2016 Annual Report

Inspiring Solutions to Community Needs

The Foundation’s Mission Statement is the compass that guides us, as well as the barometer we use to measure our work against. It is the declaration which clearly states that we “strengthen our community both now and for future generations”. We continue daily to follow that guide, and feel that as a participating partner we measured up well in these recent projects.

South Lake Tahoe Warm Room

Living without a safe shelter protected from the elements is a challenge any day for anyone. It becomes life-threatening when winter temperatures dip below freezing in the Tahoe Basin. The plight of our homeless population continues to be a concern for us all, but in the winter of 2015-16, thanks to the tireless efforts of an entire community and a $10,000 grant to the Tahoe Coalition from the Community Foundation, a Warm Room opened its doors in South Lake Tahoe.

The Tahoe Coalition reported to us that they provided shelter for over 100 unduplicated individuals and as of March 23rd , they had provided 1,675 shelter bed nights.

believe lives were saved. Thank you.

Tahoe Coalition Executive Director Maria Muscat

We will be able to serve more children and serve them better - from 200 per day to 300 per day. The new facility will also afford us the opportunity to bring outside support services to this one central location. It’s an exciting time, an exciting project and a proud moment for a lot of people.

Sean McCartney, Executive Director Boys & Girls Club Western Slope

Boys & Girls Club Western Slope

For 17 years, the Boys & Girls Club Western Slope has daily served approximately 200 of our local children in a concrete warehouse originally built in the 1950s as an armory. The work they have done there and the difference they have made in the lives of so many is conveyed in this quote from Kate, one of their past club members:

“ Before the Club, I was lost and searching for acceptance in all the wrong places. Now I don’t have to search anymore. Now I know that the Club is there for me and I know that I can be all I choose to be.”

As our community continued to grow, the vision of a brand new facility became a pressing need. That vision gained wings when Jim and Maureen Carter donated a building site, the Community Foundation was aligned to provide fiscal oversite, and the entire community joined forces to make the dream a reality. The new building opened its doors in October 2016.

Inspiring Collective Giving

A Simple Concept Packs a Powerful Punch

The concept is simple; small gifts added together for the purpose of giving larger, more impactful gifts. The Women’s Fund El Dorado has been practicing collaborative giving since 2008. Their success has been the impetus in the creation of a second group in the south shore of Lake Tahoe, the Tahoe Women’s Community Fund. Together these groups of donors have developed into a strong, positive force of energy, igniting philanthropic giving and injecting much-needed funds into the nonprofits of El Dorado County. With an added goal of “teaching philanthropy through the generations”, they have set a firm foundation for granting into perpetuity now with combined endowments totaling $378,000.

You can search Women’s Fund El Dorado and/or Tahoe Women’s Community Fund on the internet to learn more about the work they do, or better yet, join their philanthropic work!

Tahoe Women’s Community Fund

In the fall of 2014, a small mixed group of women met in a living room in the South Shore Lake Tahoe area and were introduced to the concept of collective giving. They knew it was successful on the Western Slope, it made sense, and so they decided to test it out in their community.

Today, a pool of over 200 women in the South Lake Tahoe basin have banded together to form the Tahoe Women’s Community Fund at the El

Dorado Community Foundation. To create the fund, each donor committed to a yearly gift that fit their giving capability. That commitment allowed them to establish an endowed fund that will generate dividends for granting into perpetuity. In addition, it gave them $22,000 to invest into nonprofit programs and services in the basin in this, their first year of grant making.

I am truly amazed and truly proud to be part of something so grand, so wonderful and so strong in its first year. When Bill Roby approached us to start this 'women’s fund', we had no idea the meaning it would give us, as individuals and as a community.

I didn’t truly believe that such a simple concept could make such a big difference, but you all have shown me the true power of ‘collective giving’ and I now do believe.

Kathy Haven, Co-Chair, Tahoe Women’s Community Fund

The Really Big Picture

Board of Directors

Sets Goals, Direction, & Policy

Staff Implemention & Operations

Any Donor can Gift

Gifts Come in Different Forms

Donors Choose or

a Fund

Unrestricted,

Investments

Payouts

Grants for charitable activities are made to fulfill donor wishes.

Through this activity, the Community

Inspiring Effective Granting

Lion’s Park Scoreboards

Lions Park, Placerville, is sporting a brand new look with its impressive new scoreboards. Lions Park is most loved and most used by the city’s adult softball league, but is also a facility for disc golf and tennis as well as being a favorite location for family gatherings at the gazebo, the Kiwanis annual Easter Egg Hunt, and many other youth activities around the colorful all-age play structures. The Foundation was proud to assist with this project that keeps the park in excellent condition and extends a hearty welcome to all who enjoy it.

The Foundation’s support of our community is invaluable. This gift to the City will greatly enhance the experience of everything at Lions Park, but especially our adult softball community. Thank you!

Matt Lishman, Recreational Superintendent City of Placerville

The Foundation’s Endow El Dorado Fund is made possible through gifts we receive that are undesignated to a specific use, allowing us the opportunity to open the granting process to all nonprofits in El Dorado County and respond to arising needs in our communities. In 2016, we were honored to grant a total of $115,000 through this fund.

Community Center Generator

The King and Sand Ridge fires last season were vivid reminders of how important it is for us to plan and be prepared for unplanned disasters. That reminder clarified the need for multiple and more complete emergency facilities in El Dorado County and made the decision to award the Pollock Pines-Camino Community Center’s $15,000.00 generator grant a very easy one.

With the installation of this generator, the center became a self-sustaining facility that can immediately transition into an American Red Cross evacuation site as well as a command post for emergency services and personnel in the event of any disaster.

Inspiring

New Possibilities

Studying the flocking pattern of sparrows has revealed to us three guiding principles termed emergent behavior :

• Don’t crowd your neighbor

• Navigate the same heading

• Move in concert with those around you

As a Foundation, we see true wisdom in these principles and have begun to work the way sparrows fly - toward a common goal identified by community, and without crowding or intruding on one another, collaboratively responding to those needs by moving in the same direction for the benefit of all.

Actively seeking to embrace this concept, known as emergent philanthropy, the Foundation has instigated the following:

• Opened a new office in the Tahoe Mountain Lab, a collaborative use space that is bringing like-minded community members together looking for effective solutions to economic challenges in SLT.

• Began Tahoe Housing Symposium conversations to navigate possible ways forward to affordable housing in the SLT basin.

• Partnered with the El Dorado Hills Community Services District Foundation to look at what more might be accomplished together.

• Recognizing the needs of differing economic and cultural climates of our various communities, we have created support mechanisms that support the uniqueness of each, including individual websites for the South Lake Tahoe Endowment and the El Dorado Hills Endowment.

• Participated as active partners in the planning, the funding and the completion of the Western Slope Boys & Girls Club.

• Became a board member of the Prosperity Center in SLT.

Today’s donors are carefully watching and when they “invest” their charitable dollars, they expect results, a return on their investment. Responding to the voice of our communities is imperative. Listening and responding to the needs identified in community conversations brings donors into the fold as active players and the success of any project is ensured.

Bill Roby, Executive Director El Dorado Community Foundation

Inspiring � Supporting Dreams

Through the generosity of many donors to the Foundation, we are honored to grant approximately 30 scholarships each year to high school graduates in El Dorado County that enable our youth to pursue higher education goals and dreams beyond what once seemed possible.

Michael Norwood Glenn Hayward Waite and H.E.R.O. Scholarships

After just a few minutes with Michael Norwood, 2016 graduate from El Dorado High School, I discovered a quiet, yet very self-assured young man ready for the adventures awaiting him in his new home in Rhode Island studying Architecture at Roger Williams University. When asked where his tenacity came from, he shared that he was exposed to very diverse people who chose very destructive life paths. Having the experience of observing them brought clarity to him and his decision to pursue an opposite direction for himself. That commitment, combined with the memory of his self-reliant mother and the support of his grandmother, gave him the strength he needed to persevere through some major life challenges.

Jody Huber

Lynn Lucas Education Scholarship

Jody Huber was born with a rare breathing disorder that twice rendered her paralyzed, helpless and with an overwhelming sense of defeat. She says it was because she survived the darkest times and had to summon an inner strength she didn’t know she had in order to survive, that she grew to be a stronger, more insightful and more compassionate person.

Jody has vivid memories of friendships made with special needs students in her elementary classrooms. When she had space in her high school curriculum for an “elective” class, she combined her passion for working among physically and mentally challenged people with her pursuit of teaching skills and filled that space as a teacher’s aide in the Special Education department at Ponderosa High School. Jody will be pursuing a career in teaching.

Inspiring People

Donor advised funds account for 48% of the nearly 200 funds administered by the Community Foundation. Subsequently, they represent 46% of our granting dollars. The following stories clearly portray the ripple effect of inspiring people who inspire more people and touch the lives of many.

John McDougall Pay it Forward

You may likely have heard that saying and have likely seen the movie, Pay it Forward, but donor John McDougall has made it his life’s work. John created the Pay It Forward Fund at the El Dorado Community Foundation as a way to provide strong support to youth seeking vocational careers. Having had the opportunity to participate in the VICA program (Vocational Industrial Club of America, now known as Skills USA) in the South Lake Tahoe area as a young man, he gained valuable guidance and attributes his own personal success to that experience. Now he spends his time, energy and resources paying it forward in vocational scholarships for local youth, teaching them to pay it forward as well.

Anne Finck & Jean Tindel Loss Turned to Joy Anne Finck grew up one of five children in an Iowa farm family. She excelled at 4-H, showing her animals at county fairs. When she sold her prize steer for $500, she used it to finance her nurse’s degree. That was the beginning of a successful career in the medical field.

Anne’s financial advisor recommended real estate as an investment option and introduced Anne to Jean Tindel, an El Dorado County Real Estate Agent. The two immediately bonded, first due to their shared Valentine’s Day

birthdays, then as client/agent, and then as life-long loving partners.

For 43 years they inspired each other to take risks, learn new things, and even take a leap of faith to open their own business. Anne passed away in 2014. But, as a result of their hard work, and Jean says, “their good fortune in the real estate market”, their legacy lives on in the generous grants made through the TindelFinck Endowment Fund at the El Dorado Community Foundation. Jean now fills her days deriving much joy in choosing gifts that honor Anne and in knowing that their charitable wishes will continue for generations to come.

Inspiring � EnsuringOur Future

In our efforts to provide guidance and education in the area of charitable giving, the Foundation has gathered a group of planned giving professionals. Its members believe it is vital for professional advisors to ask about their clients' charitable intents and help them reach their goals while achieving favorable tax status.

This Planned Giving Committee focuses on educational outreach to professional advisors and our area nonprofit organizations, as well as making themselves available for one-on-one guidance to individuals seeking to “give back”. They are passionate about their work and the opportunities the El Dorado Community Foundation offers.

As a Planned Giving Committee:

• We are a local organization with deep roots in the community

• We have a broad base of knowledge regarding community issues and needs

• We are an available resource for teaching philanthropy to you, your organization and/or your clients

• We provide highly personalized service tailored to your personal goals

We are here to serve you. Please call the Foundation Office at 530-622-5621 to access this team of professionals.

• Our Donor Advised Funds help people invest in the causes they care about most

• We accept a wide variety of assets and can facilitate even the most complex forms of giving.

Legacy Society Members

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Our Inspiration… Our Volunteers

In grateful acknowledgement of those who make our work possible, we

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2016 Grants by Category

Portraying to you the breadth, depth and impact of our granting is a great challenge. We offer this graph to you as an overview, but it is just that, an overview. We invite you to visit our new website at www.edcfimpact.org designed specifically to give you much bigger insight into the myriad programs and services we support and the lives we touch with the assistance of our affiliates:

El Dorado Hills Endowment Fund

Tahoe Women’s Community Fund South Lake Tahoe Endowment

Women’s Fund El Dorado

Education $145,834.52

Animals & Environment $36,641.31

Human Services $264,349.22 Health & Wellness $61,800

Arts & Culture $25,617

Community Projects $72,771.03 Children & Youth $206,165.58

Veteran Services $119,944 Senior Services $16,519

Scholarships $49,535.81

Uncategarized $5,088.16

Production Costs of this publication were provided by the PEEK FAMILY FUND at the El Dorado Community Foundation

Copy By Pam Hagen Design By Nick Bennett & DOME