Columns and Essays
CFGC board and staff have written columns and essays for various publications and social media over the years to better tell the story of what we do, why we do it, and the benefits to the community. Enjoy! And, as always, please call us if you have questions!
For Donors
October 24, 2019
by Julianne Buck
Executive Director
It’s October (my favorite month) and Halloween (my favorite holiday!). It also means year-end giving planning season is here!
Many nonprofits are prepping their year-end appeals to get mailed. Many donors are planning if, when, how, and how much they’ll give in year-end gifts to their favorite charities.
The most popular year-end gift is cash. Clean, easy, efficient. If your gift is over $250, the receiving charity must send you a tax receipt. If you gift is under $250, I believe that the receiving charity should send you a tax receipt anyway – it’s good donor relations! The tax receipt should also include how the charity plans to use your gift. Even gifts of $250 or less are impactful for charities!
Growing in popularity are gifts of appreciated stock. A couple of points, if I may: first check with your favorite charity to see if they have the ability to accept gifts of stock. This means they need a gift acceptance policy, a brokerage account where your financial agent will transfer the stock, and the charity needs sell orders in place so there’s no delay in the sale of the stock, which is then deposited into their designated account (usually checking). This is all assuming that the charity’s Gift Acceptance Policy allows for the acceptance of stock and the procedure of selling donated stock immediately.
Secondly, if you are going to donate stock, please do it no later than early December as it takes time to transfer the stock, liquidate it, and deposit it. With holiday closings, it’s best to not wait until the last two weeks of December.
Gifts of grain: this may sound a bit odd during a fall harvest that will most likely result in lower yields, but it is still worth mentioning. Again, ask your favorite charity whether they accept gifts of grain and how they will liquidate it. Again, the charity needs to have accounts set up in advance so that the transaction is smooth from start to finish. When grain is delivered to the elevator, the farmer informs the elevator how many bushels are “owned” by the charity, who then gives sale instructions to the elevator. The whole process is nearly identical to the donation, acceptance, sale, and deposit of gifts of stock.
Gifts of land and farmland: The Foundation has always accepted gifts of real estate upon review. Basic real estate such as residential lots are sold upon receipt and the cash is deposited into donor-designed funds or to the Foundation in general. As of early 2019, the Foundation, via Keep Grundy Growing LLC, will accept and retain gifts of farmland into donor-designed funds. Our half of the net proceeds of the farm operations is then available for grantmaking. For example, our new Peg Davis Seneca Civic Fund provides approximately $30,000 a year (forever) for grantmaking in Seneca as recommended by the Davis Civic Fund Committee.
As our area farmers plan their retirement, we hope they will consider gifts of farmland to us via Keep Grundy Growing LLC into funds to benefit us or their favorite charities. And, as with all of our donor-designed funds, donors can choose whether to allow children and grandchildren the right to advise on the grantmaking after the donors’ lifetime. What a great opportunity to build a family legacy, even for families who don’t want to farm the land anymore!
Gifts from your IRA: if you are age 70-1/2 or older, you can donate money from your IRA as part of your annual Required Minimum Distribution and not have that money counted as income, therefore no income tax on that portion. But please remember two things: 1) the gift must be transferred by your IRA administrator directly to the charity – if it comes to you first, it will be categorized as income. 2) gifts from IRAs can fund donor-designed funds at the Community Foundation – EXCEPT donor advised funds.
Lastly, bundling. With the new tax law raising the itemized amount to $24,000 per couple, fewer of us are able to itemize our charitable deductions. One option to still receiving itemized deductions is to bundle multi-year gifts into one. If you usually give your favorite charity $10,000 a year, you can “bundle” five years’ worth into one $50,000 gift to charity now, take the tax deduction allowed, make no gifts for four years, and repeat the bundled gift in Year 5.
Caution: Before you do this, ask your charity what they will do with that bundled gifts…do they realize that they will get zero dollars for four years? Will they spend your bundled amount now and go without until the next bundled gift arrives? Or will they save the money and only use $10,000 a year until the next bundled gift arrives?
Regardless of your charity’s answer, one solution is to use that bundled amount to start a donor advised or designated fund at the Community Foundation. With either fund, you as the donor get to choose the receiving charity and the timing of the distribution.
As I’ve said before, you don’t give TO the Community Foundation, you give THROUGH the Community Foundation. Regardless of your situation, we can help you structure a solution that works for both you and your favorite charity. Please be sure to contact us for more information. We are located at 520 W. Illinois Avenue in the historic Coleman Hardware building. You can also call us at 815-941-0852 or email me at [email protected].
And, as with all of our information, we ask you to consult your professional advisors before taking any action.
Happy Halloween!
For Nonprofits
October 24, 2019
by Julianne Buck
Executive Director
It’s October (my favorite month) and Halloween (my favorite holiday!). It also means year-end giving planning season is here!
Many nonprofits are prepping their year-end appeals to get mailed. Many donors are planning if, when, how, and how much they’ll give in year-end gifts to their favorite charities.
The most popular year-end gift is cash. Clean, easy, efficient. If your gift is over $250, the receiving charity must send you a tax receipt. If you gift is under $250, I believe that the receiving charity should send you a tax receipt anyway – it’s good donor relations! The tax receipt should also include how the charity plans to use your gift. Even gifts of $250 or less are impactful for charities!
Growing in popularity are gifts of appreciated stock. A couple of points, if I may: first check with your favorite charity to see if they have the ability to accept gifts of stock. This means they need a gift acceptance policy, a brokerage account where your financial agent will transfer the stock, and the charity needs sell orders in place so there’s no delay in the sale of the stock, which is then deposited into their designated account (usually checking). This is all assuming that the charity’s Gift Acceptance Policy allows for the acceptance of stock and the procedure of selling donated stock immediately.
Secondly, if you are going to donate stock, please do it no later than early December as it takes time to transfer the stock, liquidate it, and deposit it. With holiday closings, it’s best to not wait until the last two weeks of December.
Gifts of grain: this may sound a bit odd during a fall harvest that will most likely result in lower yields, but it is still worth mentioning. Again, ask your favorite charity whether they accept gifts of grain and how they will liquidate it. Again, the charity needs to have accounts set up in advance so that the transaction is smooth from start to finish. When grain is delivered to the elevator, the farmer informs the elevator how many bushels are “owned” by the charity, who then gives sale instructions to the elevator. The whole process is nearly identical to the donation, acceptance, sale, and deposit of gifts of stock.
Gifts of land and farmland: The Foundation has always accepted gifts of real estate upon review. Basic real estate such as residential lots are sold upon receipt and the cash is deposited into donor-designed funds or to the Foundation in general. As of early 2019, the Foundation, via Keep Grundy Growing LLC, will accept and retain gifts of farmland into donor-designed funds. Our half of the net proceeds of the farm operations is then available for grantmaking. For example, our new Peg Davis Seneca Civic Fund provides approximately $30,000 a year (forever) for grantmaking in Seneca as recommended by the Davis Civic Fund Committee.
As our area farmers plan their retirement, we hope they will consider gifts of farmland to us via Keep Grundy Growing LLC into funds to benefit us or their favorite charities. And, as with all of our donor-designed funds, donors can choose whether to allow children and grandchildren the right to advise on the grantmaking after the donors’ lifetime. What a great opportunity to build a family legacy, even for families who don’t want to farm the land anymore!
Gifts from your IRA: if you are age 70-1/2 or older, you can donate money from your IRA as part of your annual Required Minimum Distribution and not have that money counted as income, therefore no income tax on that portion. But please remember two things: 1) the gift must be transferred by your IRA administrator directly to the charity – if it comes to you first, it will be categorized as income. 2) gifts from IRAs can fund donor-designed funds at the Community Foundation – EXCEPT donor advised funds.
Lastly, bundling. With the new tax law raising the itemized amount to $24,000 per couple, fewer of us are able to itemize our charitable deductions. One option to still receiving itemized deductions is to bundle multi-year gifts into one. If you usually give your favorite charity $10,000 a year, you can “bundle” five years’ worth into one $50,000 gift to charity now, take the tax deduction allowed, make no gifts for four years, and repeat the bundled gift in Year 5.
Caution: Before you do this, ask your charity what they will do with that bundled gifts…do they realize that they will get zero dollars for four years? Will they spend your bundled amount now and go without until the next bundled gift arrives? Or will they save the money and only use $10,000 a year until the next bundled gift arrives?
Regardless of your charity’s answer, one solution is to use that bundled amount to start a donor advised or designated fund at the Community Foundation. With either fund, you as the donor get to choose the receiving charity and the timing of the distribution.
As I’ve said before, you don’t give TO the Community Foundation, you give THROUGH the Community Foundation. Regardless of your situation, we can help you structure a solution that works for both you and your favorite charity. Please be sure to contact us for more information. We are located at 520 W. Illinois Avenue in the historic Coleman Hardware building. You can also call us at 815-941-0852 or email me at [email protected].
And, as with all of our information, we ask you to consult your professional advisors before taking any action.
Happy Halloween!
by Julianne Buck
Executive Director
I’ve been working on our National Standards again – how fun is that?? This is our third time as we get re-confirmed every five years.
While it might feel like drudgery, it is reinvigorating for me to know that the Community Foundation of Grundy County operates (and always has) within the Best Management Practices set forth by our industry. The National Standards team at the Council on Foundations is also always learning, so while we may be doing things correctly, there’s always room for improvement.
Nonprofits large enough to file an annual 990 with the IRS and the Illinois Attorney General know that we need to have a series of policies in place to assure that we have governance and oversight by our boards of directors (990 Part VI Section B). Policies we need to have in place (and exercise!) include Conflict of Interest, Whistleblower, and Record Retention and Destruction.
I advocate that a Conflict of Interest Policy cover real and perceived conflicts. In rural America it’s difficult to totally avoid conflicts as we have a limited number of people to serve on boards, limited numbers of banks and financial institutions, and limited numbers of businesses to purchase from and enter into contracts with. Boards and staff must pay special attention and be sure to point out conflicts when they arise, note in the minutes when a board member abstains, and also note if a staff or volunteer has a real or perceived conflict.
Yes, I said volunteers. Conflicts of Interest Policies should pertain to all boards, committees, staff, and volunteers – anyone who has the potential to profit from a nonprofit’s actions and/or apply undue influence. Conflict of Interest policies have signature sheets – one for each person in the groups above – that are signed and dated annually. Most nonprofits collect signature sheets at either their annual meeting or at the beginning of their fiscal year.
In addition, while not part of the 990, I believe best practices for any nonprofit should include policies for Gift Acceptance, Donor Confidentiality, Donor Acknowledgement, Nondiscrimination, Investments and Spending, and PR/Social Media, as well as Personnel Handbooks.
It’s sad that our society has gotten to the point of needing policies and signatures for everything, but we’ve all heard horror stories. Policies, procedures, and diligent monitoring of them can help any nonprofit avoid negative publicity and damage to the organization.
Having said all of this, I’ve decided to re-start Nonprofit Tools for Success which is a monthly gathering for nonprofits where we’ll have workshops on a wide variety of topics: policies, marketing, donor relations, fundraising, boards and governance, finances, and more. We hosted these monthly workshops for a few years and got away from them but I believe it’s time to bring them back.
Yes, workshops for nonprofits are hosted elsewhere, but for the most part it takes an entire day because it’s usually a 2-hour round trip whether it’s Chicago, Peoria, DeKalb, Kankakee, Champaign, or Bloomington. Also, I can find local/regional talent to teach it, which I believe is useful because it keeps it rural and more in line with what our nonprofits experience. Lastly, hosting it locally makes it more accessible to our nonprofit boards and committees. We CEOs would love for our boards to attend more trainings, but it is difficult to ask volunteer board members to take a day or two off work to travel and attend. If I host workshops over breakfast or lunch or after work, there’s a greater opportunity for board participation.
In the meantime, if anyone would like a template policy that they can adapt for their own use, please do not hesitate to contact me – we are happy to share!
Also, I have done half day board retreats and strategic planning sessions for local nonprofits for free. If your board has been talking about one or you believe it’s time to introduce it to your board, please call me to chat. Just because we’re small nonprofits serving a rural county doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have our governance in place.
As always, the Community Foundation of Grundy County is here to help! You can visit us at 520 W. Illinois Avenue in the historic Coleman Hardware Building in Morris, online at cfgrundycounty.com, or phone us at 815-941-0852.
Happy Corn Festival!
May 9, 2019
by Julianne Buck
Executive Director
Over the years I know that some nonprofits have believed the Community Foundation to be a competitor for donor dollars.
That may have been the case in our early years as we hustled around Grundy getting matching dollars for the Grand Victoria Foundation $2 million match, but since then we’ve built up our operating endowment, administrative fee fund, and investment returns to produce 87% of our annual budget. Now we rely on our year-end annual appeal for only 13% of our annual budget and for that we are grateful for all of the donors and volunteers who helped us get here!
With that out of the way, we can focus on how the Community Foundation can be of help to our fellow nonprofits serving Grundy County. As you are out and about talking with donors about your organization, please keep these services in mind. If partnering with us helps you land that gift, we are always here to support you.
First, our fund offerings: A “Designated” fund is set up here by a donor to benefit a specific nonprofit. The donor tells us the month that the annual grant check is to be cut and we take care of it. The donor has no more decisions to make and your organization automatically gets an annual check.
An “Agency” fund is set up by the nonprofit with their own monies. Perhaps you got a large gift or great proceeds from a special event that you want to set aside for future income. We only accept Agency Endowments which means that the fund is a permanent fund of the Foundation and your organization automatically gets a 4% distribution/income check from us each year…forever. What a great way to build a permanent, steady income stream for your nonprofit!
“Donor Advised” funds are another resource for you as a nonprofit. Even if a fund here has chosen to remain anonymous, we can take your grant request and pass it along to them for their consideration. We’ve had MANY grants over the years occur this way. Because we interact with our fundholders on a regular basis, we know their passions, can share your programs, and facilitate a grant from their Donor Advised Fund. We find that our fundholders appreciate the vetting of ideas that we provide.
“Field of Interest” funds are pools of monies donated by like-minded people for a particular cause or issue. Quite often you’ll find us reaching out to nonprofits asking for ideas for who we can give grants to around these issues.
The IRS also has a broad definition of “nonprofit.” If your organization is a taxing body such as village, school, college, county, park, library, or fire district, we are a great resource for keeping your donor dollars separate from your tax dollars. The donor dollars stay here and you draw it down when you need it.
We want the nonprofits to understand our services so that you can incorporate them into your marketing and donor relations. We don’t say this to be selfish but to instead help you land those gifts, especially ones that are large and/or complex.
When a fund is established at the Community Foundation, it is invested in our large pool of funds. Because our assets are $10 million, we have access to more boutique, exclusive investment products that would not be available to nonprofits with smaller assets. We have a very diverse investment policy designed to achieve higher returns in good years and to better weather the low years. For those nonprofit boards wanting a rate of return higher than a CD or similar conservative investment, we believe we offer a strong service. All funds here are comingled for investment leverage but tracked and reported individually.
The Community Foundation can also accept complex gifts. Many nonprofits, especially small ones, accept cash, stock, and in-kind gifts. The Foundation can accept real estate, now including farms, and other highly-appreciated tangible gifts. This, along with our high level of governance, makes us an ideal partner when you’re out and about brainstorming with donors about how they can use their assets to support your organization.
If your nonprofit would like to learn more and/or invite us to present to your nonprofit board of directors, we are available! We realize that not all of our services are a good fit for your organization, but we ask you to be open-minded about how we can serve you.
“A rising tide lifts all boats” so if you do well, all of Grundy County benefits!
February 14, 2019
by Julianne Buck
Executive Director
In the early days of the Community Foundation, Jim Baum and I spent a lot of time and energy encouraging collaboration and breaking down silos. We believed that collaboration and partnership are the path to a greater quality of life in Grundy County…and we still do.
For the past 18 months a new collaboration has formed that is unique among nonprofits anywhere – a marketing co-op. What started off as a conversation around Giving Tuesday developed into the belief that nonprofit awareness, education, and fundraising happens all year long, not just one Tuesday a year.
We also believe that there is a high level of charitable spirit of giving and volunteering in Grundy and that it’s not taboo to collaborate around nonprofit marketing and donor education.
As a result, GiveGrundy was formed. We have grown into a marketing co-op of 13 nonprofits who serve Grundy County. We each have a different purpose and set of programs serving clients and addressing issues in our county.
As a marketing co-op, we have pooled our money to buy in bulk, making our nonprofit budgets stretch further. Throughout 2018 we had monthly stories and ads in the Morris Herald-News plus a video that Shaw Media did a great job producing for us. In 2019 we have ads running on WCSJ for the entire year. Only through a co-op can we as nonprofits afford such thorough advertising. Most nonprofits in Grundy County don’t even budget for marketing.
Perhaps “marketing” is a bad word in the nonprofit field. I guess we can also call it “education and awareness.” Regardless, it’s needed. Believe it or not, even with technology and social media, it’s difficult to get the word out about services for (especially) residents in need. We also use education and awareness to reach donors, fellow agencies, and elected officials about our services, why they’re needed, and the impact that our services are having. The more our peers know about us the more we can collaborate to better serve the community.
The 13 members of GiveGrundy are Community Nutrition Network, Easterseals Jump Start, Grundy County Veterans Assistance Commission, Grundy County Housing Authority, Grundy County PADS, Grundy-Three Rivers Habitat for Humanity, Illinois Valley Industries, Morris Downtown Development Partnership, Morris Hospital Foundation & Auxiliary, Three Rivers Public Library District, We Care of Grundy County, Will-Grundy Medical Clinic, and the Community Foundation of Grundy County.
One goal of GiveGrundy is to help the community better understand our services so that people can access them when needed. Another goal is to engage more deeply with donors to encourage them to explore their charitable passions, find charities doing that work, and support the charity(ies) through donations of cash, talent, and volunteerism.
We are proud to highlight our work and marketing pieces on https://givegrundy.com There you can view our videos, listen to our ads, and follow links to our individual agency websites.
It isn’t a question of where you give…just give.
Give you. Give Grundy.
July 6, 2017
by Julianne Buck
Executive Director
Do you remember the old commercial for BASF – “We don’t make the products you buy…we make the products you buy better”?
Because our mission is “to improve the quality of life in Grundy County through leadership & philanthropy,” the Community Foundation of Grundy County acts in a very similar manner – we’re not a nonprofit who provides direct services to clients – but we make those nonprofits better by providing them with services.
One of our services to nonprofits is grants. We have unrestricted grant dollars in our budget that we grant out monthly until the budget is zero. Nonprofits seeking these grants can contact Devan for instructions on how to apply.
Some grants go to nonprofits because a donor set up a designated fund for them. These grants are automatically paid out quarterly or annually depending on the donor’s instructions.
Other grants are sent out because a donor recommended that a grant be cut from their donor advised fund to a charity. When the donor set up the fund, they got an immediate tax deduction and can recommend grants at any time to favorite charities.
Another service to nonprofits is our office rentals. When we designed our new offices, we purposely included three small rental offices for nonprofits who want part-time space for a part-time price. Rent is $10 per half day and $20 per full day, which includes internet access, copier/printer, small conference room, large conference room, and 24/7 access to the building.
Donors are usually not fans of having their donations used for overhead (including rent). By providing this service, we are helping nonprofits be more efficient and cost-effective, increasing their ability to meet clients where they are, and therefore improving the quality of life in Grundy County.
We have recently revived a service that we try to create every few years: a Nonprofit Wish List. We draft a survey asking nonprofits for items that they need funded and then compile the results to create a directory that we share with donors around Grundy County.
Donors have different passions and capacity and the Wish List directory lets them look for nonprofits who match their passions and who have projects the donors can afford to support.
If your nonprofit serves Grundy County and you would like to participate in the survey and directory, please contact us for the link to the online survey. We’d like to have a survey per program rather than one overall survey for organizations who offer many services to Grundy’s residents.
For example, the Grundy County Health Department operates a number of departments with a number of programs within them, such as immunizations, mental health counseling, food safety, and services to seniors. To reach the right donors, it is more helpful for these programs to be separated in the directory so that they catch the eye of potential donors. The lead staff for each program is invited to complete the survey for their program.
I believe many people don’t realize the importance of the nonprofit sector when it comes to the quality of life of a community. But without the nonprofits in our community, we wouldn’t have hospitals, churches, food pantries, mental health counseling, museums, orchestras, parks, subsidized housing, recreation, child care, and more.
Grundy nonprofits have needs of all shapes and sizes. When the directory comes out, I’m confident you’ll find a charitable project that meets your passion and budget!
Community Foundation of Grundy County
520 W. Illinois Avenue, Morris
815-941-0852