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| October 2013 | Vol 6, Issue 10
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Give Door County
Door County
Community Foundation
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| Greetings! | 
At first glance, you'd think the worlds of my late brother Bernie Jr. and mine couldn't be further apart. I work in the realm of philanthropy while Bernie Jr. was a venture capitalist.
Yet we both used to say that we basically have the same job, only in different sectors of the economy. My brother's venture capital firm sought out talented people with promising ideas and invested in their work to generate a significant financial reward for himself and his partners. At the Community Foundation, we seek out talented people with promising ideas and invest in their work to generate a significant positive impact on the community.
When a venture capital firm, or a community foundation, makes a significant investment of money, you can be sure that our respective teams will be "all in" trying to turn the promise of a good idea into a reality. We offer advice and counsel, bring other resources to the table, make introductions to potential partners, and run interference to help clear the path to a successful outcome.
I'm pleased to say that I've been involved with some enormously successful initiatives during my career. And using the euphemistic language of foundations, those projects that did not meet our expectations turned out to be great learning opportunities for me. Either way, this has been a large part of my job at various foundations big and small over the years - identifying effective organizations in the charitable world and directing philanthropic resources to help them be successful.
With all that I have observed and learned in nearly 20 years of this work, I could not agree more with something I recently read.
Read the rest of this story in the Peninsula Pulse.
The leaves are beginning to turn, and soon we'll be overwhelmed with an explosion of color in Door County. Enjoy!
Bret N. Bicoy, President & CEO
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Our Board of Directors
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John Herlache, Chairman
David Eliot, Vice Chairman
Polly Alberts, Secretary
Mike Felhofer, Treasurer
Dick Egan, Past Chairman
Bill Boettcher
Michael Brecke
Jacinda Duffin
Richard Hauser
Mark Jinkins
Linda Laarman
Michael McCoy
Arvid Munson
Kaaren Northrop
Marcia Peterson
Nancy Sargent
Jane Stevenson
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Donate Today!
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Make an instant donation using a credit card to any of the Funds of the Door County Community Foundation. Give back online today!
Or contact us to talk about creating a Fund in your family's name - either today or in your estate plans.
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Follow Us Online
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For the latest news on charity in Door County, read our publications and previous issues of our Newsletter, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter. |
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| Traven Family Fund to Forever Give Back to Door County Charities |
The Door County Community Foundation announced today that the late Lee Traven has made a significant gift to the charities of Door County by including the Traven Family Fund in his estate plans.
The Traven Family Fund is a permanent endowment that Lee established at the Community Foundation to forever benefit the charities he cared about the most. Every January, the Traven Family Fund will make donations to benefit the following organizations that he loved:
- The Ridges Sanctuary
- Peninsula Music Festival
- Good Samaritan Society - Scandia Village
- The Clearing
- Ministry Door County Medical Center Foundation
- Lawrence University - Bjorklunden
- Wisconsin Public Radio
- The Sustainability & Advancement Grants Program of the Door County Community Foundation
"While some donors prefer to remain anonymous, Lee established the Traven Family Fund so that his family's name will live on forever in our community," says John Herlache, Chairman of the Board of Directors. "Our highest responsibility at the Community Foundation is to honor Lee's instructions and make gifts in the Traven family name to benefit these organizations. Publicly announcing these distributions every year is one of the ways we're going to ensure that Lee and his family are never forgotten."
Olivia Traven, Lee's mother, regularly visited her grandmother in Baileys Harbor and eventually made it her lifelong home. Always active in civic life, Olivia would become one of the co-founders of the Ridges Sanctuary.
Fred Traven, Lee's father, was active as a Boy Scout leader for nearly three decades and served as president of the Ridges Sanctuary.
Lee Traven grew up in Baileys Harbor. He served in the United States Air Force in Texas, California and Japan. He lived and worked in Manhattan for thirty years, and traveled throughout the world. But his heart always called him back to his home of Door County.
After retiring, Traven returned to Door County and began a new career as one of the community's most engaged citizens. He served on the Boards of the Ministry Door County Medical Center Foundation, The Ridges Sanctuary, The Clearing, Peninsula Music Festival, and Scandia Village.
As a result of his inspiring community leadership, Traven was named the 2010 Philanthropist of the Year by the Door County Community Foundation. He passed away on April 22, 2013.
To learn how you can give back in your estate plans to the charities you love most, contact the Community Foundation or visit us online.
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Scholarship Providers Invited to Join Scholarship Network
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Every charity, service club, business, or other organization that provides scholarships to Door County students is invited to attend an informational meeting to learn how to become a part of the newly created Door County Scholarship Network.
Four identical information sessions will be held. Representatives from scholarship program are invited to attend whichever session is most convenient:
Tuesday, October 29th from Noon to 1:30 p.m. at Sevastopol High School
Wednesday, October 30th from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Sturgeon Bay High School
Wednesday, November 6th from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at Southern Door High School
Thursday, November 7th from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Gibraltar High School
RSVP to Christine Henkel or call (920) 746-1786.
The Scholarship Network has two primary goals. First, it is building a searchable online database of scholarships available to Door County students. Working from any computer connected to the internet, a young person (or their parent) will enter information such as their high school, GPA,  activities, expected college major, college choice, etc., and the database will return a list of scholarships for which the student qualifies. The student will then be able to follow hyperlinks to the websites of the various scholarship programs.
Second, it is developing the Door County Common Scholarship Application that captures all the factual data (GPA, test scores, activities, family income, etc.) and a generic essay that demonstrates the student's writing ability. All of this will be turned into a fill-in PDF file for the student to download, complete one time, then submit to multiple local scholarship providers that agree to accept this new Common Scholarship Application.
Even if a scholarship program decides NOT to adopt the Common Scholarship Application, they are still welcome to list their scholarship in the online database.
There is absolutely no cost for a scholarship program to become a part of the Scholarship Network. In addition, each individual scholarship program will continue to control its own assets, make its own decisions, and award scholarships in their own name. The Door County Scholarship Network is designed to simplify the process for the students and increase the number of quality applicants.
"Our hope is to launch the Door County Scholarship Network website and common application in early 2014," says Bret Bicoy, President & CEO of the Door County Community Foundation, the organization that is administering the Scholarship Network. "Our ultimate goal is to make it easier for Door County kids to find a scholarship and to bring more qualified applications to the scholarship programs."
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Non-Profit Education Series: Effective Boards of Directors
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Seats are still available at the upcoming session, "Effective Boards of Directors." The Door County Community Foundation, the Raibrook Foundation, and United Way of Door County are pleased to host the latest workshop in their Non-Profit Education Series.
Effective Boards of Directors
Thursday, October 17th
8:00 a.m. Registration & Refreshments
8:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Workshop
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Oasis Center
1756 Michigan Street in Sturgeon Bay
Topics to be covered include: The Role of a Board in a Nonprofit, Governance vs. Management, Two-Way Communication, Working Committee Structures, and Board Fundraising and Friendraising.
Our guest speaker is Nancy Brown. Nancy has more than eighteen years of experience working as a professional fundraiser and has spent more than 25 years working in a nonprofit setting. She joined Thompson & Associates as Vice President in 2012 as an independent consultant in charitable estate planning. She has executive-level experience in strategic planning, board management, budget administration, quality improvement, and lean principles as both a staff member and volunteer board member. Nancy possesses a broad range of experience in development including annual fund, major gifts, planned giving, database administration, donor relations, special events, and strategic planning in higher education and health care settings.
There is no cost to attend this session, but please RSVP so we can adequately prepare. To register, contact Amy Kohnle of the United Way.
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| Endowments in Action: HELP of Door County |
The Community Foundation is honored to administer the Eliminating Domestic Abuse Endowment, the Domestic Abuse Transitional Living Fund, the Thelma Windhauser Endowment Fund, and the Help of Door County, Inc. Fund Established by Connie and Bob Erickson - all of which benefit HELP of Door County. 
The mission of HELP of Door County is to eliminate domestic abuse through prevention and intervention services and to advocate for social change. Domestic abuse may include emotional, sexual, physical, verbal, and/or financial abuse using the tactics of blaming, intimidation, coercion, threats, minimizing, isolation, and denial to control and manipulate victims in an intimate or dating relationship. Domestic abuse is a crime.
HELP provides intervention and prevention services to victims of domestic abuse. Services include but are not limited to: case management; legal advocacy; Women and Children's Educational and Support Group; Transitional Living Program; Emergency Victim Assistance Fund; Visitation and Exchange Program; Alternatives to Violence Program (includes the men's ATV and the women's WEAV programs); community outreach, and a 24-hour domestic abuse hotline. HELP provides services at a main office in Sturgeon Bay and a satellite office in Sister Bay.
Please consider incorporating gift to the Endowment Funds of HELP of Door County in your estate plans. Speak with your attorney, accountant or other estate planning professional. Or contact the Community Foundation and we'd be glad to help facilitate your generosity.
Many charities entrust the administration of their endowment funds to the Community Foundation.
It's a safe and responsible way to manage endowed gifts, long-term assets or operational reserves. The non-profit community also counts on the Community Foundation's planned giving expertise to facilitate gifts into their endowments. By aggregating these assets under the umbrella of the Community Foundation, economies of scale allow for a far more diversified investment portfolio and lower investment fees than any of the charities could achieve on their own.
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| 342 Louisiana Street - the New Home of the Community Foundation |
We're pleased to announced that the Door County Community Foundation has moved to new offices at 342 Louisiana Street - in the block between 3rd and 4th in Downtown Sturgeon Bay.
Our mailing address and phone number remain the same, but note that we have a new fax number.
Office Address: 342 Louisiana Street in Downtown Sturgeon Bay
Mailing Address: PO Box 802, Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235
Phone Number: (920) 746-1786
NEW Fax Number: (920) 473-2066
The Community Foundation would like to thank the many good people who have made this new office space possible. As a result of their generosity, we don't have to divert a single penny of granting dollars to pay for this new location. In addition, our Board of Directors extends its deepest gratitude to Baylake Bank for generously donating our previous office space for the last five years.
Please stop by and say hello the next time you're in Downtown Sturgeon Bay. Visit our website for a map and directions.
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| Give Door County Publications Available for Download |
The Community Foundation produces several publications and information sheets to help you craft a strategy to give back in the most effective - and tax efficient - way possible. Those documents are now available for anyone to download from the Community Foundation's website. 
You'll find publications like our our Guide to Endowments which highlights different charities so families have options to consider when giving back - either today or through their estate plans.
You can download an Introductory Brochure that explains the most popular charitable Funds at the Community Foundation - along with information sheets for Donor Advised Funds, Discretionary Funds, Scholarship Funds and more.
If you'd like a hard copy of any of these documents, just contact us and and we'd be glad to send them to you. And if you're an attorney, accountant, investment adviser, or trust officer, we'll send a supply of Guides, Introductory Brochures, or other materials (and display holders) for use in your office. Just contact us at the Community Foundation.
This is just another way the Community Foundation is encouraging people to give back to sustain the community we love!
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The Door County Community Foundation, Inc. is a collection of separate charitable funds set up by individuals, families, non-profit organizations, private foundations and businesses that are managed, invested and disbursed for the current and future good of Door County.
Inspiring People to Give Back to Sustain and Advance the Community We Love.
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