The Friends of the Jesse Lee Home have agreed to set up as a non-profit under the Alaska Community Foundation. This is a wonderful opportunity for any organization that is wanting to collect tax-deductible funds for a charity, and have the fund administered in a professional manner.
For 1 1/2% of the fund's balance the Alaska Community Foundation collects revenue, sends out thank you letters that also serve as proof of donation at tax time, grow the money through conservative investments, and write the checks to the appropriate recipients.
These folks are wonderful, the completely hold your hand and walk you through the process. The mission of the foundation is to encourage and nurture philanthropy through the establishment of a permanent endowment that will address current and emerging needs in Alaska communities in perpetuity.
Perpetuity, I love that concept in connection for the Jesse Lee Home. It means rebuilding Goode Hall, reclaiming lost acreage, beautiful landscaping, reclaiming the caretaker's and superintendent's houses. For the Leadership School it means scholarships to Alaskan children, bringing in outside talent, special functions, programs. It means 100 years from now the tired roots we have nurtured back to life will be a healthy, thriving plant with offshoots everywhere.
The Alaska Community Foundation has been around for 10 years, and has $10 million in its fund. It is a resource for anyone desiring to establish a lasting legacy to address their concerns for Alaska today and their wishes for Alaska tomorrow. Visit their website by clicking on the title...or going to alaskacf.org. They offer a variety of giving tools, you can make a gift of cash (they even take credit cards), stocks, bonds, real estate or other assets. You can set up a fund in your name or in the name of your family, business or organization.
You can create field of interest funds. Donors who care about literacy or a social justice or the arts or a new library or new museum (now there is a hint if I ever saw one) can be set up. Many donors create and name scholarships to remember loved ones.
Boards of charitable organizations can establish organizational endowments managed by the Alaska Community Foundation, to support their on-going operations. The Anchorage Park Foundation, Anchorage Trail Care Fund, Alaska Veterans Memorial Endowment, Walter and Ermalee Hickel Alaska Fund, McNeil River Chum Salmon Study, Sheldon Jackson College Fund, Winter Olympic Endowment, Kincaid Park Project, Alaska Zoo Foundation, Anchorage Concert Chorus Endowment, Alaska Society for Circumpolar Health, Food Bank of Alaska, and Wish Upon the Northstar are good examples of the breath of entities that have registered under the Alaska Community Foundation.
If you have an organization that is struggling to manage dedicated funds for a charitable cause, and want some accountability and respectability as well, this is the place for you.
As Winston Churchill said, "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."
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