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From Mary's Desk
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MCF's tagline is "all about Montana's future." While creating endowments to benefit our state for generations to come is certainly the most prominent way we ensure Montana's future is a bright one, there is another way: scholarship.
This year we awarded approximately 150 scholarships totaling nearly $400,000 to worthy students who are quite literally, the future of Montana. For the first time in recent memory, we've been traveling across the state to present scholarship awards instead of just sending out checks. Why? We want to meet these students and hear about their hopes and dreams. We want to know how they feel about Montana, its future and the role they hope to play in it.
We know not every student will stay in Montana, but many we've spoken to plan on it. Knowing some of the best and brightest young people in Montana will be staying here to live, work and play makes awarding these scholarships even more meaningful to us.
One of the amazing things about endowed scholarship funds is they're the "double whammy" for Montana's future. Not only do they provide funding for students who will go on to be part of Montana's future, but they are also permanent, and will provide that benefit forever. Our thanks to the remarkable students who earned scholarships this year and also our thanks to the amazing donors who have established scholarship funds to help ensure Montana's future.
Sincerely,
Mary K. Rutherford, MA, CFRE
President & CEO
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Gifts for Grads
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What sort of gift were you thinking of getting the graduate in your life? A laptop? Maybe a summer trip somewhere spectacular? Perhaps even a new car? If philanthropy is a part of your life and something you hope becomes part of your graduate's life (or maybe it already is), consider something else as a gift: a donor advised fund. More and more parents and grandparents across the country are giving a graduating child or grandchild a donor advised fund, pre-established and pre-funded, in the name of the graduate.
Donor advised funds as gifts to the next generation are on the rise and we're inviting our donors to consider 'gift funds' as a way to engage their own family members in philanthropic values. We help you create the fund, including online access, so you can literally 'put a bow' on the fund-establishing document and roll it up like a diploma.
A donor advised fund gives your graduate a powerful, long-term philanthropic tool. It helps teach them responsibility, aspects of financial management, and most importantly philanthropy, by making a direct and positive impact on the communities and causes they care about most.
What's more, an endowed donor-advised fund is permanent. Your graduate is getting a key to a lifetime of philanthropy and something they can pass on to their children and grandchildren as well.
Make your graduate's gift be a lifetime of philanthropic empowerment.
Contact us today to get started.
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Montana Gives Raises More Than $1.2 Million
On May 4th and 5th, Montanans came together in support of Montana nonprofits for Montana Gives, a powerful and growing 24-hour, online and in-person giving event.
Organized by community foundations and nonprofits across the Big Sky, the event raised an incredible $1.2 million for more than 600 nonprofits through the generosity of nearly 8,000 donors.
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A Groundbreaking for the Community
While handing out grant checks is a very rewarding experience, it can't compete with seeing that money put to good use.
On June 18, we were invited to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the Judith Basin County Free Library's expansion. Like past visits, we were warmly welcomed and happy to see and meet so many people from Stanford and many other surrounding towns.
There is no doubt this library is the heart of the community and incredibly important to the communities beyond Stanford. We are so thankful and fortunate to have played a role in bringing the dream of an expanded and updated library to reality. From the thousands of people who will use and benefit from this library in the future, and from us here at MCF, our sincere thanks to the anonymous donor and their $250,000 matching grant. What an incredible gift to Montana's future.
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Webinar: General Update and Investment Performance
Did you miss our webinar on May 24th? We covered some general MCF updates as well as investment performance. If you did, don't worry! Here's a recording of the webinar for your viewing pleasure.
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Generosity at Work
Thank you to the many donors who made April such a fantastic month of giving! MCF made nearly 30 grants totaling more than $105,000 in April. We're excited to see the wonderful nonprofit organizations receiving these funds putting them to work for Montana.
If you want to put your generosity to work, visit the Giving section of our website.
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10 Questions for the Board - Mary Ann Phipps
Just who are these wonderful folks that give so much back to Montana through their work with MCF and beyond? Let's find out!
1. Where are you from originally?
I was born in Jeanerette, Louisiana, but got to Montana as soon as I could.
2. What's your "real" job outside the foundation?
I'm an Enrolled Agent with the IRS working for CHMS, P.C., a CPA firm in eastern Montana.
3. What's your favorite hobby/what do you do with your free time?
During the school year, I chase kids to sporting and other extracurricular events - basketball, cross country, football, track, music, etc. In the summertime, my absolute favorite thing is go to Hell Creek on Fort Peck Lake and relax with no cell service and no internet!
4. If you had to choose a different profession, what would it be and why?
I would have made a good attorney. My husband tells me I have the ability to look at things and explain them from four different points of view. I'm wondering if that is NOT a compliment?
5. What's something not very many people know about you?
My oldest two children and I had FBI sharpshooters as bodyguards for a short time. It was nerve-racking and fun at the same time. Taught them to make homemade donuts!
6. What are three things you can't live without?
My husband who makes me laugh and keeps me grounded, electricity because I would NEVER have made a good frontiersman and my calendar to keep all of our activities and events.
7. How did you first get involved in the nonprofit sector?
Since forever. Even as a young child, my dad always made sure that we set aside some of our own time and money for others. He taught me that it is often easier to give money than time, so time is many times the greater sacrifice.
8. If there was one thing you wanted people to know about MCF, what would it be?
Montana Community Foundation can help anyone build their legacy for the future. You don't have to be a millionaire to create a lasting legacy. If you have a dream, Montana Community Foundation can assist you in building the blueprint to achieve it.
9. What's your favorite place in Montana?
My cabin at Hell Creek to sit in the quiet solitude and contemplate the beauty of the world and how lucky I am to be part of it.
10. What's your favorite thing about Montana/Montanans?
The can-do people and the breathtaking beauty.
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