Impact is More than Just Input

The Community Foundation of Western Nevada measures much of the work we do to determine the impact. The “input” can be easy to measure since that may be funding or volunteer time. The impact can be impossible to measure. Take a scholarship fund for example. A $100,000 endowed scholarship may award $5,000 annually. What is the impact of the funding regarding the motivation and support provided to the student? The student may move forward to complete a degree that will change their life, and may also contribute immeasurably to our community and society. Financially, the impact may be in the millions. Consider that scholarship fund awarding $5,000 over twenty years, and still having the original $100,000 that will keep earning, and granting, forever. How do you measure the impact of a gift like that? Another example of compounded charitable value is the work the Community Foundation accomplished with a generous donor over the past 13 years. Her goal is to help make Washoe County schools safer, by reducing bullying and violence. The grants from the Community Foundation in the tens of thousands supported the development of a new curriculum all 50+ elementary schools and all middle schools. Studies paid for by the Community Foundation resulted in new programs in the schools, and in data that has helped the school district secure millions of dollars in federal grants to make our schools safer. There are 65,000 students in the school district. How do you measure the impact? The Community Foundation works with donors to make grants, totaling more than $90 million in our 18-year history. Our contribution combines these grants with volunteer time, leadership, and strategies to improve the community. Financial and time “inputs” have focused on youth struggling with homelessness, encouraging philanthropy and increasing charity endowments throughout the region. We work with bequest arrangements from families, support rural fundraising such as the newly formed Community Foundation of Elko County, and underwrite free financial and estate planning classes for residents. The impact from the input of charitable gifts and time well spent clearly has an incredible multiplier effect. Working with the Community Foundation will help you gain more information about the impact of your charitable giving than you would find on your own. If you have not explored the opportunities for your giving, now and through your estate plans, to bring about amplified impact through a relationship with the Community Foundation, I urge you to give us a call. It is not just our individual giving, but our combined and coordinated giving; that can bring about the most positive results. Bring us your dreams. Your engagement with the Foundation will make us stronger. Together we will build a stronger and more vibrant northern Nevada.