Endow Orcas "graduates" 7 non-profits

Endow Orcas "graduates" and Community Foundation trustees. Top row, from left: Joe Cohen, Barbara Courtney, Diane Berreth, Pete Moe, Nanette Pyne, Kate Long, Alan Smith. Bottom row, from left, Michelle Reed, Janet Brownell, Hilary Canty, Martha Farish, Victoria Parker

“A community foundation will always need money to do its job – near and long term.”

Endow Orcas, an Orcas Island Community Foundation (OICF)  initiative which started late in 2007, celebrated seven island non-profit organizations who have achieved “Endow Orcas” status at a meeting Friday, May 15.

The organizations, their directors and board presidents are:
1)  The Funhouse — Pete Moe and Nanette Pyne
2)  Orcas Center — Barbara Courtney and Art Lang
3)  Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival — Victoria Parker
4)  Orcas Island Education Foundation — Janet Brownell and Michelle Reed
5)  OPAL Housing and Land Trust — Helen Bee and Alan Smith
6)  Children’s House — Dale Heisinger and Kate Long
7)  Orcas Island Medical Center Association — Leslie Murdock and Art Lang

In order to achieve Endow Orcas status, the organizations worked with Community Foundation board members to “secure the financial future of their organizations,” in the words of  Joe Cohen, who serves on the Community Foundation’s development committee. The non-profits work in achieving this status included completing case statements and legacy plans for their organization.

The real benefits of the Endow Orcas Program are in “setting the stage for the future,” Martha Farish, also an OICF development committee member,  said.

Endow Orcas

Endow Orcas is a community-wide initiative to increase the OICF endowment and provide sustainable funding for the non-profit organizations it serves.  Endow Orcas’ organization and leadership is provided by OICF.  The Development Committee of  OICF oversees the Endow Orcas initiative; committee members are  Diane Berreth and Nanette Pyne, in addition to Cohen and Farish.

Endow Orcas was introduced to a meeting of some 35 island non-profits 18 months ago. At that meeting,  Cohen and  Farish presented the case for growing a healthy OICF endowment fund.

The Orcas Island Community Foundation, (OICF) founded twelve years ago, has granted over $446,000 from the Community Endowment Fund to 55 different Island organizations, managed funds currently worth over $4,250,000 (of which $850,000 is the community endowment), and facilitated over $1,500,000 in grants.

Cohen says, “The Orcas Island Community Foundation is positioned as the leader and convener of the non-profit sector, which benefits the Orcas community; thus a strong Community Foundation is a long-term essential element for Orcas.

“The OICF is still in our infancy in terms of building a sustainable long term organization. Our major task (as an organization) near-term is to build a strong, sustainable Community Foundation (including a great executive director, sufficient staffing to serve donors, provide support and leadership services to other non profits, and make increasing grants in the community.)

“A community foundation will always need money to do its job – near- and long-term,” says Cohen.

Near-term, “Community Cornerstones” has been established – a group of hoped-for sustaining donors that together will contribute about 80 percent of the OICF revenue. Cohen reports that currently there are approximately 40 such donors — a goal of 100 is the first threshold sought.

Endow Orcas was initiated to create ‘planned gifts’ from community members that will one day mature and fund endowments for non-profit organizations. Planned gifts include bequests (from will or trusts), charitable trusts of various types, and other planning strategies.

Interest from those funds will be used to support the non-profits in their mission.”So we, today, are doing the work that will support and sustain 15-25 years from now,” says Cohen.

In 2008, four training sessions were held for interested non-profits, which included the seven Endow Orcas graduates, as well as the Music Advocacy Group, Montessori School, Kaleidoscope, and SeaDocSociety.

Best Practices for Endow Orcas
After the recognition ceremony on May 15, the group of about 25 attendees broke into smaller circles to brainstorm the best practices for non-profit fund-raising in these times.
From the groups’ collective discussion, major practices listed were:
1) “Viral thanking ” — where different forums and people were engaged in acknowledging donors
2) Customized communication with donors, involving more than one board contact
3) Attention to the database –including  all supporters of the organization, and past donors
4) Plan and budget for stewardship of donors
5) Ensure donor preferences for recognition; be careful about assumptions

Cohen reflected on the economic downturn of the last year, saying, “During shifting times, where something new is going on, we have a chance to get deeper into the conversation. It’s a great stewardship tool.”

Moving forward, the Endow Orcas non-profit directors and Community Foundation board members listed some of the plans and inspiration they take from the meeting:
Pete Moe — seek coaching for donor stewardship
Rachel Adams — enlightened by the knowledge within Endow Orcas
Michelle Reed — pursue information on collaboration and recognition
Rick Gould — inspired by the great value of bringing people together
Nanette Pyne — wear the Endow Orcas baseball caps to start conversations about planned giving
Moana Kutsche — inspired by the energy of the meeting
Victoria Parker — appreciative of the recognition
Alan Smith — boards are stewards of the future, not just monitors of day-to-day operations, and
“there are a lot of retired workaholics on this island; they can get a lot of work done.”
Martha Farish — “All big foundations started with a little tiny thing. You were there at the beginning and did your very best to craft it the best way you could.

Joe Cohen said he was impressed by the collective wisdom of the group; it deepened his commitment to organization-building and to help the Community Foundation with other non-profits.

Cohen said, “Fund-raising is not a zero-sum game. To quote Jim Bredouw [Funhouse founder], ‘Collaborative energy raises all boats.'”

The next Endow Orcas meeting is set for Sept. 18 and all the non-profit attendees and Endow Orcas “graduates” are challenged to bring one additional person from their organization.

The Case Statements and Legacy Plans of the Endow Orcas non-profits honored on May 15 are available online at the Community Foundation’s website, www.oicf.us.

Endow Orcas will continue to work with the (current) seven participating non-profits, and welcomes the  involvement of other community non-profits in all activities, presentations and events related to Endow Orcas.