Southwestern Hometown Community Fund

The Blue River Community Foundation has always supported all of Shelby County through grants from its unrestricted community fund, as well as through other designated and donor advised funds. The Southwestern Hometown Community Fund will serve as an additional funding resource for Southwestern Shelby County. Grants from the Southwestern Hometown Community Fund may be awarded to any charitable organization or program that serves Southwestern Shelby County. The Southwestern Hometown Community Fund Advisory Committee will publicize grant opportunities, distribute and collect grant applications, evaluate the applications, and recommend grant recipients to the Blue River Community Foundation Board of Directors. The Advisory Committee is made up of residents from Southwestern Shelby County. Advisory Committee Members - The members of the Southwestern Hometown Community Fund Advisory Committee are: Paul Baute, Lisa Bowman, Dan Clark, Gerg Gerline, Jodi Grube, Deb Mohr, Lori Tennell and Bob Wade. The Blue River Community Foundation is grateful to each of these committee members for the time and energy they have given to make this fund successful. 2010 Grant Recipients - 1.       Southwestern High School was awarded $900 to support an attendance and behavior incentive program for students. This program was created by the teaching staff and has been highly successful, however up to this point, the program had been funded out of the teachers' personal money. This grant will allow the program to continue without undue financial pressure on the staff or the school. 2.    Shelby County Life Long Learning on behalf of the Community Aspiration Action Team 1 was awarded a grant of $1,100 to help with the cost of transportation for Southwestern area children to attend a summer Jumpstart program for kindergarten readiness. The program will serve 15 children that will be entering kindergarten at Southwestern Elementary this fall. 2009 Grant Recipients - 1.       Flat Rock Citizen Committee/Volunteer Fire Department was awarded $1,050 to help with the purchase of a breathing air cascade system for their local department. The local committee felt that the current situation of taking their air pack bottles to the Shelbyville Fire Department to be filled was not an ideal situation for the safety of their volunteer firefighters or for local residents because in the event of multiple fires close together, they may not be able to have their air bottles filled, putting the volunteers at risk. This system would allow them to fill their bottles on site and immediately after they have been used and will better equip the volunteer firefighters to do their job safely and efficiently. 2.       Flat Rock Christian Church was awarded a grant of $450 to help the church establish an emergency outreach program for the local area.  The church would provide temporary food and lodging to families dislocated as a result of a local disaster, such as fire, tornado or flooding. This grant will help the church with the purchase of cots for the program so that in the event of a disaster, such as the vast flooding in the area in 2008, they will bring displaced families into the church to have a safe, secure place to stay with safe food and water available to them. The local committee was very supportive and thankful for the church's willingness to make themselves available in critical times to local families. Examples of other potential grantees could include: 4-H or FFA or other youth-focused educational programming Civic or social organizations for public beautification, historic preservation or community service projects Southwestern Schools for equipment and/or programming that would enrich the school curriculum or athletics programs Church outreach programs that provide services for the elderly, young children, or the poor of Southwestern Shelby County Local area volunteer fire departments As gifts are made, a list of donors will be posted (unless the donor has requested to remain anonymous), as well as a regularly updated report on the balance of the Fund. Click here to see this information How to Give - To make a gift to the Southwestern Hometown Community Fund, you may give online by clicking here, or you may write a check made payable to "BRCF" and note "Southwestern Hometown Community Fund" or "SWHCF" on the memo line. Please mail your check to BRCF, P.O. Box 808, Shelbyville, IN 46176. Take Advantage of a Match for your Gift! Until December 31, 2010, the Blue River Community Foundation will match every $2.00 given to the Fund with an additional $1.00, up to a total of $15,000.00. In other words, a gift of $50.00 will be matched with $25.00 making the total gift value $75.00, or a gift of $200.00 will be matched with $100.00 making the total gift value $300.00, and so on. If the Southwestern community takes full advantage of this match opportunity, the fund will have a balance of $45,000.00 Frequently Asked Questions - What area is covered by the Southwestern Hometown Community Fund? The area covered by the Southwestern Hometown Community Fund is the area that is included within the Southwestern Consolidated School District. This area is primarily made up of Hendricks, Jackson and Washington Townships. What does "endowment" mean? When a fund is "endowed," it means that all gifts made to the fund remain in the fund forever, and are invested rather than spent. Grants from an endowed fund are made from the investment earnings. Ideally, not all of the earnings are granted so that a portion of the earnings may be returned to the fund to help it grow. Every gift to an endowed fund, no matter the size, will generate earnings that will make up the grant money to be awarded. By making a gift of any size to the Southwestern Hometown Community Fund, you are leaving a legacy to your hometown community that will serve Southwestern Shelby County for all time! How is the money in the fund invested? The Blue River Community Foundation uses a professional investment management firm called Mason Investment Advisory Services to manage its investments. Mason is overseen by the Foundation's Finance Committee and Board of Directors. The Foundation follows a formal investment policy that includes an asset allocation strategy. The Foundation's funds are invested in 14 different asset classes according to the specific percentages for each that are set out in the investment policy. A representative from Mason travels to Shelbyville every quarter to meet with the Finance Committee to review investment performance. How are the amounts of the grants decided? The full amount of money that will be available to grant from the Fund each year is determined using a formula that is part of the Blue River Community Foundation's Spending Policy. That formula multiplies 5% times the fund's balance at the end of each previous quarter up to 20 trailing quarters. Because the money in the fund is invested, the fund's value will go up and down depending upon stock market performance. The 20 trailing quarter "look-back" period helps to smooth out dramatic swings in the market to promote more consistent grantmaking. As an example, a fund with a steady balance of $50,000 would grant $2,500 annually. Who can receive a grant from the Fund? Any charitable organization that serves the Southwestern part of Shelby County could receive a grant from the Fund. "Charitable" can include education, healthcare, arts and culture, community improvements (such as beautification), and social services. Because of Internal Revenue regulations, grants cannot be made to individuals or to non-charitable activities. Examples of different Southwestern organizations that could receive a grant from the fund are described above. Can I designate my gift for a specific organization or program within the Southwestern Hometown Community Fund? Gifts cannot be designated for specific organizations or programs within the Southwestern Hometown Community Fund. The purpose of the Fund is unrestricted, which means that grants can be used for any charitable purpose that serves the Southwestern part of Shelby County. Because the purpose of the fund is unrestricted, grants from this fund may be used to meet the needs of Southwestern Shelby County today and in the future. It is difficult to imagine what needs any of our communities may have in another 50 years from now. Whatever those needs may be, grants from the Southwestern Hometown Community Fund may be used to help meet them. If you have a particular organization or program you feel strongly about and would like to support through an endowment fund, you may establish a new named endowment fund with the Blue River Community Foundation for that organization or program. The minimum amount needed to establish a new endowment fund is $5,000 (scholarships require a minimum amount of $10,000). Please contact the Blue River Community Foundation staff for more information on how to establish a new fund. When will the first grants from the Fund be made? Although the timing of the first grants depends partly on the success of the fundraising efforts, it is anticipated at this time that the first grants from the fund will be awarded in 2009. Who will be on the committee that recommends how the grants will be awarded? The Advisory Committee members listed above have been working with the Foundation to develop "advisory committee guidelines" that set out how future members of the Advisory Committee will be selected. The Advisory Committee may make the grantmaking decisions, or may delegate that decision to a grantmaking committee. The advisory committee guidelines include term limits, as well as provisions to avoid conflicts of interest in the grantmaking process. Why must grants be recommended to the Blue River Community Foundation's Board of Directors? The Blue River Community Foundation's Board of Directors must have the opportunity to approve or disapprove all grants from funds held by the Foundation in order to make certain that no grant is made that could negatively affect the Foundation's public charity status under Internal Revenue Service regulations. However, the Foundation's Board of Directors also has an obligation to follow donor intent to the greatest extent possible. Is my gift tax deductible? The Blue River Community is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) public charity. Gifts to the Foundation are tax deductible to the extent permitted by state and federal law. Can I make a gift besides cash? The Blue River Community Foundation can receive almost any type of asset that has value - such as stock, real estate, or farm commodities - as a gift to a fund. If you wish to make a gift other than cash, please contact the Foundation or your financial advisor before you make your gift. You will need important information about the required steps for making non-cash gifts. Can I make a planned gift? The Blue River Community Foundation would be happy to talk with you about options for planned giving. The most common type of planned gift is a bequest in a will. Other ways to make planned gifts include naming the Southwestern Hometown Community Fund as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy or a retirement account. The Foundation can also help you make a deferred gift that will generate income to you or a member of your family for a term of years. For more information about these types of gifts, please contact the Blue River Community Foundation staff or your financial advisor. Are there any fees charged against the Fund? The Blue River Community Foundation charges a 1% administrative fee on all of its endowed funds. This fee helps to cover the Foundation's operating expenses, and allows the Foundation to provide support for various community activities, such as scholarship workshops, grant writing workshops, board and donor development training for local nonprofits, etc. The fund managers the Foundation uses charge a fee of less than 1%.