Holiday Giving 2015

THE NEWS SUN THE HERALDREPUBLICAN

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HOLIDAYGIVING2015

2 Holiday Giving kpcnews.com • ©KPC Media Group Inc. December 2, 2015

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This is the second of two holiday special sections published by KPC Media Group.

The guides are designed to get you in the holiday spirit and provide a few ideas about shopping with some of the area’s finest local merchants.

In addition, this guide features a collec-tion of suggestions for spreading holiday cheer with your community. There are many charitable agencies that help out during the holiday season. Plus, three of our local community foundation directors share their toughts on giving.

Meanwhile, this section provides businesses with a high-visibility vehicle to share their messages. It is with this partnership through advertisers that we are able to present the accompanying informa-

tion. We encourage you to patronize these businesses not only through the holidays, but throughout the year.

This special section is also available at kpcnews.com. Happy holidays from everyone at KPC Media Group!

ON THE COVER: In this Nov. 21 photo, Cathy Lindsey of Howe places a couple new coloring books and two boxes of crayons into the back of a Dodge van during the 11th annual LaGrange County Dodge Toy Drive. The dealership will continue to collect toys for the next week or so to be donated to the Clothes and Food Basket of LaGrange County Inc.’s Christmas Bureau that helps families in need during the holidays. Photo by Patrick Redmond

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December 2, 2015 ©KPC Media Group Inc. • kpcnews.com Holiday Giving 3

The Holiday Season is a natural time of reflection and celebration. Many people choose this time of year to give back to their community through donations to charity.

Giving to others is an important gesture for people of all ages because it provides support to those in need while giving donors an opportunity to help others. Generosity connects people in a community, making it a more vibrant place to live. We are very fortunate to live in a community comprised of generous people that give, literally, millions of dollars and thousands of hours to

one another every year.Giving directly to the charity of your

choice will make an immediate impact to those in need. And I hope all of you will consider giving to one or more causes that matter to you this Holiday Season.

Giving to the Steuben County Community Foundation is another way you can make a difference. Giving to the Community

Foundation is a way to make your giving permanent and can provide long-term solutions to many of the problems around us. Your initial gift will not be used while the earnings will be granted to the organization or cause that matter most to you year after year. You can select a specific nonprofit organization, a general field of interest, or you may give an unrestricted gift which allows the Community Foundation to provide support to ever-changing needs in our community. Who knows what our communi-ty’s big issues will be 20, 50 or 100 years from now!

You can support the arts, the environ-ment, human services, education, economic development, healthcare, recreation and so on. Your opportunities to make a difference are endless. As you reflect on your many blessings this time of year, please consider giving back this Holiday Season with a charitable donation.

Jennifer Danic is executive director of the Steuben County Community Foundation. You may contact her at [email protected] or by calling 665-6656.

Give back to your community with a holiday donation

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Several years ago a community foundation Board Member made gifts in

honor of several people — family members, close friends — with which she had previously exchanged gifts.

The community foundation provided a letter for each gift recipient stating that a gift was made in their honor to a specific endowment fund. The Board Member included the letter in a Christmas card to the honoree.

The Board Member had fun choosing which foundation funds received the gifts and pairing the interests of the honoree with the funds that addressed the recipient’s interest. Gifts made in honor of animal lovers went to a fund that benefits our local animal shelter. Gifts made in honor of people interested in music went to funds that grant to various music venues. A few gifts went to funds we hold to benefit charitable organizations on whose board the honoree sat.

The Board Member was happy to provide support to several community foundation endowment funds. The honorees were happy that their interests were supported. All were happy that the holiday did not include unneces-sary gifts that needed to purchased and wrapped.

Since that first Board Member instituted this practice, several of the people she honors with the gifts have started paying this forward by adopting the same practice themselves.

As an additional tribute the Founda-tion includes the names of the honorees and the names of the funds that received gifts in our publications. These relatively modest gifts help educate potential donors to endowment funds they may not know exist. The gifts draw attention to the importance of providing permanent support for the community and charitable programs that serve our community so well.

Wendy Oberlin is executive director of the Community Foundation of DeKalb County. She may be reached at [email protected] or 925-0311, ext. 302.

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Jennifer Danic

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Wendy Oberlin

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Giving is an expression of one’s generosity with an understanding that a gift can make a difference and make an impact to help others or their community and its quality of life.

These holiday celebrations such as Thanksgiving and Christmas allow us to think about others and to stop and be thankful for so much. We all desire signif-icance — to lead happy and fulfilled lives surrounded by family and friends. For many there is a compelling need to make a difference that leads to giving during the holidays or before the end of the year.

Community Foundations are always connecting people who care with causes that matter. They are here for good. Forever. We are connected by Noble County and we serve as a basis for building communities. We truly enjoy helping our donors do good work while providing a knowledge of community issues, opportu-nities, and resources.

Our community foundation provides that vehicle that addresses the ever changing community needs, providing a reason for people to give locally. We help our donors

with giving to match their strong interests and passions, while helping them create personal legacies.

We hold over 200 endowment funds, who purpose is to financially sustain the mission and work of charitable organi-zations. The principal is kept intact and only the annual earnings, typically income and a portion of the capital growth are used to fund current needs while the historic gift continues to grow.

According to our 2014 foundation facts sheet, donors have contributed $27,381,775 since our inception in 1991 and have awarded over 12,312 grants and scholar-ships totaling approximately $24,350,522 since the beginning.

We are governed by leaders with strong ties to Noble County bringing people together to find better solutions.

There are several reasons to launch why

people create a named endowment with us, but here are three of the best reasons:

1. A Lasting Legacy: The on-going nature of these funds provides an unending way to not only support your favorite charity, but to remind family and friends of one’s values and commitments.

2. Never Ending Annual Gifts: As a friend to your favorite charity, you probably make at least one annual gift to support their worth cause. Our endowment program allows you to make sure that these annual gifts continue in perpetuity even after you are gone.

3. Financial Stability: Your favorite charity derives financial strength from its endowment funds. Just knowing that, we can count on a stream of endowment income to help your charity make better financial projections and to plan for the future more confidently.

Linda Speakman-Yerick is executive director of the Noble County. You may contact her at [email protected] or by calling 894-3335.

Community Foundation connects people with its needs

Linda Speakman-Yerick

•

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KPC NEWS SERVICEAmerica’s charities, and more

importantly, those they serve, need your support. And, as you can tell when you open your mailbox at this time of the year, they aren’t afraid to ask for it, says information from Charity Navigator.

Why do appeals increase at year-end? Because the year-end holidays are a time of religious and moral reflec-tion that inspire many people to reach out to those who are less fortunate. Less altruistically, but still just as important, donors need to make their end-of-year giving decisions by Dec. 31 to qualify for a tax deduction in the current calendar year. Knowing that, charities increase their solicitations and an increase in charitable giving occurs between Thanksgiving and New Years.

Your support will do little to improve our world unless we all commit to pursuing responsible and informed philanthropy.

Charity Navigator offers the following five-step checklist to help you maximize your holiday donations:

• Review last year’s charitable invest-ments: Before making new plans, take a look at the charities you supported last year to find out what they’ve accomplished. You’re not looking for a list of itemized expenses, but instead a progress report. If a charity in your giving portfolio can’t tell you what kind of results they created from your invest-ment, then replace it with one that will.

• Be specific: As you consider which charities to support this year, remember that there are roughly 1 million of them. That means you don’t have to settle for an organization that isn’t a perfect match for your beliefs and goals. No matter what cause you want to support — whether it is providing humanitarian aid to the Syrian refugees, helping our returning troops find work or finding a cure for a particular disease — there’s a charity out there that matches your intentions. Take the time to find it and confirm (not just assume) it offers the programs and services that match your charitable interests.

• Look under the hood: Before you give to any charity this holiday season, be sure to check that the charity meets these three criteria.

1. Examine the charity’s finances: Financially healthy organizations - those that are both financially efficient and sustainable - have greater flexibility and freedom to pursue their charitable mission..

2. Ensure the charity is accountable and transparent: Charities that are an open book and that follow good govern-ance practices less likely to engage in unethical or irresponsible activities.

3. Look for signs of effectiveness: The charity’s ability to bring about long lasting and meaningful change in the world is the key reason for their existence and for your donation so make sure you find evidence of its impact.

• Donate online: If you want to deduct your charitable contributions on your 2015 tax return, you have until December 31st to make your donations. Online giving at Charity Navigator offers the luxury of waiting until the last minute and the convenience of maintaining your giving records in one place, making your life easier at tax time.

• Concentrate your giving: Diversi-fication isn’t an important consid-eration when giving, like it is when investing in stock. A few well-placed larger donations go farther and have the potential to do more good than a wide array of smaller gifts. Besides, the bigger your gift, the more motivated you will be to do the necessary due diligence.

Follow a check list for charitable giving

KPC NEWS SERVICEHere are some interesting facts about charitable giving, compiled by Charity Navigator:

• Contributions are deductible in the year made. Thus, donations charged to a credit card before the end of 2015 count for 2015. This is true even if the credit card bill isn’t paid until 2016. Also, checks count for 2015 as long as they are mailed in 2015 and clear shortly thereafter.

• Americans donated approximately 2 percent of disposable income to charity in 2014, a percentage which has not changed significantly in decades, regard-less of the strength of the economy.

• The average annual household charitable donation is $2,974.

• Online giving comprises less than 10 percent of total giving but outpaces the growth of giving overall.

• More than 30 percent of annual

giving via Network for Good’s donation processing system is during December.

• Charity Navigator’s data shows that 7 out of 10 charities it has evaluated spend at least 75 percent of their budget on the programs and services they exist to provide. And 9 out of 10 spend at least 65 percent.

• Five types of charities have reached or surpassed all-time high giving levels since the recession ended in mid-2009. Giving to education charities was up 4.9 percent to $54.6 billion. Donations to human services charities were up 3.6 percent to $42.1 billion. Foundations saw an increase of 1.8 percent to $41.5 billion. Health charities experienced an increase of 5.5 percent to $30.4 billion. Charities that focus on the environment or animals saw an increase of 7 percent to $10.5 billion.

Charity Navigator may be found at charitynavigator.org on the Internet.

Facts about charitable giving

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Note to readers: I wrote this four years ago but I believe these suggestions from Dianne Shoppell of before5.org; Julie

Sellers, an area author, and Troy Ganser, an area artist, have stood the test of time.

In most cases, the gifts listed here will fit into your budget — in fact, many are free.

For your childShoppell: This year

during the holiday season, start a new tradition with your child. Start a “Special Memories Book.” Help your child

journal important events that happened to them during the year. Make this sharing time a special time for you and your child.

For people who work in the coldSellers: This year my 10-year-old

daughter and I are making small fleece pouches and filling them with white rice and sewing them shut. The idea is that you heat them in the microwave for a few seconds, then put them in your boots or gloves to stay warm in the winter. They are reusable and will keep your hands and feet warm for quite a long time. We will be dropping off baskets of them at our local police and fire stations as well as for the crossing guards at their school. You can also make them larger use them as a bed warmer or a heating pad for injuries. They are safer and more energy efficient than electric blankets or heating pads. We are using scraps of fleece left from other projects and remnants we got for pennies.

For new parentsSellers: The best gift I ever got as

a new parent was ready made meals that were packaged for freezing. I was wonderful to have an extra hour with my baby after a long day at the office, while dinner cooked in the oven.

Another gift I give many new parents (especially those of my friends who adopt toddlers or pre-schoolers) are BooBoo Bunnies and

Christmas gift guide: Best gift is connectingGrandparents need to feel loved and important just as much as children

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a small cosmetic bag made into a first aid kit that can be thrown in the car or in a diaper bag. I include bandages, individual triple antibiotic and hydrocortisone ointments, a thermometer and some hand sanitizer.

For grandparentsSellers: When my children were small,

I gave their grandparents scrapbook size frames that I picked up a a local discount store very inexpensively. Each year I complete a new page with photos of them and the children for them to display. They then add the last years page to an album to save.

Ganser: When gifting grandparents sentiment is king. Make a list of all the things that you treasure about the grandparent and put it in a frame. Photos, memorabilia of special times, all are gold. Scrapbook if you have a lot. But again, quality time is key. Grandparents need to feel loved and important just as much as children.

For expectant parentsGanser: For an expectant parent never

underestimate the value of supplies! Diapers and formula are gone through like water. If they don’t have a diaper pail, make that your creative gift basket and fill it up. For a baby there’s always the coveted “first” gifts (first ornament, first teddy bear, etc.) but the baby isn’t even going to remember the party, and will probably just play with the wrapping

paper. Give the parents a gift instead — babysit for them. They probably haven’t had adult conversation in months, not to mention alone time. Make it an overnight babysitting so they can actually have a full night of uninterrupted sleep.

For small childrenGanser: Ages 3 and under are about

as unconscious to the event as babies so keep it simple. Too many parents throw elaborate parties with extravagant gifts that often are handed to siblings or just thrown out. Ages 4 and up are equally tricky to avoid escalation. Save the big gifts for their parents. Never overshadow their efforts. The babysitting gift still works wonders, as well as chauffeuring the kids around on a busy weekend. Make it a play date. Even better, if you have a special skill (playing an instrument

or other ability) try teaching the child something fun.

For teensGanser: Remember escalation? If you

didn’t nip it in the bud, you’re stuck now. But if you kept things manageable, quality time is just as important now. Play dates can be driving lessons or to a movie or even a concert. Whatever it is, the connection is the thing — not the dollar amount. If you’re “not cool” to hang out with, facilitate a party. Even having a party with their friends can be very affordable. Ten friends, a popular DVD, a couple bags of chips and a case of pop goes a long way.

Enjoy your family!Above all, remember that the

most important present of all is your “presence.”

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Holiday Giving 2015

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