Commentary: Support your community during National Community Foundation Week
For Larry Halpin, charitable giving through his donor-advised fund has been a learning process, and he is thoroughly enjoying the education.
His mother, Margaret “Peg” Halpin, met and married Henry Haegg Jr. five years after the death of Larry’s father. When Henry passed away a few years ago, he introduced his five stepchildren to charitable giving by leaving them donor-advised funds at the Community Foundation so they would be able to designate how they wanted to support causes they care about that are in need of assistance.
While Larry has lived in our community since 1993, he still has strong ties and affection for his hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He has learned that the beauty of a donor-advised fund is that donations can be made in all the communities he cares about, including where he grew up.
Larry has given to more than 25 local charities and causes including the Collier Comes Together Fund for Hurricane Irma and Care for Collier for Red Tide Relief, and also grants to his hometown for purposes that are close to his family’s heart.
This story — along with countless others like it — demonstrates the importance in this country of community foundations, which are uniquely situated to improve their regions through supporting innovative solutions and creating powerful partnerships.
From Nov. 12 to 18, we celebrate Community Foundation Week created in 1989 by former President George H.W. Bush, as a time when we can share and reflect on the stories of impact over the last year. Though you may not yet know your local community foundation, you’ve likely felt its impact.
Last year, donors’ support of the Community Foundation helped to grant more than $18.4 million throughout our community, the largest granted annually to date. During our last fiscal year, 75 percent of the grants stayed in Collier County. Because of these grants:
• Neighborhoods were rebuilt and aid was provided to nearly 4,174 victims following the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.
• Our future teachers, pilots and nurses are pursuing their academic goals, after more than $936,000 in scholarships were awarded.
• Small businesses, struggling from an extended period of red tide, are making ends meet.
• The nonprofits that we are all passionate about continued to offer the programs so vital to our town.
Through donor-advised funds or many other fund opportunities, the Community Foundation of Collier County is able to inspire ideas, ignite action and mobilize resources. With your generous support, our possibilities are endless. We can continue to be proactive and forward-thinking about how we can best serve the community we all love.
As we enter the giving season, millions of people from every background will be looking to give back to the communities that have supported them. They’ll also seek to ensure that their heartfelt giving — however they choose to give — will have the most impact. That’s why so many of them will decide to give to a community foundation.
A gift to your local community foundation is an investment in the future of your community. We like to say that community foundations are “here for good and forever.”
At the Community Foundation of Collier County, we don’t think about the next election or business cycle, we think about the next generation and the next after that. It can seem a daunting task, but it’s one that we all share.
During Community Foundation Week, I hope you’ll join us in recognizing our collective impact and the difference we can all make, for good and forever.
Connolly-Keesler is president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Collier County.
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