With a population of 341, Shickley, Neb., is barely a dot on the map. In fact, on Google Maps you have to zoom in several times over for its name to appear, about 70 miles due north of Concordia via U.S. 81.
“Welcome to Shickley, A Big Little Town,” announces a sign.
It can boast such things because as a community, Shickley has its eye on the future. Specifically, its future.
Which is why over the past 15 years it has raised more than $2 million to create a community foundation.
Like all such enterprises, the monies raised stay local and help fund endeavors that support its hospitals, libraries, schools, rec centers, and the like. One purpose of a community foundation is to shore up money that would otherwise be on its way out. Say you’re the last one of your family in these parts and you’d like some of your estate to stay here, instead of going to far-flung relatives. Leaving it to a community foundation ensures those funds will be used in perpetuity for local efforts.
You can be specific about its use, say for a school’s band program, or leave it in unrestricted funds to be used as needs arise.
Drawing an almost straight line 250 miles south from Shickley is Anthony, a town similar in size to Humboldt, but whose county, Harper County, is 6,000, or less than half that of Allen County.
The Harper County Community Foundation has assets of $3.5 million built up since 2010. From the get-go, Harper County officials were on board with the idea of a foundation, pledging $500,000 for its first three years and then $200,000 a year ever since. The money comes from the proceeds of its landfill and since 2012 additional funds from wind farms go into the pot.
The proceeds from their investments help fund scholarships, new developments, existing programs and the like, all geared to securing its future.
IN OUR area, gifts directed to Your Community Foundation benefit more than 25 efforts across Allen, Woodson and Anderson counties. Beneficiaries include Hope Unlimited, area libraries, the college, Marmaton Valley’s woodworking and forensics competitions, the Humboldt Community Fund, the IHS band fund, summer meals programs and the hospital — just to name a few. The local foundation began in 2011, spearheaded by the drive to raise funds to outfit the new hospital.
In little Shickley, the secret to its success is community buy-in. More than 60 percent of the families in the local school district donate to the fund with gifts ranging from under $100 to $25,000. Because the Shickley foundation partners with the Nebraska Community Foundation, many of the donations are “matched,” sometimes up to 50 percent.
Same here.
In fact, over the past five years we’ve received matching funds from the GROW II initiative sponsored by Health Care Foundation.
This is the last year the matching funds will be available, and Gary McIntosh, chairman of the foundation, is determined to make this year no exception.
“We’ve been successful in raising $200,000 a year to get the matches so far,” McIntosh said, which average about $70,000 a year. But to get the maximum match — $234,321.08 — he has his eyes set on raising $500,000.
A board of directors and a slew of “Ambassadors,” volunteers who not only have pledged $125 to the foundation but also are willing to meet one-on-one with potential donors, are on board with McIntosh.
Gifts to entities that have endowments with the foundation are two-fold. For instance, the Iola Public Library recently raised $5,000, of which $1,000 will be invested with the foundation and whose dividends can help fund library projects.
As the endowment grows — today it’s about $1.2 million — the earnings on its investments will help with future needs that are unknown today. Six years ago it was a new hospital. Who knows what opportunities for development tomorrow may bring.
Community foundations are all about building on what we already have. It’s a belief that by investing in the foundation the return will be new generations setting roots. If you’re wondering how to leave a lasting impression, take a look into Your Community Foundation.
