2021 | November Issue - Celebrating Community Foundation Week
Your Gifts to the Women’s Fund and the Tompkins Today and Tomorrow Fund
honor the late
DeJour Gandy-Malone
Black Girl Alchemy Mosaics Project:
Thanks to your gifts, this project “designed to give this population of young people unique visibility and control over their own narrative of Black Girlhood" was recently unveiled. Emphasizing empowerment, sisterhood, and artistic freedom, the project allows girls (and their family members) space to communicate some of their specific needs, creativity, and brilliance, as well as their desires for self-expression in public spaces.
This project involved 80 youth who wanted to honor the life of late DeJour Gandy-Malone. The following is from his obituary:
"The impact that he had on the lives of many is undeniable. His beautiful smile, his charisma, his contagious laugh, his confidence, his ability to shift the energy of any space he entered. His thoughtfulness, his compassion for others. His ability to empathize with complete strangers. He wore his heart on his sleeve, a kind gentle soul whose arms were always open when you needed a big hug. He was a gentle giant."
Celebrating that 70% of our Investable Assets are now in ESG Portfolio and Growing
Community Foundation has always offered anESG (Environment, Social, Governance) investment portfolio. Now more donor advisors are recommending that we invest their gifts in this high performing portfolio which also does good in the world. Our ESG portfolio, currently managed by Brown Advisory, holds over $16.6 M. Thanks to all donor advisers for your focus in this area!
Are you a Community Foundation donor advisor, or do you have a donor advised fund held somewhere else? Please contact us to review whether this fits your values and put your charitable investment practices into this opportunity.
Established by donors, these new funds are not donor advised funds!
Robin Lee Whittlesey Fund is a converted private foundation. The family decided to better preserve its future by engaging in the benefits of working with the Community Foundation. It is a Designated Fund that will will make distributions to; (a) relieve poverty, (b) diminish hardships, (c) provide emergency relief and scholarship assistance and (d) generally improve the happiness, educational level and community spirit of the citizenry of Ithaca, New York and such other areas as may from time to time be selected by the Board of Directors.
Donors of the Nosanchuk Family Fund chose a Field of Interest Fund to provide annual grants to enhance the welfare and intellectual development of children thru the age of 24 in nutrition and food security, health and transition into adulthood.
Why and how did these donors choose these types of funds? After careful consultation with Community Foundation staff, both donors selected funds that will grant annually to address changing needs we cannot predict.
One donor used their RMD (Required Minimum Distribution) from their IRA achieving a financial tax planning advantage as well. The other donor was on the Board of a private foundation seeking to simplify their work.
Are you on the board of a private foundation or do you have an RMD? Consult with us so that we can guide you to decisions beneficial to you as well as the broader community. Learn more
Jump Start Year End Gift
Save on taxes and make a bigger impact with a stock gift
THANK YOU for paying attention to the issues, for being part of this community.
If you are able, jump start your year-end gift; give appreciated stock! You'll save on taxes and make a bigger impact. It only takes a few minutes.
Example below of how your gifts helped a 2019 grantee. Tompkins Food Future (TFF)recently reported they learned that Tompkins County needs a food system plan to build a stronger, more equitable, and more sustainable food system for the future.
Many residents fall in a gap - earning too much to qualify for public food assistance programs, but struggling to stretch a limited food budget. Private food assistance programs like area food pantries, Mutual Aid food cabinets, Loaves and Fishes, and many others help residents in need to access and afford food.
Because of donors, this 2019 grant to TFF has allowed the organization to identify steps to improve the programs, policies, and individual actions that shape our local food system.