Letter to the Editor: Giving to community foundations creates better futures

To the Editor:

Katie Fahey, principal of St. Patrick’s School in Waukon, has seen the impact of endowments firsthand. By securing a permanent endowment fund with the Allamakee County Community Foundation (ACCF), St. Patrick’s School could ensure long term financial security.

Fahey has said that the St. Patrick’s endowment has allowed the school to expand its programming to offer 21st century learning to keep its children and teachers going at the same pace so they can learn real-world skills and survive in the real world after they leave St. Pat’s. That endowment has also allowed St. Pat’s to offer retirement plans for teachers.

More than 20 Allamakee County nonprofits like the St. Pat’s have established endowment funds through the ACCF. Nonprofit leaders look to these funds as a reliable and recurring source of funding that helps them meet emerging needs and continue the good work they do.

By partnering with local community foundations, donors and nonprofit leaders can build endowments and make planned gifts to ensure the charitable causes they care about continue to thrive today, tomorrow and always. Community foundations are nonprofit organizations that focus on building local philanthropy by connecting people to the causes that matter most to them. By working together, foundations and community members create long-term endowments that benefit local nonprofit agencies.

This is working. Last year, Iowa foundation endowments paid out more than $59.6 million in community grants. That’s an incredible amount of generosity.

Here, in Allamakee County, endowments paid out more than $83,000 to area nonprofits through agency and donor-advised endowment payouts. And that amount will continue to grow and pay out every year.

Giving back to your community can be rewarding in many ways. In giving locally through endowment funds at the Community Foundation, you can make sure that your dollars will continue to give back annually, and help your hometown in the future.

Donors who give to endowments through a community foundation receive benefit from the Endow Iowa 25% State Tax Credit in addition to federal charitable income tax deductions. For example, after the state tax credit and federal deduction, a $10,000 gift will cost a couple or individual in the 35% tax bracket just $4,000.

I love my community, and I want to know that its future is a bright one with many possibilities. I encourage Allamakee County residents to learn more about the Endow Iowa Tax credit or how the Community Foundation can help our local future today and tomorrow. The Community Foundation is a good partner.

Dave Hahn
Waukon
Allamakee County
Community Foundation Board of Directors