2019 Greater Toledo Community Foundation Annual Report
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2019 Annual Report strength in giving hopein action Toledo Community Foundation, Inc. dba Greater Toledo Community Foundation 300 Madison Avenue, Suite 1300 Toledo, OH 43604 Phone: 419.241.5049 Email: [email protected] Website: www.toledocf.org About Us We are a community of donors committed to making our region and the world a better place to call home. The Foundation is a public charity, 501(c)(3) nonprofit, with more than $329 million in charitable assets composed of nearly 900 individual current funds. Each fund represents a unique charitable giving partnership with an individual, family, business or nonprofit organization. The Foundation consistently demonstrates a unique capability to connect donors with the opportunity to make a real difference through charitable giving. Since 1973, Greater Toledo Community Foundation has helped area citizens put charitable dollars to work addressing the issues most important to them in the communities they care most about. Information about planned giving and more information about the Foundation can be found at www.toledocf.org. Our Mission Greater Toledo Community Foundation – a public, charitable foundation – exists to improve the quality of life in the region by: • Providing a flexible, informed, effective means for donors to achieve their charitable goals in perpetuity • Addressing the changing needs of the region through efficient, prudent, high impact grantmaking • Serving as a source of information about and as a catalyst in shaping the region’s response to those needs, and • Facilitating the work of other grantmaking organizations in order to achieve effective and efficient grantmaking practices Let us show you just how easy, flexible and effective your charitable giving can be. We can help you with the details. Contact us at 419.241.5049 to start making your community a better place. Dear Friends, n 2019, the Foundation adopted a new corporate identity — a new logo, new styling for our Icommunications tools, and a new tagline, “Strength in Giving, Hope in Action,” a theme reflected in this year’s annual report. Our renewed mission of strength and hope also involved a name change. Our new name, Greater Toledo Community Foundation, reflects the growth in the Foundation’s service to northwest Ohio communities beyond the city limits of Toledo, and represents our commitment to the well-being of our entire region. Two of our region’s great assets are the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and the Toledo Ballet. The story that L. Zac Isaac follows on pages 2-3 shines a spotlight on the Foundation’s role in their union as the Toledo Alliance for Chair the Performing Arts, and how a modest financial investment produced great gains for both organizations. Successes like these would not be possible without our donors and fundholders. The examples of family philanthropy and joyful, selfless service to others that are showcased on pages 4-5 are characteristic of those who have chosen GTCF to facilitate their giving. Their stories provide a glimpse of the tremendous generosity of our partners and their impact on the community. For nearly a half century, Foundation fundholders and supporters have helped improve our region in countless ways. We thank every individual, family and organization listed in these pages for their support. They truly are the source of our strength in giving, and provide hope in action throughout northwest Ohio and beyond. Sincerely, Keith Burwell President L. Zac Isaac Keith Burwell Chair, Board of Trustees President In March 2020, the coronavirus pandemic shifted Greater Toledo Community Foundation’s attention and A note on efforts philanthropically, operationally and personally. Community Foundations across the country, includ- ing GTCF, have stepped up to help those in need in the face of the COVID-19 crisis, granting hundreds of COVID-19 millions of dollars to support their neighbors in communities large and small. We are asked every day why people create endowments at the Foundation. Community Foundations have proven to be a ready source of philanthropic capital to address critical needs during this pandemic, like many before. At times like this, the Community Foundation does its best work and it’s because of the generous citizens who have created endowed funds with us that we can respond in a meaningful and expeditious way. You will hear more about our efforts in this regard soon, but we want to thank the very generous individuals, foundations and businesses that have contributed to our specific COVID Funds – the COVID-19 Response Fund and Community Resilience Fund. At press time for this Annual Report, we have received more than $581,000 in donations and awarded $379,163 in grants to local nonprofits to assist those most vulnerable in our community. 1 Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters. symphony — Margaret Wheatley Two years ago, two Toledo arts organizations had a conversation. +ballet = No one knew at the outset that it would matter quite as much as it did. But at its conclusion, a unique model brilliant! was created that combined the symphony and ballet — the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts — and a new era had begun for both music and dance in Toledo. t first, the conversation was about finances, explained Zak Vassar, A president of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra (TSO). “For decades, members of the TSO had com- prised the pit orchestra for the Toledo Ballet, most notably for their annual performance of TAPA’s combined performance of Carmina Burana, Feb. 14, 2020 The Nutcracker,” he said. “But in recent years, the Ballet had begun to experience some finan- cial pressures and asked the TSO if they could reduce their price for the annual performances of the holiday classic. “We knew a facilitated discussion would be es- by all three SAP investment partners — sential to a successful process,” said Zak. “The GTCF, Stranahan Foundation and ProMedica,” “Members of the Symphony are paid contrac- facilitator would need to be a skilled profes- she explained. The fund partners agreed on tually established rates, so our cost was not sional with extensive experience in the arts. We the merits of the collaboration and invited the something we could change,” he continued. “But also knew about the GTCF’s Strategic Alliance participants, who by then had grown to include we wanted to assist. So, we offered to help them Partnership and how the SAP grant could assist the Toledo Opera, to submit a proposal. sell more tickets to the performances.” TSO pro- with the cost of our facilitator.” posed setting a target beyond which all receipts A real conversation always would be split 50/50, and the Ballet agreed. Heather Bradley, director of The Center for contains an invitation … Nonprofit Resources and SAP Program Officer, to tell you who they are or With their well-established promotional chan- described the role of the SAP grant in the what they want. nels, TSO’s involvement lead to a 24% increase process. “SAP grants support collaborations — David Whyte in box-office revenues for The Nutcracker of all types between nonprofits that operate With the grant in place, the group secured La that season. Describing a post-event review in similar arenas,” she said. “One example of Piana Consulting to facilitate the discussions. meeting, Zak said, “We asked: Should we do SAP support is engaging a neutral third-party “La Piana came to the table with an early this again? To which the then-chair of the Ballet professional who can help participants identify clarification of what would come from this,” board, Stephanie Alexander, replied, ‘Let’s do a sustainable business model.” said Zak, “ranging from nothing at all, up to this forever.’” and including shared participation, marketing, She continued, “This is the one GTCF grant that box-office sales or a total merger.” Enter GTCF and the Strategic Alliance involves a two-step process. We received Partnership (SAP). a letter of inquiry, which was then reviewed 2 a new organization, TAPA, which would handle administration for both the Symphony and Ballet and facilitate their creative collaboration. The new structure resulted in immediate operational efficiencies. The Ballet had several unresolved vacancies that TAPA made unnec- essary to fill. Their executive director joined the Symphony, which in turn afforded the Ballet all the benefits of its fundraising and marketing infrastructure. But there were still concerns to be resolved. “When we thought about the branding implica- tion of the merger, the biggest question I had was: ‘How do we answer the phone?’” said Zak. “We had to change our names on everything. This is a functional and marketing issue — but it’s also an organizational culture issue.” He explained: “Donors have such a significant investment in the mission and people of each organization that if we say, ‘give to TAPA,’ we have erased the emotional ties to the legacy organizations. We had to address that concern, too.” So, for now, the TAPA business cards have on the back both TSO and Ballet logos, and the TAPA’s combined performance of Carmina Burana, Feb. 14, 2020 two organizations maintain separate annual fundraising efforts. Even with these concerns, it is evident to all involved that the benefits of collaboration are While the initial vision was music, song and Conversation is a catalyst for outweighing the potential challenges. Zak dance, the Opera chose to remain independent innovation. — John Seely Brown concluded, “For me, the most exhilarating thing in the end. “The generosity of the GTCF funding about the merger was what happened in the “The discussion also improved our vision of what provided the space to express with candor community after the two organizations raised we could accomplish creatively,” Zak added. both our hopes and our fears,” observed Zak. their hands and said, ‘Let’s collaborate.’ It’s truly “The visual experience of the symphony is “The facilitator allowed us to investigate our a multi-genre experiment to grow the appetite for quite static, so the opportunity to expand dance potentials, choose what’s best for each and both music and dance in this region.