As president of your community foundation, worrying about balancing the books falls in my job jar. Moreover, there are two job jars. HCF has two missions. I am doing my darndest to keep them separated.
The first mission is providing a tax-wise mechanism for
Our second mission, is to promote
‘good works’ in our
Our missions intersect when we promote a community project –
like Community First – with the hope that those we are serving with the DAF
administration will want to include our
Remember, it is none of our business, as a Board, what our donors choose to give to. As long as their giving meets the IRS test for charity, we assure them of independence and privacy.
Separately we raise money directly from the community for HCF sponsored projects. Here we must be very careful that 100% of the money collected goes to these charitable works. To assure this happens, we insist that our HCF Board supports our “operating budget”. Their annual contributions cover our administrative expense – such as the cost of this newsletter.
Soon your Board will be facing a major financial decision on the hiring of a ‘development director’. This person will focus on fundraising for both missions – both additional DAFs and additional community projects. Your Board will be exercising oversight so that we can continue to assure you, our community supporters, that your contributions are used efficiently and effectively for the causes of your choice.
You can understand that our missions are related and the resources employed are necessarily co-mingled and fungible. Keeping our sources and uses of funds clearly segregated is our financial challenge. We know it is essential to keeping the trust, faith and support of supporters like you!