As you read in today’s paper, your Community Foundation of White County has
announced two more rounds of exciting grant awards.
So where does the money come from? No, it doesn’t just fall from the sky, and it isn’t
part of the taxes you pay to Uncle Sam or our White County Treasurer.
Money for CFWC Community Grants comes from everyday people like you and me who
make general donations to the Community Foundation, entrusting CFWC’s Governing Council to invest wisely and use annual disbursements from those unrestricted gifts to award grants such as the Spring and Summer grants awarded earlier this year and the Fall grants you’ve read about in today’s paper.
The second group of grants announced this week is from CFWC’s Women Giving
Together Fund, a fund created to help strengthen women and families in White County.
I know. You’re probably thinking, “Well, I don’t have big bucks, so my gift isn’t going
to make any difference.” I’ve been guilty of the same thoughts…but we’re wrong. Let me give
you an example.
When I worked for the American Cancer Society, one of my responsibilities was
organizing Relay For Life events in six counties. At every Relay, there is a luminaria ceremony honoring and memorializing those who have won and lost their battles against cancer. Luminaria (lunch-sized paper bags filled with sand and a votive candle, with the honoree’s name written on the outside) are available for a minimum $10 donation, and the bags are placed around the track. Anyone who has attended a RFL Luminary Ceremony can tell you how moving it is to walk around the track in total darkness, with the only source of light coming from those luminaria. $10…but when multiplied by hundreds and hundreds of luminaria, as is typically the case, the impact is truly powerful. Together, $10 at a time, a community of people touched by cancer impacts the capacity to fight this dreaded disease.
The same dynamic is true for your community foundation. Together with other people
throughout White County, you have the power to make a positive impact in your community
through grantmaking, one gift at a time. Whether $25 or $25,000, your gifts, when added to the whole, help strengthen White County.
So the next time you read or hear about a grant award from your community foundation,
think about your friends and neighbors whose generosity made that grant possible. Then come talk with us about becoming a grantmaker, too! Call Director Leslie Goss at 574-583-6911, check out our Facebook page, or log onto our website www.cfwhitecounty.org .