Thinking differently about scholarships can make all the difference

/in /by

According to statistics gathered by the National Scholarship Providers Association, approximately $100 million in scholarship money is left sitting on the sidelines each year, unused. Even though the number of scholarships awarded in the United States has increased overall by more than 45% over the last decade, not enough students are applying. These are sobering statistics, considering that the burden of tuition and student loan debt is weighing heavily on America’s young adults.

This presents a challenge for you and other donors who are interested in supporting education as a charitable giving priority. On one hand, you want to help students get the education they need to thrive in their careers. On the other hand, no one wants to fund a scholarship that goes unused.

The Community Foundation can help. Our team will work with you to establish a tailored charitable giving plan that meets your desire to support education while helping to ensure that the money does not go unused.

First, we’ll help you think broadly about education. Limiting a scholarship fund to four-year institutions could result in a lot of missed opportunities. A college or university is not the only option for post-secondary learning and career readiness. Community colleges, trade schools, vocational programs, and out-of-the-box learning experiences may be a better fit for some students.

Next, our team will help you craft the criteria for the scholarship so that it is not too narrow. In other words, casting a wide net can be important to ensure a strong pool of applicants. Limiting scholarship recipients to one area of study, or very specific high school credentials may mean that there simply will not be enough applicants to fully utilize the scholarship dollars.

Finally, The Community Foundation team is happy to help you with the strategy for getting the word out. Many times, would-be applicants simply are not aware of all the options for scholarships. If scholarship funds don’t adequately promote the opportunities, it may be hard to capture students’ attention as they wade through the vast amount of information available about paying for college.

The team at The Community Foundation is honored to serve as a resource and sounding board as you build your charitable plans and pursue your philanthropic objectives for making a difference in the community. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. Please consult your tax or legal advisor to learn how this information might apply to your own situation.

Want to learn more? Call The Community Foundation at 540-432-3863 or email Ann Siciliano at [email protected]!

Great Community Give – Early Giving Begins Today!

/in , /by

The Great Community Give takes place on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 from sunrise to sunset. April 7 begins a period of Early Giving for this annual event.

What is ‘Early Giving’?

Early Giving is defined as the time range where donors can make their gifts to their favorite local charities before the Great Community Give event on April 21, 2021. Donors can make a gift to a participating nonprofit organization starting April 7, 2021 through April 20, 2021. Donors’ gifts will not be displayed on the website until 6:30AM on April 21, 2021. Donors’ ‘early gifts’ will be counted towards nonprofits’ overall online fundraising totals and will count towards determination of Leaderboard prizes. Early gifts will NOT count towards the determination of Power Hour prizes or Golden Tickets on the day of Great Community Give.

Donors’ payment methods, whether they be credit cards, e-checks, ($50 or more), or Mobile Wallet, will be immediately charged once their donation has been made.

NEW! Give back via cash and checks sent DIRECTLY to your favorite nonprofit organizations. Make checks payable to the nonprofit of your choice and write ‘Great Community Give’ in the memo line.

Another Anonymous Donor Challenges Donations for COVID-19 Fund

/in , /by

The Community Foundation and The United Way of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County are pleased to announce a second anonymous gift of $20,000 from a generous community member. The donor states, “Now is the time to give to support members of our community who have lost their jobs and don’t have a savings account to fall back on”. The donor encourages others to give and is offering this gift as a challenge. The donor will provide a dollar for dollar match, up to $20,000 for new gifts given to the COVID-19 Harrisonburg Rockingham Community Response Fund which means this could be an additional $40,000 to this Fund. The Community Foundation received and met its first $20,000 challenge from another generous anonymous donor. With both of these gifts, an additional $80,000 can be raised for our community.

“We are very grateful to both anonymous gifts and for each contribution that has helped us exceed the first challenge. To date the funding has been granted to local nonprofit organizations that are focused on basic essentials, access to food and access to safe shelter.  It has provided funding for nutrition drinks for the elderly, food supplies for those in need, vehicle repairs and gas cards for working low income individuals, hygiene items, rent assistance, and financial assistance to shelters for hotel bills for clients who need to be quarantined.” – Revlan Hill, Executive Director of The Community Foundation.

The Community Foundation of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County and the United Way of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County announced a joint partnership to raise funds for the COVID-19 Harrisonburg Rockingham Community Response Fund. Gifts may be mailed to The Community Foundation at PO Box 1068, Harrisonburg, VA 22803, or given online at www.tcfhr.org.

GreatCommunityGive 2020 postponed until June

/in , , /by

The Community Foundation of Harrisonburg & Rockingham County has announced that the Great Community Give, slated for April 22nd has been rescheduled for June 24th, 2020.  The GCG2020 Planning Committee considered as much relevant information as possible to unanimously agree that delaying the event was necessary.

“We have to give consideration to minimizing health risks to the nonprofit staff and volunteers until COVID-19 cases begin to subside. GCG uses countless volunteers on the day of the event.  While the giving occurs online, it is also a social occasion on many levels.   For the purposes of planning, we have chosen June 24th as an optimistic date and hope it turns out to be the case. “– Revlan Hill, Executive Director of The Community Foundation.

“Although a difficult decision, postponing the event is best for everyone. We feel we can have more excitement and enthusiasm by gathering again as groups.  We believe the Great Community Give will be more successful for the nonprofits and less risky for health reasons later in June.  We owe it to the nonprofits to help them raise the most money we can” – Amanda Bomfim, Program Officer, The Community Foundation of Harrisonburg & Rockingham County.

The Great Community Give is in its third year as a community-wide day of online giving to 100 local nonprofits. The Planning Committee hopes that in moving the date, the goal of raising $600,000 for local nonprofits can be achieved. Planning for GCG2020 will continue through the new date of June 24.

 

In the meantime, The Community Foundation is actively encouraging donors to remember nonprofits in this time of social-distancing requirements and will continue its grant making to nonprofit organizations. Efforts to support nonprofit organizations during the COVID-19 crisis are ongoing. The Community Foundation and United Way of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County have jointly announced the establishment of the COVID-19 HR Community Response Fund. Grants from the fund will help support front line human services organizations that have deep roots in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County and strong experience working with those vulnerable in our community.

 

“We encourage everyone to write a check or go online and give to your favorite community based nonprofit organization today.   Our community is well known for its generosity of giving and we don’t have to wait for the Great Community Give on June 24th to make that contribution.   “– Revlan Hill, Executive Director of The Community Foundation.

 

Please contact Amanda  Bomfim at 540-432-3863 or [email protected] for information and interviews.  To learn about Great Community Give, visit www.greatcommunitygive.org

Giving Back 2019-2020 published

/in , /by

The 2019-2020 edition of Giving Back is published as an insert in today’s Daily News-Record. Local nonprofit organizations submit project funding needs through an application process once each year and all are featured in this publication. As you plan your charitable giving for the rest of 2019 and into 2020, please use this resource to provide more information on the needs of the nonprofit community in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.

 

Join us as we Dream. Share. Build. OUR COMMUNITY!

 

 

2019 GreatCommunityGive Only 3 Weeks Away!

/in , /by

The GreatCommunityGive is one day when the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County community come together to raise money for area nonprofits who work all year round. On Wednesday, April 17, individuals in our community have the opportunity to support 89 different nonprofit organizations through online donations.

 

Our 2019 goal is to raise $333,000 on April 17 from 3,333 unique donors for community nonprofits. It is easy to give:

  • Point, Click, Give.
  • You can schedule your giving.
  • You can donate $10, $20, or more, to as many organizations as you wish.
  • Join in the fun and be part of a community wide effort!

Guidestar and Foundation Center to become Candid

/in , /by

As donors, many are familiar with Guidestar and its goal to provide “fair, accurate, and objective information about foundations and nonprofits.” At The Community Foundation we use this resource on a regular basis to research possible grant recipients. Foundation Center is less known to donors, but an equally useful resource for those searching for grants and grant-making information. GuideStar and Foundation Center are in the process of integrating operations to become Candid – a resource to provide a “360-degree view of the work of social good—who’s doing what, where on the issues that matter to people around the world.”

The transition will occur over the next several years. The new name, Candid, is descriptive of the organizations’ desire to be transparent and “continue to earn our stakeholders’ trust in an information-wary world”. Both the GuideStar.org and FoundationCenter.org websites are available for the time being. There are links to both websites on the Candid.org as well. We will keep you posted as changes occur.

Daily News-Record publishes ‘Giving Back’ – November 2018

/in , , /by

If you would like to have a print version of this booklet, please stop by our offices at 317 S. Main Street in December to pick up your copy, or call The Community Foundation directly, 540-432-3863, and we can mail one to you.

 

Download PDF

Daily News-Record publishes ‘Giving Back’ – May 19, 2018

/in , /by

If you would like to have a print version of this booklet, please stop by our offices at 317 S. Main Street to pick up your copy, or call The Community Foundation directly, 540-432-3863, and we can mail one to you.

 

[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.tcfhr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Giving-Back-2018-FINAL.pdf” title=”Giving Back 2018 FINAL”]