If you are age 70-1/2 or over, have an IRA, and are charity-minded, please read this column. Last fall, President Bush signed the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (HR4), which includes the IRA Charitable Rollover provision. This provision is an incentive for IRA owners to rollover contributions to charity rather than pay taxes on […]
I hope that you have had the chance to read the article in last Saturday’s Morris Daily Herald about the “first ever” meeting on public transportation in Grundy County. The meeting last Friday was hosted by Richard Joyce of the Grundy County board and the Morris Community Foundation. “Thank you” to all who attended!
Public Transportation Read More »
The Morris Community Foundation’s national organization is the Council on Foundations in Washington, DC. This organization supports all types of foundations, such as family, corporate, and community, by watching out for federal regulations and issues that affect our daily activities. Last summer the Council hired Ken Strmiska as the Director of Community Foundation Services.
Let's Not be Neutral Conveners Read More »
The Morris Community Foundation has two board members who have announced that they will be retiring from the board this summer: Rev. Chuck Richardson and Andy Hunt. This is sad news for us simply because they are two very hard-working individuals who have brought ideas, energy, and responsibility to the table. However, “hard-working” may
The Morris Community Foundation has examined some of the workforce issues in our county as part of our CommunityWorks program. Local business and industry have told us that the problems are not as much skill-related as those of attitude, ethics, and character. The Foundation will be sponsoring programs that focus on “attitude for work” to
Lessons From the Traveler's Gift Read More »
December was a busy month for the Morris Community Foundation because of all of the year-end activity. Many members of our community remember our organization in their year-end charitable giving and we’d like to publicly thank all of them for their support. Last month was also a milestone for the Foundation for two reasons.
New Year, New Funds Read More »
The word “leverage” is quite the buzz word in most business and not-for-profit sectors. I looked it up and one definition of “leverage” is “the use of a small initial investment…to gain a very high return in relation to one’s investment…” One reason “leverage” is such a buzz word in the community foundation field
Morris and Grundy County have always been a generous community. If there is a person, family, or agency in need, our residents open their hearts and their wallets to help. However, we’ve not always been philanthropic, and there is a difference. The difference between generosity and philanthropy is meeting the immediate need versus looking
The Power of Philanthropy Read More »
I just returned from “pahking my cah in Hahvah yahd.” I was in Boston last week for the Council on Foundations’ Community Foundations annual conference. The event is always jam-packed with seminars and workshops on all types of topics. Some topics are basic for all not-for-profit organizations, such as board governance, marketing, and fiscal
New Model of Community Foundation Read More »
Last week a group of us attended the “Dynamic Leadership Conference for Enterprising Nonprofits,” which was hosted by the Grand Victoria Foundation and held at Elgin Community College. The workshops for the day reviewed different aspects of leadership, including staff leadership, board leadership, the leadership of organizations in the community, and the leadership of
Leadership in Transition Read More »