In 2008, the Walker Area Community Foundation (WACF) awarded $296,875 to area nonprofit organizations that will result in $1,603,143 in new and sustained initiatives for Walker County. The foundation is pleased to have financially assisted more than 100 nonprofit programs and special projects since its inception in 1995.
The WACF’s work in our community would be impossible without the generous gifts of area donors. The foundation wants you and your clients to be aware of the options in choosing how you would prefer your gifts to be utilized.
As the foundation’s charitable impact expands, so does its knowledge and understanding of our area’s unmet and under-funded needs. As part of the grant making process, the foundation collects a great deal of information about the financial integrity of potential grantees and the measurable outcome from their use of awarded foundation funding. By looking closely at each applicant, the foundation feels they have the best opportunity to wisely choose how foundation funds are allocated. This knowledge greatly enhances our ability to be good stewards of the contributions we manage on behalf of our donors.
Attorneys, Accountants, Estate and Financial Planners, as well as other professional advisors, are often faced with a delicate dilemma as they approach the subject of charitable giving – you want to discuss the many benefits of making these type gifts without recommending specific charitable causes and nonprofit organizations. The simple solution to this problem is offering your clients the opportunity to contribute to an organization like the Walker Area Community Foundation. The foundation awards funding to worthy nonprofits operating in the areas of social welfare, education, recreation, children and youth, health and medicine, the environment and arts and humanities in our community. WACF deeply appreciates each donor and each of their gifts.
In giving to the Walker Area Foundation, the donor has several choices of how they wish for their charitable gift to be disbursed back into the community.
The donor may choose to make their charitable gift directly to the Walker Area Community Foundation’s Community Growth Fund. If a donor chooses this option, the foundation will utilize the donor’s gift for the greatest good of our community. The Community Growth Fund is the SOLE source of funding for the competitive grants we make twice a year to support the 100+ nonprofits in our area.
A donor may choose to request assistance to a specific thematic area via a Field of Interest Fund, allowing the foundation to direct the income from this and similar investments in the areas of social welfare, education, recreation, children and youth, health and medicine, the environment or arts and humanities. This option is beneficial to the foundation, where the grants go to the organization(s) that demonstrates a current or substantiated need.
A donor may also choose to designate a specific nonprofit they would like to receive their charitable gift, exclusively through one of our designated funds. One example is the establishment of an Endowed Fund.
Contact our staff for specifics on any vehicle the foundation can employ to achieve yours or your clients’ wishes. For a one on one consultation please contact Paul Kennedy at (205) 302-0001w, 300-4062m or by email at pkennedy@wacf.org .
Sincerely,
John T. Oliver, Jr. Paul W. Kennedy
President Executive Director
POB 171 Jasper, AL 35502-0171 www.wacf.org
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