Give today. Impact tomorrow. 2018 ANNUAL REPORT 810.664.0691 TO THE www.lapeercountycf.org COMMUNITY The future begins now “Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.” — JOHN F. KENNEDY ince its start in 1996, education has been a pillar of the Lapeer County Community Foundation. We know that helping students Sreach their fullest potential leads to a stronger, more productive, vibrant and stable community. In 2018 alone, the Foundation awarded over $91,000 in scholarships. Continued learning beyond high school is critical to success. Whether it be obtaining a certificate, enrollment in a trade or technical program, apprenticeships, or traditional two-year or four-year programs, continued learning greatly expands future opportunities and financial stability. Only 31 percent of Lapeer County residents ages 18 and up have any type of post-secondary credential. This number has been fairly consistent over the past decade and remains below the national average of 47%. While our educators have worked hard to shift this number – our students face many barriers to pursuing these opportunities. The fastest growing barrier to post-secondary education is financial. The rising costs of higher education are outpacing the ability for families to afford it. Knowing this, the Foundation began to ask, “How can we help?” Studies show that children who have dedicated savings accounts from $1-$499 are three times more likely to attend post-secondary school and four times more likely to finish. Keeping that in mind, the Foundation has spent the last year collaborating with local schools, securing a financial institution as a partner, and committing over $166,000 to fund a three-year pilot program called, “LEAF” — Lapeer County Education Attainment Fund. We are honored to say that the “seed” money to create the LEAF endowment was the result of a legacy gift from Sandra DuPont. Please see our Donor Spotlight to learn more about this generous individual. Starting in the fall of 2019, every kindergarten student in Lapeer County will have a child savings account opened on their behalf with a $25 gift from the Foundation. LEAF is designed to encourage, reinforce, and incentivize the importance of saving early for post-secondary learning. The Foundation will serve as the custodian of these deposit-only accounts Students can begin accessing these funds upon graduation from high school with accounts remaining open until they are 26 years of age. The funds can be utilized for any educational expenses related to traditional two-and-four-year programs, trade school, apprenticeships and certificate programs. This program will also incorporate financial literacy education for both students and parents to help promote asset building opportunities for our families. While we are extremely excited about this new Foundation initiative, it has not slowed our giving in other areas. In 2018, the LCCF gave grants totaling $319,000. The Foundation’s grant making is as diverse as our community. Arts and culture, the environment, public safety, housing, recreation, health and human services, and economic development were all supported by LCCF grants. In November of 2018, LCCF hosted our second-annual #GivingTuesday event whereby the Foundation matched gifts to endowment funds. Our donors overwhelmingly responded with a one-day giving total of $98,500. In return, the Foundation provided $54,000 in matching dollars to these funds which support community needs and local scholarships. The last year has been one of continued growth and commitment to ensuring a vibrant future for Lapeer County. As we look ahead, we will continue to find ways to Give today. Impact tomorrow. Thank you for the opportunity to serve you, the residents of Lapeer County. Paul Bowman, Chair Paul Bowman Nancy Boxey Nancy Boxey, Executive Director CHAIR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Contents 2 Board of Trustees and Staff 3 About the Lapeer County Community Foundation 4 Arts and Recreation Grants 5 General Community Needs Grants 6 Food and Shelter Grants 7 Education Grants 8 How you can help the LCCF 9 #GivingTuesday: A Success! 10-11 2018-2019 Scholarship Recipients 12-14 Youth Advisory Committee 15-16 The Women’s Fund 17 The Power of Endowment 18-20 Donors in 2018 21 Donor Spotlight 22-23 Lapeer County Community Foundation Funds 24 Leave Your Legacy 25 Numbers at a Glance Give today. ImpactCONTENTS tomorrow. www.lapeercountycf.org 1 2018 Board of Trustees Paul Bowman Steve Zott Tim Denney Bill Gibbons CHAIR VICE CHAIR SECRETARY TREASURER Kim Brown Rick Burrough Emily Caswell Ralph Deshetsky Kathryn Lawter Dahna Loeding Charlie Mann Jessica Marco Molly Muir Bob Riehl Dana Walker Staff Nancy Boxey Jennifer Phillips Executive Director YAC Advisor Office Manager 2 Lapeer County Community Foundation INVEST GIVE Funds are carefully invested An individual, for long-term growth, overseen family, business or by professional advisors and an organization makes a investment committee. Gifts to the LCCF tax-deductible gift of represent not only the donor’s generosity, but cash, securities, real their confidence, trust, and vision for the future. estate or other property. STRENGTHEN Lapeer County Giving communities become through the stronger through grants given to Community support local nonprofits, Foundation schools, and public STARTS entities. WITH YOU CHOOSE Your gift creates ENGAGE or adds to a charitable Nonprofit organizations receive grants based on fund to benefit causes community needs. We work in collaboration important to you with individuals and organizations to mobilize resources to provide now or for the donors flexible gifting and long-term. granting opportunities. BUILD Community. The Lapeer County Community Foundation is a nonprofit organization created by and for the people of Lapeer County. Many of today’s solutions result from yesterday’s giving. In 1996, the Lapeer County Community Foundation was started with a $20,000 gift to create a permanent community endowment fund. Since then, we have grown to represent 63 funds, nearly $10 million in assets, and have given over $3.7 million back into our local Lapeer County communities. GIVE Today. Since our inception, we have worked with people like you, giving gifts from $5 to $500,000 to help ensure there will always be resources available in the future to meet the community’s needs and promising opportunities. Giving is personal. We understand that. We combine personalized service, local expertise, and community leadership to help donors meet their charitable goals. IMPACT Tomorrow. As the Lapeer County leader in promoting philanthropy to strengthen our communities, we work in collaboration with individuals and organizations to mobilize resources to meet their goals and objectives. It’s all about relationships. We invest not only your dollars, but also our time, in building these long-term relationships. www.lapeercountycf.org 3 Arts and Recreation A grant from the LCCF helped bring to life an Art and Historic Walking Tour in downtown Imlay City. The grant helped to fund a sign located in Lamb Steele Park, which acts Joint grantmaking from the LCCF and Lapeer County YAC as the starting supported programming at the Lost in the Woods Music point of the walk. Festival. This free community event supports efforts of local Brochures were non-profits to provide assistance for those that might be also produced, “Lost in the Woods” as victims of child abuse, domestic including a brief violence, substance abuse, suicide and homicide. description of the artwork and buildings. The tour promotes downtown Imlay City’s walkability, drawing visitors and community members to downtown businesses. Through a grant from the LCCF, the students at the Chatfield School participated in a multi-step project A capital improvement grant, funded in part by the LCCF, with the end enabled Lions Bear Lake Camp to complete urgently result being a needed renovations to the camp’s infrastructure, including community Empty construction of the bath house roof and installation of Bowls fundraiser new metal roofs on 13 campus buildings. The camp’s to raise money residential summer camp program has benefitted hundreds for The Refuge of blind/visually impaired and deaf and hard-of-hearing and Stone Soup campers as well as children with various physical and Food Bank in the psychological impairments. Lapeer area. The benefits of music to a student’s learning is undeniable. In order to ensure that solid curricular foundations in national music standards were met, the Imlay City school district - with the help of a grant from the LCCF and Lapeer County YAC - purchased ukuleles for 7th graders to utilize. This allows them to learn important music reading skills, theoretical principles of chord and voice integration, When the bowls were done and ready for display, and much more. Chatfield hosted a free luncheon and auction of the bowls. The grant helped to fund the food for the lunch, provided by local restaurants as well as supplies. All proceeds from the auction and lunch OTHER ARTS AND RECREATION GRANTS were donated to The Refuge and Dryden Community Schools: New Baseball/Softball Scoreboard Stone Soup Food Bank. Flint River Watershed Coalition: Construction of Saginaw Street Landing paddle launch Muscular Dystrophy Association: Summer camperships Seven Ponds Nature Center: Membership management software Six Rivers Land Conservancy: Support for land conservation efforts in Lapeer County 4 Lapeer County Community Foundation Community Needs BEFORE AFTER In an effort to keep families informed on the dangers and prevention of lead exposure, the Health Department of Lapeer County – through a grant from the LCCF – provided families with a brochure containing useful information, including The Lapeer Center has served the community since 1948 and was in nutritional needs, for preventing and need of repairs and renovations. The LCCF was happy to be part of that reducing the impact of lead exposure. effort with a grant that helped to fund the painting of the building and In addition, lead testing cards were construction of two protective awnings for the main entrances.