation
Join Us For A Celebration of Philanthropy
Completing The Road Home Housing & Hope Capital Campaign
Mary Burke – Why I Give
Little Free Libraries
Rio Community Funds: Momentum is Building
Library Endowments Go A Long Way
New Funds at Madison Community Foundation
Charlotte Dixon Scholarship - - For a $500 annual scholarship to an Albany School District student
BadgerBOTS Endowment - - For the benefit of the BadgerBots robotics program
BadgerBOTS Passthrough Fund - - For the benefit of the BadgerBots robotics program
Join Us For A Celebration of Philanthropy
The Madison Community Foundation Annual Celebration has a fun new format for 2011.
Join us on September 25th from 6-8 p.m. at the Madison Children’s Museum to commemorate the impact made in the local and larger community by generous fundholders and donors like you. The event is underwritten by CUNA Mutual Foundation.
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Light hors d’oeuvres will be served.
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Ample street parking is available.
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Cost is $15 per person.*
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Your payment will serve as your reservation and must be received in our office by September 19.
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You may pay with a credit card using our secure online site here. -
You may, instead, send checks to: Madison Community Foundation, P.O. Box 5010, Madison, WI 53705-0010
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For more information, please call or email Darcy Kobinsky at (608) 232-1763.
*The payment is not tax deductible.
Completing The Road Home Housing & Hope Capital Campaign
Rachel Krinsky is still pinching herself.
“The Road Home began a $4.5 million Housing & Hope capital campaign to build 30 units of affordable housing coupled with long-term support services for homeless families just before the economic down turn four years ago,” Krinsky said. “We completed the Phase I buildings in mid-2010. By January 2011, reaching the full campaign total seemed impossible. We wondered if we should be content with providing a smaller, 7-unit Phase II plus the endowment for support services. Then, unexpectedly, several generous local philanthropists stepped up to help push us toward our goal. Today we celebrate having the ability to complete the larger vision. Over the years, many dozens of families will have a chance at a new life because of these generous donors.”
MCF Board member Mary Burke was one of the philanthropists who stepped forward to help complete the campaign. “I just can’t stand the idea of and kids with no place to go,” said Burke. Her story is in a letter below.
Over the years, many dozens of families will be helped. The Road Home Board of Directors and staff are so grateful to our donors for providing this innovative strategy that pairs affordable apartments with long-term, on-site support services for homeless families. The buildings are located in mixed use neighborhoods with access to bus lines and grocery stores. A portion of the funds are earmarked for the “Forever Fund” endowment already established at the Madison Community Foundation. Distributions from the Fund will help offset the costs of maintenance, rent, and support services, ensuring support and affordability for families in need far into the future.
To find out more about The Road Home projects, click here.
To contribute to “The Forever Fund,” click here.
Mary Burke – Why I Give
The following is an article published in the 2011 The Road Home Summer Newsletter,
written by MCF Board member Mary Burke.
The Road Home asked me to share the reasons that I give. It is very simple: Because I can and because I get a lot more value and satisfaction out of giving than spending the money on myself. I am blessed to have both more time and more money than I truly need. For many years, I spent money on things because I could, not because it brought me more happiness. I have changed my approach. Now, before I spend money I consider how meaningful it is to me versus how meaningful it would be to someone who does not have stable housing or access to educational opportunities. This has led me to donate my jewelry to a charity fundraiser, be happy with the clothes I have and not feel I need new ones, trade my car in for a less expensive model, and downsize my house. I still live well but a lot simpler and I have never been happier.
It has taken me 50 years to understand what my parents knew all along – it is not what we have but what we give that defines us. I also learned from my father when he passed away unexpectedly 3 years ago that our time here is limited and we never know when it may end. So I now try to make the most of every day and don’t wait for the future to give all that I can.
The Road Home gave me an opportunity to give that not only relieves the suffering of families by providing them a home, but also gives these families the support they need to build independent lives. The Housing & Hope Program with case management support addresses the underlying causes of homelessness and thus breaks the cycle. Long-term stability in housing is needed if children are to have the emotional and physical strength to succeed in school. Parents need this stability in housing to maintain employment and have the time to spend developing their children.
I give because we have tremendous challenges facing our community and because there are great organizations like The Road Home that help people overcome these challenges.
Little Free Libraries Receives $5,800 Grant
MCF granted $5,800 to Wisconsin Partners for SustainAbility to underwrite the costs of ten or more Little Free Libraries for neighborhood groups in Dane County that might not otherwise be able to afford them and for educational outreach and promotion materials to expand the Little Free Library network in Dane County.
The project promotes the sharing of books, increasing literacy for all ages, and building a sense of community.
The brainchild of Tod Bol of Hudson and Rick Brooks of Madison, the project was inspired by those who traveled the back roads of Wisconsin to lend books in the early 20th century.
“Take a book, leave a book is the concept here,” said Brooks. “The excitement of sharing and the enthusiasm of generosity both contribute to a greater sense of community. People love to be involved in using such a unique resource and children love to see what is new in the box and leave their own books for other children to find. Our idea is to create more libraries than Andrew Carnegie, and to make Madison “The City with the Most Libraries in the World”
Madison now boasts almost 40 units, with plans for more to soon be installed in Dane County. The MCF grant will help place Little Free Libraries where a community might not have the available funds to erect one. The monies are used for the actual box, installation, membership in the Little Free Library system, ongoing advice and support for the designated Steward, and listing on the Little Free Libraries website.
For more information on the Little Free Libraries Projects, click here.
Rio Community Funds: Momentum is Building
The Rio Community Foundation effort to build a culture of giving has gained momentum and is headed towards the goal of being fully funded by the end of 2011.
Started in 2002 as a group of several endowments to provide a permanent source of support for the Rio Library, school system, and the Rio community, several of the funds have reached maturity and are already providing distributions. The Library Fund, the Biddle Family scholarships, and the Strmiska Family Scholarship Fund are all fully endowed. The General Education Fund became fully endowed through the generous support of friends and community members in 2010 and will start making distributions in 2012.
The Rio Community Club swung into action earlier this year to accelerate the growth of the General Community Fund towards completion by contributing $5,000 and providing an additional $5,000 matching challenge grant. For every dollar contributed to the General Community Fund through the end of 2011, the Community Club will match dollar for dollar up to $5,000.
“It’s been really great to see the momentum take off in Rio,” said Bob Sorge, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships. “While it took several years to build the initial base of $30,000, in the last 2-3 years they’ve multiplied that almost four-fold! They have well over $100,000 in endowments and scholarships and have a wonderful story to tell about what is possible when a small community comes together.”
For more information on the Rio Funds, click here.
If you wish to help bring the Rio General Fund to fruition, click here.
Be sure to click the drop down box to Rio Community Foundation-General Community Fund
Library Endowments Go a Long Way
Since the year 2000, eleven new Dane County Library endowments have been created at Madison Community Foundation, bringing the total to 20. The corpus of these funds has grown twenty-fold over the past decade, from $20,000 in 2000 to over $2.4 million in 2010. These endowments will ensure that area libraries can provide current materials and programming for future generations of patrons.
Jane Roughen, Madison Library Communications Services Manager/Branches, used the Sequoya Branch Library endowment to explain how library endowments are regarded. “Endowment funds are essential in providing seed money for that great idea that might otherwise lose focus or momentum while awaiting ‘institutional reprioritization.’ The Sequoya community of voracious readers, listeners and viewers has very high expectations with regard to collection depth and breadth. An example? Think e-books. Sequoya’s endowment funds will help fill the growing demand for e-books. The Sequoya community values classes and events for children and adults; endowment proceeds will allow planners to think in terms of more elaborate collaborative projects such as an artist or author in residence or lay groundwork for other creative initiatives.”
Pamela Westby from Middleton Public Library said, “The Middleton Public Library’s general endowment has funded a number of projects to support the Library’s mission. Over the years, projects were identified by staff, the board or the public as worthy enhancements not in the Library's general operating budget. For example, Middleton Public Library circulates laptops for the public to use in the Library. The program was made possible through a grant from our endowment and has been popular with our patrons. Another year, the endowment sponsored the construction of an outdoor reading and seating cove and garden area near the front entrance to the Library.”
Marc Gartler, Supervising Librarian of the Lakeview and Hawthorne Branches, said “We are planning on using distributions from the Hawthorne endowment to fund an AWE Early Literacy station, a dynamic all-in-one learning station for children 2-10 that has seen excellent usage in other library installations. We could not do this without the extra money from the endowment.”
Mary Burton, Pinney Branch Supervising Librarian said, “Pinney has a small endowment not yet producing distributions. In 2010, a Friends of the Library member was so impassioned by MCF staff talking about the long term power of an endowment that they inspired the Group to donate at least $1000 a year to the endowment. The Group also raised an extra $1000 in 2011 for a memorial donation to honor long time supervisor Norma Hansen, who passed away earlier this year.”
Library endowments go a long way in helping meet the varied needs of community libraries.
If you would like to contribute to one of the Dane County Library endowments, click here.