Gary: Giving greater where need is seen

Comments (...)

E-mail this story

Print this story

Comments

Share

With more than 60 non-profit agencies in Grundy County, significant numbers of people depend on the generosity of others for needed services.

Three of those organizations – the Community Foundation of Grundy County, Morris Hospital Foundation and the United Way of Grundy County – hosted the county’s first conference on philanthropy at the First Christian Church Wednesday morning.

A leading presenter at the conference, Tracy Gary, author of “Inspired Philanthropy,” said that, for 35 years, giving in the United States has remained a little under 2 percent of income.

Yet in inner cities and on Indian Reservations, they give at a rate of more than 4 percent. In wealthy areas like Lake Forest, Ill., Boulder, Colo., and Marin County, Calif, giving is under 2 percent.

“In the inner city, you walk around the homeless, you might depend on a church for a meal, they see the need,” she said.

In richer areas, she added, they don’t see the need – “You don’t see much poverty on television,” Gary stressed.

After 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, Gary said, people learned to depend on their faith and their networks with family, friends and community members to provide a safety net, she said.

People who have faith in the future, who have seen their church or a charity grow, are more willing to give.

Ron Wohlwend, retired president of Grundy Bank, said providing something people are passionate about, that they can get excited about, drives philanthropy.

He recounted when the Presbyterian Church was planning its addition.

“Being in the business I was in, I thought we would take out a big loan,” he said, but talking to friends and church members, he found out that would not be necessary.

“One Sunday I said, ‘We are going to buy this the old-fashioned way, we are going to pay for it.’”

“A lot of you know I grew up in a very poor Appalachian family,” Brent Newman of the Grundy County Housing Authority said. “I remember trying to get to the Baptist Church on time, but we always tithed.”

When it came time for college, Newman said, he could not afford it, “but there was a dentist who was a very kind man.”

Newman said he now provides scholarships for students.

Kathryn Roseen, an attorney and now human resources consultant, said she does not live in Grundy County, but donates to organizations in the county.

She explained that, after living in Chicago for many years, her husband took a job in Clinton, Iowa, and they moved to Thomson, Ill.

In smaller communities, she said, there is much less of a government safety net. In Chicago you can take the bus or the El, but if the car breaks down in Thomson, people have to depend on their friends or the church.

She and her husband have since moved back to the Chicago area, but she supports organizations in Grundy County.

Gary said the non-profits in smaller communities should look for ways they can work together.

The Community Foundation, United Way and Morris Hospital Foundation collaborate rather than compete.

While all three seek donations, they use the money in different ways.

The Community Foundation seeks to provide a long-term savings account for the community. The foundation provides planned grants in five focused areas, but also allows individuals and families to provide long-term funding in any area of interest.

For the United Way, money collected during its annual drive is distributed almost immediately to the agencies it supports. These agencies provide a variety of services to the residents of Grundy County.

The Morris Hospital Foundation works in the area of health, which includes funding hospital projects and annual grants to local non-profit organizations with a focus on health.

Randy Fox of Naperville formed InKnow Vision seven years ago to work on financial plans for high net woth individuals, in this case $10 million or more.

“I am a child of the “60s, I wanted to change the world,” he said, “but I never had enough wealth of my own.”

In working with high net worth families, Fox said, he explains to them, “estate taxes are voluntary, all you have to do is plan.”

Part of planning is developing a charitable vision, he said. This includes taking dollars and making them philanthropic dollars.

“If your money is going to go to the government, family or charity, and you can pick two, which two would you pick?” he asked.

Gary said accountants and attorneys are becoming more interested in philanthropy.

“I get calls from accountants who say 100 percent of their clients give nothing and they want to nudge them” towards giving.

Richard Klopp of the Lake Institute on Faith and Giving at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, also spoke at the conference. His topics were “Building Cathedrals for our Souls,” and “American Generosity and the Altered Landscape of Religious Giving.”



 

 
 


 

 
 

Comments