The Giving Season

We are entering “The Giving Season” and you will notice an increased number of requests for support in your mailbox.  If you’re like me, you are building a stack of remit envelopes to stuff with checks sometime during the holidays.  Along with the requests that hit our heartstrings, we choose where to give based on a variety of factors. They include how effective we believe a charity to be, how much we see or hear about their impact in the community, how well they treat us as donors, plus any number of other considerations personally important to you.  Along with those considerations, I like to consider one more.  When asked to contribute it is important to me to know that the charity’s  board members give as well. Since our inception, the Community Foundation  worked with charities that have struggled to increase their boards of directors’ involvement in fundraising. Overwhelmingly we learned that boards understood their responsibility as guiding the organizations they served—but saw the donor relations role as belonging solely to the staff at the charity.  This impression hurts fundraising for many charities in our community. After all, who better to carry the message of the charity’s mission than the board members? Additionally, many board members did not personally make charitable gifts to support the charity they serve.  We have found that when a board member chooses not to make gifts to their charity, they are unlikely to ask others to support their cause. So, in 2008, we announced the 100% Giving Board Award. This recognition is awarded to those charities who can certify that 100% of their board members contributed personal, monetary gifts for operational support.  In 2008, 13 charities proudly received this award.  Seven years later, 99 charitable organizations can boast their1,128 board members together gave $3.4 million to the charities they serve.  Here is the list of 100% Giving Board organizations  and check out the "seal" on our website, www.nevadafund.org.  Are your favorite charities are on the list? I’m looking forward to checking my mailbox when I get home today.  There are some charities I’m eager to hear from, and sometimes I even get a note signed by a board member from one of the charities that have a 100% giving board.  I’ll bet next year more than 100 charities are in the 100% Board Giving “Club”.  I am so proud of the leadership at the charities in our community! I love the giving season and continue to save return envelopes in preparation to do some giving. It always helps me get into the holiday spirit. Thanks again for all you do to support the Community! Chris Askin, President & CEO. Connecting people who care with causes that matter.