Privacy and Anonymity in the Age of Information Offered by the Community Foundation

Have you given up on trying to be a private person? I find it disconcerting to know that our purchases, our travel, our social connections, our property and financial dealings, and perhaps, through our smartphones, even our movements are tracked. We are besieged by product marketing everywhere we turn. After making a charitable gift through a credit card or online, have you received unsolicited requests for donations and free mailing labels, calendars, and other gifts in your mailbox? In the past, philanthropists set up private foundations to provide some privacy for their charitable giving. But the cone of silence was lifted years ago when Guidestar.org started posting private foundation tax returns online. The Community Foundation of Western Nevada knows how to protect donors' privacy. We have sound practices and procedures to increase confidentiality. Recently, the Community Foundation added another process so that we can make a truly anonymous grant. The grant recipient won’t even know that their grant came from the Community Foundation. Complete anonymity and privacy are hard to find, but we guard it here. The Community Foundation takes pride in keeping the privacy of our donors. Even our board members don’t see gift details or grant details. We work with an excellent IT firm to encrypt emails and to protect our information. All data is stored onsite on our server and backed up nightly to a secure location. Fundholders count on confidentiality as a fundamental aspect of our service. Donors and professional advisors alike have said they are impressed with the value that we place on discretion and privacy. Nothing could please me more. Maybe you are comfortable making your name public with your charitable gifts - most of the time. But some gifts and grants you want to keep anonymous from the recipient, or from the curious world-at-large. The Community Foundation can help you with both. When you consider philanthropy, please think about the Community Foundation of Western Nevada. We will be most privileged to work with you. Chris Askin, President, and CEO Connecting people who care with causes that matter