Western Kansas Community Foundation celebrates 20 years | Local News | gctelegram.com
On Tuesday, the Western Kansas Community Foundation marked its 20th anniversary of service to the community with a pledge to continue working to assist area nonprofit organizations.
On Tuesday, the Western Kansas Community Foundation marked its 20th anniversary of service to the community with a pledge to continue working to assist area nonprofit organizations.
aOur anniversary year challenges us to look at new ways of thinking,a WKCF Chairman Neil Hawley said. aWKCF continues to evolve, and our board and staff made the decision to update our brand to more accurately reflect the current and future work of the Foundation, and invest additional dollars in the community through several projects and grants during this commemorative year.a
Next week, WKCF plans to give away 20 mini-grants of $100 to non-profit groups in the area which will be delivered by WKCF board members. Iam really appreciative of the learning experience, and I got to know a lot more people and organizations and feel I have my feet on the ground a little bit more.a
Bogaard said the Foundation has been able to do some really good work over the past year in the area of health care, arts and culture, and education.
aI think whatas making a difference is we are really reaching out beyond Finney County,a she said. More organizations in the outlying communities are finding us, writing grant applications, and thatas what we encourage.a
The non-profit organization will concentrate efforts on grant making and projects that address growth of its nonprofits in its 15 county service area of southwest Kansas.
One of the things the Foundation is excited about is a Match Day event on Nov. 29 designed to support area nonprofits.
Bogaard said preparations will start this summer for the event, which will be an opportunity for nonprofit organizations who already have an endowment fund with WKCF. Money raised from donors will be matched by WKCF, she said.
aThat is primarily to promote the idea that itas good to have an endowment as a future savings account, because we all know in this time and age, public funding is diminishing and itas getting harder for nonprofits,a she said.
Bogaard said one of the core activities of WKCF is building endowments, focusing on long term investments. Currently, there are around 15 nonprofits with endowments in Finney County, and a few in outlying communities.
Leading up to Match Day, Bogaard said WKCF hopes more organizations will consider starting an endowment fund, which would qualify them for the Match Day. We hope with the new marketing campaign to be much more visible in the community and to really promote the work of the Foundation and to connect the nonprofits with the donors,a she said.
