The Community Foundation of Grundy County has two “intentional giving” opportunities to share – and neither one has a direct benefit to us. One of our goals is to bridge people who care with causes that matter in Grundy County. One way we do this is by sharing opportunities to help donors explore different types of philanthropy, ways to give, and causes that might fit their charitable goals.
The first is an invitation to the churches across Grundy County to participate in this fall’s 3-part series called “Creating Congregational Cultures of Generosity.” This series is taught by the Lake Institute for Faith & Giving and will provide hands-on tips for helping pastors and laity discuss the role of philanthropy in the church in order to further the church’s mission.
The dates for the series are all Saturdays: October 16, November 20, and January 15th. The location is the First Presbyterian Church in Morris and each church is invited to send 3-5 representatives. There is a cost-share for each church to participate, but we also have a donor willing to assist, so please don’t allow money to be the reason your church doesn’t attend!!
Please call us at 941-0852 for details about the series and to register your congregation.
The second opportunity is a new nation-wide phenomenon that all schools in Grundy County need to know: https://www.donorschoose.org/ is a website that supports public school teachers by advertising their wish lists and project ideas.
I learned about it at our national conference earlier in the month. Charles Best, the founder, was one of our keynote speakers and as part of his presentation we were all given a $100 gift card to spend on donorschoose.org. Sadly, when I went to spend my donor dollars, I discovered that no schools or teachers in Grundy County have signed up and posted their wish lists.
Please go exploring on this website – you’ll be amazed and excited about what you see. Yes, there are wish lists that contain some of the basics, but there are also many teachers across the nation who post project ideas – creative dreams for reaching the students that go beyond the school’s ability to fund them.
And the creativity goes both ways. As a donor, you may have a passion for science or music or history. If you have a project idea that you want to fund, you can reach out to find a teacher who will implement it.
Another cool aspect of this website is the nationwide appeal and outreach. How many thousands of adults attended school here and they now live somewhere else? This is a great way for them to support their home community long distance. Maybe their favorite teacher is still teaching – this is a great way to show your thanks!
Therefore I implore ALL public school teachers in Grundy County to register (start at “my account” in the top right corner) at https://www.donorschoose.org/ If for nothing else, I have a $100 donor gift card burning a hole in my pocket!! That amount of money doesn’t seem like much, but it could make a big difference to a teacher who needs that one thing to make a lesson plan whole.
And to share the impact of this website, Mr. Best told us a story: just a week before speaking at our conference, the staff at donorschoose.org got a phone call from a woman who asked “how much would it take to fund all of the California wish lists and projects on the website?” Staff did some quick math and replied, “$1.3 million.” The woman didn’t give a reaction, so the staff pretty much forgot about the call.
Three days later a check arrived for $1.3 million from the caller. Holy Cow!! I bet a lot of teachers in California were kicking themselves for not registering!!
Now, will we have that impact in Grundy County? Maybe not. But it isn’t about the size of the donation. It’s about making connections and deepening the relationship among us all. We need to be communicating – teachers and charities need to communicate their needs and dreams and donors need to communicate their charitable passions so that connections can be made.
Then the communication needs to continue – both sides need to talk about the impact it has made because donors need to feel just as much of a sense of accomplishment as the charities they support.
And speaking of storytelling and communication – this is the theme of our 2nd annual philanthropy conference! Please mark your calendar for Tuesday, November 16th. The entire community is invited to attend, especially donors, potential donors, not-for-profit board members, and not-for-profit staff. We’re planning some interactive workshops to get us all communicating and telling stories from both sides of the charity equation.
One last thing: when you’ve either registered your project on donorschoose.org or donated to a project, we want to hear about it!! Please send your stories to [email protected] or mail it to us at 102 Liberty Street, Morris, IL 60450. Have fun – that’s what it’s all about!