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From the Executive Director |
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When donors invest in our community through The Lima Community Foundation we work together to improve the quality of life in our community by managing and distributing charitable funds to qualified organizations. Together we create positive connections between donors and their charitable interests. We have spent a substantial amount of time to educate both agencies and donors about the functions of our Community Foundation and we look forward to continuing these efforts in 2011.
This has been a tough year economically. Even though times have been tough for our donors in 2009, The Lima Community Foundation paid out over $155,013.54 in grants through its managed Fund distributions and Community Grants. Charitable agencies have increased needs just as many of our citizens are tightening their financial belts. However, due to the work of The Lima Community Foundation, both the nonprofit agencies their boards and leaders have been working smarter to accomplish their goals. This past year our Foundation, in partnership with the Foundation’s Grant Center (national) and the Lima Area Development Professionals Roundtable, provided valuable educational opportunities to our area nonprofit agency leaders. One nonprofit leader reported, “The collegial interplay which the Foundation has fostered has created an atmosphere of creativity and trust. This type of atmosphere has enabled the nonprofit community to forge innovative partnerships which have substantially benefitted the Lima/Allen County area.”
Our Foundation has also expanded its own internal capacity this year with the implementation of a new reporting/accounting system, on-line giving (now accessible through the Foundation’s web site) and the adoption of a Foundation Succession Plan. In an effort to generate better reporting to our donors, our non-profit agencies, the Foundation’s leadership and our community we have began the process of implementing a new accounting and report system. We expect this new reporting system to be in place within the next fiscal year. As the world of technology expands we find ourselves trying to reach out to donors in new ways. One additional service we are offering to our donors is the option to give their charitable donations through on-line giving. This service is also important to our non-profit agencies as this service provides their donors another avenue for giving to these local organizations. The Foundation offers a secure web access through PayPal, which accepts an array of credit cards and debit cards. We are pleased to be one of the first charities in Allen County to offer this service. During the last six months the Foundation has adopted a formal Succession Plan. In the preparation of a succession plan the Foundation had the opportunity to not only put in place a process which will ensure the ongoing good works of the Foundation, but also an opportunity to evaluate our current system. We looked at the processes which work and also identified areas in which we could improve. This has not only proved to be a worthwhile endeavor in planning for our future but has assisted us in evaluating our current systems and processes.
Our donor base is growing! More and more of our residents are becoming philanthropic donors through The Lima Community Foundation. More of our community based organizations are investing their managed funds through us. There are many ways your charitable dollars can promote lifelong giving. We will be happy to discuss, with you, the variety of giving options available through our Foundation.
This 2009 Annual Report to our community is one way to thank our generous donors and acknowledge the great work of our grantees and other nonprofit agencies. We want to assure the community that The Lima Community Foundation will be here, in good times and tough times, to preserve and improve the quality of life in this community.
Susie Crabtree Executive Director |
