Give Door County

Door County Community Foundation

November 2014

Greetings!

Buy a pink water bottle and the store will donate 20 percent of its price to support breast cancer research. Come in for dinner on a Tuesday night and the restaurant will give 10 percent of the cost of your meal to feed the hungry. Attend a performance of a new play in town and 15 percent of your ticket price will be donated to combat homelessness.

I love the spirit of our local business owners who set up programs like these. These good people are trying to find creative ways to both help their businesses thrive and give back to our community at the same time. Unfortunately, these generous companies might also be unknowingly undermining the charities they want to support. There is a growing body of evidence that when a charity participates in a cause marketing program, it can actually decrease the total amount of contributions it receives.

Cause marketing, also known as consumption philanthropy, is when a business commits to make a donation to a charitable cause in exchange for the purchase of a product or service. It is a quintessentially American idea. It allows us to buy something for ourselves and still give back to others.

There are reams of evidence to show that cause marketing is great for business. For instance, the annual Do Well Do Good Survey found that 75 percent of consumers prefer companies that give back to their local communities. Sixty-one percent of people would even be willing to try a new product, or shop at a new store, if a percentage of their spending would be donated to charity.

Read the rest of "The Hidden Cost of 15%" in the Peninsula Pulse.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Bret N. Bicoy, President & CEO

In This Issue

Door County Scholarship Network is Launched

Sustainability Grants Awarded to Local Charities

Endowments in Action: Community Clinic of Door County

Give Door County Publications Available for Download

Board of Directors

Dave Eliot, Chair

Polly Alberts, Vice Chair

Dick Egan, Secretary

Richard Hauser, Treasurer

John Herlache, Past Chair

Bill Boettcher

Jacinda Duffin
Mike Felhofer

Mark Jinkins

Linda Laarman

Frank Maxwell

Michael McCoy

Kaaren Northrop

Sally O'Brien

Nancy Sargent

Marcia Smith

Jane Stevenson

Donate Today!

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.

Follow Us Online

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.

Door County Scholarship Network is Launched!

The Door County Scholarship Network's online searchable database was unveiled at a press conference on October 14th at the Door County Community Foundation.

The Door County Scholarship Network is the most comprehensive source for local scholarship information for students from Door County, Wisconsin. Students of all ages can use its website to search for scholarships that match their background and educational plans. Over $650,000 worth of local and regional scholarships are listed in the database and millions of dollars more in national scholarships.

Students of any age enter in some basic information and are linked to scholarships for which they might qualify. In essence, this website is a replacement for the old paper "scholarship book" that every high school's guidance office put together listing local scholarships.

"We have held public meetings with scholarship programs and the students themselves to design the online database," says Bret Bicoy, President & CEO of the Door County Community Foundation which launched the effort. "The Scholarship Network is very much a collaborative effort between Door County's scholarship programs and local educational professionals."

The Door County Scholarship Network is a program of the Door County Community Foundation. The Scholarship Network is governed by a Board of Advisors comprised of representatives from scholarship programs and schools that serve Door County. Its mission is to streamline the scholarship search and application process so that more young people have an opportunity to continue their education after completing high school.

Students and parents who are searching for scholarships can use the searchable online database by visiting www.DoorCountyScholarships.org.

Scholarship programs who wish to be listed in the online database should complete the scholarship listing form which is available at www.DoorCountyScholarships.org. Or call the Community Foundation at (920) 746-1786 for more information.

Sustainability Grants Recently Presented to Local Charities

The Door County Community Foundation recently awarded the Door County Medical Center Foundation a Sustainability Grant from the Health and Human Needs Fund for the Ministry Fund program. The objective of the Ministry Fund is to help people in need, especially the vulnerable and the poor, to strengthen their capacity to live independently.

"The Ministry Fund program helps improve the quality of life for Door County residents who are facing challenging life situations. The program is truly unique and creative as it provides for the coordination of community resources to support people when they need it the most," said Marcia Smith, board member of the Door County Community Foundation.

In order to provide assistance to those who may need help with items like shelter, food, medications, clothing, transportation or other necessities, the staff of the Ministry Fund reaches out to other human service organizations to ensure optimal use of community resources. Partnerships with organizations such as the Door County Department of Social Services, Door Tran, Door County Housing Authorities, the Salvation Army, dentists, food pantries, and churches, just to name a few, work with the Ministry Fund to mobilize a response to support individuals in a crisis situation.

The Door County Medical Center Foundation was created to develop and manage giving opportunities that support the health care needs of the community. Since its inception in 1988, the Foundation has provided fundraising and grant writing support to the Ministry Door County Medical Center that has helped to create programs, provide health care related scholarship opportunities, update technology, construct new state of the art facilities, create endowment funds and provide hospital wide volunteer opportunities.

For more information about the Door County Medical Center Foundation, you can reach them by calling (920) 746-1071.

The Door County Community Foundation also recently awarded the Stella Maris Parish a Sustainability Grant from the Health and Human Needs Fund to support the hiring of a Community Nurse. The Community Nurse will work in collaboration with a variety of wellness organizations throughout Door County to provide an individualized plan of health care that focuses on the physical needs and emotional desires of each person.

"Congratulations to Stella Maris Parish on their addition of a part-time registered nurse to serve the health and wellness needs of the Door County community. The Community Nurse will help residents to coordinate their care with other area health and wellness organizations," said Sally O'Brien, board member of the Door County Community Foundation.

Coordinated health strategies to maintain wellness are critical to helping individuals avoid the physical, emotional and financial costs of disease. The Community Nurse program was established to address identified gaps in health services through education, health and wellness counseling, referrals to appropriate agencies and advocacy. In collaborating with other Door County health organizations, the program will provide a support system that encourages the highest possible quality of life.

Stella Maris Parish was established in 2005. Through the consolidation of Catholic churches, the parish now covers a large geographic area of Northern Door County that includes Egg Harbor, Jacksonport, Fish Creek, Baileys Harbor and Sister Bay, as well as Washington Island.

For more information regarding the Community Nurse program, please contact the Stella Maris Parish by calling (920) 868-3241.

These are just a few of the recent Sustainability Grants awarded by the Community Foundation. Visit us online for more information about the Sustainability Grants program. If you'd like more information about how you can incorporate a gift to the Door County community through your estate plans, please do not hesitate to contact us or just call (920) 746-1786. Give today, or give your estate plans. Just remember to Give Door County!

Endowments in Action: Community Clinic of Door County

The Community Foundation is honored to administer the Community Clinic of Door County Fund.

The Community Clinic of Door County, Inc. provides primary and mental health care for the uninsured and underserved. Clinic locations in Sturgeon Bay and Sister Bay are generously donated, keeping overhead low and allowing donor dollars to be used where they are needed most.

Although CCDC is not a "free clinic," no one is turned away because of an inability to pay. Fees are based on family size and income and offered on a sliding fee scale. Patients are asked to contribute what they can. Quality care is made possible by volunteer doctors, nurse practitioners, social workers, nurses and other key support staff. CCDC also provides lab testing and works with patients to find the most cost effective medications and enrolling eligible patients in different programs that will help pay for medications. Individual counseling and support groups with a Licensed Therapist are offered, as well as Massage Therapy and Reiki.

Please consider incorporating gift to this endowment 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.

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 GiveDoorCounty.org. Give Door County

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!

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.