Community Foundation of the Lowcountry

Preparing to say “Good-bye” to 2009 has caused me to look carefully—not just at the last year—but at the last fifteen years of the Community Foundation’s history. We have many people we treasure, upon whose shoulders we stand, who made wise decisions. They gave of their time and talent to launch the Community Foundation and its promise of community improvement. We take pride in the involvement of these important people in the founding and development of this organization. To try to list them here would be to err by leaving someone out, and it is not my purpose to offend. But if you were to review past annual reports and consider the names of the trustees and donors through the years, you would see that these are people who have influenced many aspects of the community beyond the Foundation, and who have been the “Who’s Who” of the Lowcountry. We are grateful to have had them as a part of our family.

Additionally, there have been many accomplishments that make us proud—from beginning important new nonprofits, to being on the ground floor of the community indicators project (now known as “Together for Beaufort—Our County—Our Future,” ) to partnering with many in the “Pathways to Success” initiative. We take pride in the accomplishments of our sister nonprofits who have done good work with the grants we have provided. We have given many donors the structure and mechanism to focus their resources on their own passions. And if you look around, you will see buildings and parks and programs that would not exist without our involvement. It makes me smile.

However, a proud history is just that—HISTORY—no matter how much has been accomplished. Our past must simply be the launching pad from which we focus on an impactful and compelling present and future. What matters most NOW in continuing our mission of strengthening community by connecting people, resources and needs? A new “Who’s Who” of donors and trustees must come forth and continue to make our work relevant. Will you join us? Will you become a part of the present and future of the Community Foundation family? Will your time, or ideas, or resources help us to move into a new year and beyond marked with significant accomplishment? Will you help us to assure that for the Community Foundation, for YOU, and for the Lowcountry we love… every day matters?

Denise K. Spencer

Most of us are aware of the Chamber of Commerce campaign to “Shop Local.” The concept is that our local economy will receive a badly needed boost if we spend locally instead of shopping online or in other communities. It is my contention that the same can be said for giving locally.

The list of charitable choices on a regional, national and global scale continues to grow and to become more easily accessible as the Internet continues to expand. But as the needs of nonprofits in the four counties served by the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry continue to escalate, it is just as important that our charitable spending stay local. Consider the needs of our neighbors who have lost their jobs or their homes in the last year or so. Think about those who have inadequate health care. In difficult economies, incidents of violence increase, and the victims need assistance. Consider the significant impact of reduced resources on organizations supporting education, the arts and culture, and the environment.

Please, as you complete your decision-making for charitable giving for 2009, GIVE LOCAL. The Community Foundation and our nonprofit partners are local organizations staffed by people from our community and led by local boards of trustees with an in-depth knowledge of the issues that shape our community.

Help our local economy. Help our local nonprofit sector. Help our friends and neighbors. And know that your generosity will be something that matters, every day.

Denise K. Spencer

As the board and staff of the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry prepare for an upcoming strategic planning process, one of the questions we are asking ourselves is “What will success look like for us?” It is generally understood that we cannot attain what we cannot envision. My experience tells me that once a true picture of the endpoint is generated, many opportunities to help get you there start to fall into place. Whether this is a “manifestation” process as some believe, or simply an enhanced ability to recognize opportunities and translate them into positive action, can certainly be argued. But the obvious starting point is to begin with the end in mind.

Despite our tremendous creativity and ability to anticipate, it can be incredibly difficult for people to develop and settle on an ultimate vision. Are they afraid they will choose incorrectly? Do they believe that in choosing they may doom themselves to failure? (You can’t fail if you have no benchmark to define it.) Are they too comfortable with the current state of affairs to risk the change required to move them along to success? (Does the platform really HAVE to be burning to force people to jump off of it?)

In The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron offers this thought: “I have seldom conceived a delicious plan without being given the means to accomplish it. Understand that the what must come before the how. First, choose what you would do. The how usually falls into place of itself.”

The Community Foundation has nineteen board members and seven staff members who will soon be choosing the what. If you, as a friend of the Community Foundation and as a concerned citizen of the Lowcountry, have thoughts to share about our future, please do so. I have tremendous confidence that we will overcome the common tendency toward “small thinking” that can surface in difficult economic times. I cannot tell you how excited I am to put all of these great minds to the task of developing this “delicious plan” that will drive our footsteps for the next few years! It will become the fabric of our everyday matters.

Denise K. Spencer

In the community foundation field, the one question that is most often asked as we are compared to others, or as folks look for measures of our success, is “What are your assets?” While there is no doubt what is normally meant by that question, I cannot bear the thought that the most important measure of success is related to dollars under management. Here’s the short list of assets that run through my head, and which I’m happy to recite, whenever that question is put to me:

Asset #1: Reputation. When the stock market dives, so do our dollars therein invested. But, over time, through more gifts or recovered investment returns, the dollars can be regained. But our reputation, whether defined by ethics, accountability, transparency, honesty, approachability, caring, fair play, legality of operations, character, integrity, etc., cannot be as easily rebuilt once lost. So, in my mind, reputation is one of our most important assets.

Asset #2: Leadership. Whether it is the folks that walk in the door at 8 AM (or 7:00 or 6:30), and leave at 5 PM (or 6:30 or 7:00), or the folks that deliberate the future of the organization around the Board table, our people resources are critical to our success. Fortunately, I would put the staff and board and committee volunteers of the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry up against any others, anywhere. These people are intelligent, enthusiastic, mission-driven, creative and hard-working. They care about the work; they care about the Lowcountry; they care about each other.

Asset #3: Nonprofit Partners. The nonprofit organizations that serve the Lowcountry are on the ground, working hard to meet local needs every day. These nonprofits often cannot do their good work without support. We cannot do our work without good projects/organizations to fund. No matter how many dollars are available, they are of little value without strong, dedicated, hard-working, visionary nonprofit organizations.

Asset #4: A Community of Donors. The many individuals and organizations that contribute to the hundreds of funds at the Community Foundation are fueling the work. Some have a personal vision of what needs to be accomplished to improve the quality of life here and in other places, and have put their dollars to work to realize that vision. Others trust in the knowledge of our many advisory committees and our Board of Trustees to have studied the needs and to make knowledgeable decisions about where the dollars will have the most positive effect. In either case, without donor vision, caring and dollars, the work would be anemic at best and nonexistent at worst.

Other Assets: Of course, there are many more things I could discuss. There is the back-up tape that leaves the office daily and which guards the data. There are the files upon files (whether electronic or paper) of knowledge and information which is consistently gathered so that our work may be well-informed. And, oh, by the way, there are the financial assets. The Community Foundation’s leadership assures that they are carefully invested, monitored, and spent as wisely as possible.

But when you think of the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry, don’t think of it as a pot of money surrounded by people who want some. Think instead of its positive reputation, enlightened leadership, effective nonprofit partners, and those with a strong philanthropic spirit who support the work. These are the critical assets needed as we strive to perform our mission of “…strengthening community by connecting people, resources and needs.” These are the everyday matters that make every DAY matter.

Denise K. Spencer

People in need are always there. Unfortunately, many forget about them except in extraordinary times—like the Great Depression of the 1930’s—or the recent recession. Many in the nonprofit sector and some governmental agencies have labored consistently through the years to provide services for the poor, the struggling, the sick, the illiterate, and all nature of victims. However, it is often only in times like our recent economic crisis that the media spotlight is shown on the needs, moving the average person-on-the-street to come forward with help. It is my sincere hope that somehow this time things will be different. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, as the economic outlook slowly improves, we aren’t so quick to forget those who suffer? Wouldn’t it be amazing if, as economic pressures ease, individuals would continue to provide support to both those organizations on the frontlines and to those of us who supply needed grant dollars to strengthen and expand their work? Times of crisis always teach us. This time, will we have learned the lesson of constancy? Our hearts and our pockets need to be constantly open to needs of others. Service and generosity need to become habits. People in need are always there. Will you still see them next week? Next month? Next year? Will you understand that to those in desperate straits, every day matters?

Denise K. Spencer

In the community foundation world, we “touch tomorrow” through the development of endowment funds—funds designed to generate charitable dollars in perpetuity. The Community Foundation’s tag line, “For Good. For Ever.” is reflective of this important aspect of our work.

Benjamin Franklin, the founder of American philanthropy, willed $1,000 to each of the cities of Boston and Philadelphia—America’s first planned gifts. His instructions included the expectation that the funds would be invested and would not make any grants for 100 years. He believed that when the funds matured, there would be $1 million for each city (ah, the power of compound interest!). His calculations were correct. Unfortunately, he had stipulated that the purpose of these gifts was to assist indentured servants. By the time the dollars were available for use, the concept of indentured servants had been outlawed for more than 40 years.

Permanent funds—these are a great idea. Investments compounded for growth—this is another great idea. Broad flexibility as to charitable purpose—this is an even better idea than Ben’s!

The Touch Tomorrow Campaign is the Community Foundation’s annual campaign designed to build resources for individual communities across the Lowcountry, insuring that nonprofits doing good work today will be supported well into the future. Touch Tomorrow Endowment Funds have been developed specifically to collect resources for these communities. Whether your community is Hilton Head/Daufuskie, or Greater Bluffton, or Beaufort, or Jasper County, or Hampton County or Colleton County, a permanent fund is an opportunity for you to give a gift which will continue to generate charitable dollars to meet community needs For Good. For Ever.

We have taken Benjamin Franklin’s concept and improved it. First, from enjoying the arts, to protecting our environment, educating our youth and feeding our hungry, Touch Tomorrow Endowment Funds provide for ALL areas of charitable endeavor in a community. They provide the opportunity to realize the goal of improving life in the Lowcountry through giving back. Though our funds serve communities as diverse as the region itself, they spring from the shared concern and generosity of hundreds of donors who feel ardently about their community and its residents. Second, we aren’t waiting 100 years to make local grants. Advisory committees of local concerned citizens help grow the funds, and develop guidelines for grantmaking. There are needs now as well as in the future, and the goal is to address both. Third, a permanent source of dollars is critical to the strength of an area, and the Community Foundation provides the needed framework, in part through the Touch Tomorrow Campaign.

A gift to the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry’s Touch Tomorrow Campaign demonstrates your belief in our mission and reinforces your commitment to making a difference your local community. Touch HERE to touch tomorrow, and in so doing, know that you are making sure that every day, in perpetuity, matters.

Denise K. Spencer

Published in the Financial Times of March 15, 2008, was an article by Perla Ni which stimulated my thinking. Intuitively I knew it shared a powerful truth, through my years of experience in the nonprofit sector. It begins as follows:

“There’s a trend in philanthropy to treat the act of giving as an ‘investment decision.’ This is partly because non-profit management is taught increasingly in business schools, and partly because more wealthy donors with a business background are becoming involved.

Donors are younger, more active and may have made their money in finance. They believe, as I did until a couple of years ago, that there is a holy grail of metrics, and if we just worked harder to find it, we could measure all non-profits, lay them side by side and figure out which ones were more effective in doing good in the world.

What gets lost in all of this focus on evaluation and numbers is the grace and joy of philanthropy. Philanthropy inspires. It tells stories. It reconnects us with others and reminds us of our shared humanity.”

As the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry attempts to improve its effectiveness—in grantmaking and other areas of our work—we understand that metrics considerations are indeed important. We need to understand the numbers that are behind the expected outcomes of the dollars we spend. But the impact of the nonprofits we fund, and therefore the impact of the Community Foundation, goes well beyond the numbers. The work is more than the predictable or measurable. How important is the work in the life of a single human being? Did it begin a dialog about an issue? Did it begin to affect attitudes? The work of systemic change can last many years, is laborious, and often intangible in the short run—and yet this may be the most important work of all.

Giving is one of the best parts of what it is to be human. Consider the “numbers” of course. But don’t lose the rest of the story. The stories behind the work are what bind humankind together. The stories behind the work make every day matter.

Denise K. Spencer