U | Summer 2016

update / kalamazoo community foundation / summer 2016

UListening & Collaboratinglistening to your feedback[page three]

collaborating to improve affordable housing[page four]

grantmaking highlights[page six]

leave a legacy: harry e. turbeville[page seven]

Angela Shaw, shown here in the community garden at New Horizon Village, has lived in the apartment community for two and a half years. She’s excited about the renovation that will provide her and her neighbors with completely refurbished apartments. “We’ll have new fixtures, new cabinets, new flooring. It will be like a brand new home,” she says.

Photo by Robert Neumann

We’ve been at this work a long time — more than 90 years. In that time, your Community Foundation has provided more than $420 million in grants to organizations. Think about that — all of that money coming from people right here in Kalamazoo County (and beyond) to make life better for all.

As called for by our mission and purpose, we’ve adapted over the years with the changing needs of the community. We’re encouraged that donors, grantees and residents have affirmed our own sense that it takes more than grant dollars to affect lasting change. Despite our best intentions and efforts, systems remain in place that are not yet capable of helping everyone reach their full potential.

So, at this point in our history, we find ourselves — along with many other foundations across the country — seeking ways to address the causes of our community’s most pressing challenges. Equity and education have evolved as the focus of our community investment priorities to increase the effectiveness, outcomes and impact of our work. We’ve been studying best practices with our community foundation peers and listening to residents, nonprofit and community leaders, and donors to determine how grantmaking and community initiative work can result in more lasting change.

We’ll keep looking for new ways to engage, convene and gain community feedback. Over the past few years we’ve been hosting more convenings and seeking to be more present in the community. We’ll be hosting more meetings this summer with current and prospective grantees to learn how we can work better together toward equity. This will help us continue to build our own capacity, as well as the capacity of our community, to reach a more equitable future. Innovation through collaboration and partnerships will help get us closer to everyone in our community reach their full potential.

Thank you for the role you play in making our journey possible.

2 KALAMAZOO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION SUMMER 2016

( 269.381.4416

8 www.kalfound.org

facebook.com/kalfound

pinterest.com/kalfound

linkedin.com/company/kalfound

instagram.com/kalfound

twitter.com/kalfound

ConnectGiveGive online www.kalfound.org/give

Mail a check Kalamazoo Community Foundation 402 East Michigan Avenue Kalamazoo, MI 49007-3888

Arrange a planned gift There are many ways for you to plan now for a gift later. To learn more, get in touch with our Donor Relations team at 269.381.4416 or [email protected].

ReceiveWhat we fund We fund 501(c)(3) nonprofits for projects that fit within our community investment priorities and will benefit Kalamazoo County. We also provide Kalamazoo area students with scholarships for education beyond high school.

What we don’t fund We don’t fund for-profit business development projects, private land purchases or private home purchases.

Learn more at www.kalfound.org.

Suprotik Stotz-Ghosh Vice President, Community Investment

SUMMER 2016 KALFOUND.ORG 3

Your Community Foundation is

many things. Among these, we are

a data-driven organization with

a commitment to learning and

continuous improvement.

So when recent donor and grantee

surveys told us information beyond

what one typically finds in this

Update newsletter would be useful,

we created two new electronic

publications: Partners in Philanthropy,

for our Advised Fund representatives

and Partners in Progress, for grantees

and grantseekers.

Partners in Philanthropy

Advised Fund representatives we’ve

partnered with for a long time will

remember Partners in Philanthropy

as a printed publication. We’ve

now brought it back as an online

publication, the goal of which is to

present fund representatives with

opportunities to co-invest with us

and broaden the base of local

nonprofits’ support. Two issues

have been published, both

providing snapshots of a variety

of co-investment opportunities.

Even if they choose not to support

one of the opportunities we share,

fund representatives have expressed

that they value simply learning more

about the work of local nonprofits.

Partners in Progress

Over the last few years we’ve been

asking for and getting feedback

from our nonprofit partners through

a number of grantee surveys. We

learned that many shared a desire for

more frequent communication with

and from our team.

Partners in Progress is part of our

response to that feedback. Launched

in April, we’ll use Partners in Progress

to share information about grant

cycles, opportunities for grantees

and grantseekers to connect with us

and each other, and other important

Community Foundation news.

“Update has a broad readership

and is still the Community

Foundation’s main communication

piece,” says Joanna Donnelly Dales,

who leads our Donor Relations

team. “Partners in Philanthropy

and Partners in Progress enable us

to provide customized content to

specific audiences.

“We’re able to provide people and

agencies with the information they

need, when they need it,” she says.

“Donors receive information to help

them make informed decisions and

support causes that are important to

them; agencies get information they

need to do their work effectively.”

New publications enhance engagement

Collaboration expands, improves Kalamazoo affordable housing options Back in the days of the Nixon

administration the former governor

of Michigan, George Romney, was

working as Secretary of Housing and

Urban Development. He had big plans

for housing for the poor.

Before his plans were derailed,

Romney asked for ideas on how to

best design such housing. He initiated

the construction of homes in Operation

Breakthrough, a revolutionary program

that called for public housing that was

not concentrated in downtowns and

was close to jobs and schools.

Some of those affordable homes were

built in the Kalamazoo area, and soon

they are to be renovated so they can

continue to be used as low-income

housing. The housing complex was

one of 10 Operation Breakthrough

developments built across the country,

most of which are no longer standing.

“We’re proud we are able to keep this

development, and for it to continue

to achieve the same mission that

was set way back in the 1970s,” says

David Anderson of LIFT Foundation,

a Kalamazoo nonprofit that receives

federal and state funding to create and

manage affordable and stable housing

for people with low incomes locally.

Heather Gardens

The apartment community known as

New Horizon Village will not only be

completely renovated, but it will get a

new name: Heather Gardens.

Heather Gardens will have 79


“If you have a place that you can afford, and you’re not worried about it, you can go to work, you don’t have to move all the time and your kids can succeed in school. I hope people continue to recognize how important this is.”David Anderson LIFT Foundation

According to Property Manager Holly Casteel (pictured here outside the New Horizon leasing office), the entire renovation will take about 18 months. While each apartment is worked on, the tenant will move to a vacant unit within the apartment community. Photo by Robert Neumann.


apartments — 20 subsidized

housing units for those with

disabilities, 43 for people with

low incomes, and 16 market-rate

apartments and townhomes.

In addition to a new community

center, Heather Gardens will have a

computer lab where residents will

be able to meet with those assisting

them with job applications and

youngsters can receive help with

homework. Some who move in might

have additional support services,

such as case management tailored to

their physical or psychological needs.

Renovations will be extensive in the

development, which was constructed

in 1972 and became a LIFT property

in 2010. Anderson describes the

renovations as a preservation

and repurposing.

The renovations are being paid

for by $9.2 million in funding

from the Michigan State Housing

Development Authority, using

a combination of Low-Income

Tax Credits and other MSHDA

funding, including a loan. Anderson

explains the IRS tax credit program

has become the single biggest

government program to fund

low-income housing.

The project also received a

$20,000 grant from the

Kalamazoo Community

Foundation, which Anderson

says “was critical in receiving the

award from MSHDA.”

The housing gap

Anderson says it is difficult to pin

down exactly what the gap is

between the affordable housing

available and what is needed by the

community. A Kalamazoo County

Community Action Agency report

from 2013 states that for a variety

of reasons low-income housing is in

short supply in Kalamazoo.

The number of new homes being

built during the study period

dropped each year, from 1,867 built

in 2004 to 470 built in 2012.

“Taken together, these data suggest

that both the availability and

affordability of good housing options

in the Kalamazoo area declined

over recent years,” the report says.

“Additionally, with fewer new home

options in the area, it is likely that

people looking for homes or who

rent homes are choosing increasingly

from older existing homes, which are

likely more expensive to maintain and

less efficient with respect to utilities.”

Anderson estimates that there

are about 5,000 to 6,000 units

of affordable housing distributed

among 63 developments in the

county. And one-third of those are

senior housing.

The need for assistance in paying for

or maintaining affordable housing

in the Kalamazoo area has clearly

increased considerably since 2004.

LIFT has been working to address

the community need for affordable

housing since 1966.

“Decent, safe, affordable housing

is a critical component of a quality

life and it is the basis for all else,”

Anderson says. “If you have a

place that you can afford, and

you’re not worried about it, you

can go to work, you don’t have to

move all the time and your kids

can succeed in school. I hope

people continue to recognize

how important this is.”

This story is abridged and reprinted with permission of Southwest Michigan’s Second Wave. You can read the full story online at www.secondwavemedia.com.

“LIFT has a history of success in operating and renovating low-income housing in our community. They’re well-equipped to make this project a success.”Suprotik Stotz-Ghosh Kalamazoo Community Foundation


Investment performance is net of manager fees and derived from core Kalamazoo Community Foundation assets allocated into its two investment strategies. Historic performance for each is then derived from linkages to prior quarterly returns. Performance reflects prior changes in asset allocations while benchmarks assume current allocations. The Moderate Growth Benchmark is a staged index composite benchmark that has the current composition of the Barclays US Aggregate Bond index (15 percent); Citibank WGBI Non-USD (10 percent); DJ US Select REIT index (2.5 percent); MSCI EAFE Small Cap index (10 percent); MSCI Emerging Markets Value index (10 percent); Russell 1000 Value index (5 percent); Russell 2000 Value index (10 percent); Russell Micro Cap index (5 percent); S&P 500 index (30 percent); and the NCREIF Fund Index ODCE (2.5 percent). The Income and Growth Benchmark consists of the S&P 500 index (50 percent) and the Barclays US Aggregate Bond index (50 percent).

Kalamazoo Community Foundation Investment PerformanceFIRST QUARTER 2016

Core Assets Qtr 1 YTD 3 Yrs 5 Yrs 7 Yrs

Moderate Growth Performance

Actual

Benchmark

2.3%

2.7%

2.3%

2.7%

6.5%

6.1%

6.9%

6.5%

13.5%

12.4%

Income and Growth Performance

Actual

Benchmark

2.4%

2.3%

2.4%

2.3%

7.6%

7.3%

8.3%

7.8%

11.3%

10.9%

10 Yrs

5.9%

5.2%

7.2%

6.3%

18 GRANTS AWARDED IN FIRST GRANTMAKING ROUND OF 2016

Grantmaking highlights

We awarded 18 grants totaling nearly $894,000 to

Kalamazoo County nonprofits in our first grantmaking

round of 2016. We make community investments in quality

programs we believe will make Kalamazoo County a place

where every person can reach full potential.

Grants were provided to:

• Big Brothers Big Sisters

• Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Kalamazoo

• Building Blocks

• Can-Do Kitchen

• Christian Neighbors

• Educating For Freedom In Schools

• Guardian Finance and Advocacy Services

• Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety

• Kalamazoo County Ready 4s

• Kalamazoo Institute of Arts

• Kalamazoo Nature Center Preschool Scholarships

• Kalamazoo RESA STEM Programming

• Michigan United

• Ministry with Community

• Open Roads Cycles of Safety

• Parent to Parent of Southwest Michigan

• Pretty Lake Camp

• STREET After School Program

Nonprofits also received grants from Advised,

Field-of-Interest and Designated Funds.

Harry Turbeville died in 1976

Harry Turbeville was a local businessman with a heart

for helping kids reach their full potential. His legacy is the

Harry E. Turbeville Fund. Established 25 years ago with a

modest gift from his wife’s estate, its value has more than

doubled. Grants from the fund have supported a variety

of youth-focused programs at Kalamazoo nonprofits

like Prevention Works, Whole Art Theatre and YMCA of

Kalamazoo. An endowed fund like the Harry E. Turbeville Fund

is a powerful legacy. We can help you show your love for

Kalamazoo and leave a powerful legacy too. Call our

Donor Relations team or visit www.kalfound.org to learn how.

TODAY HE’S HELPING KIDS STAY SAFE AND HEALTHY AFTER SCHOOL


Harry Turbeville

IMPACT

$127,017VALUE

$122,600GRANTS

$60,300GIFT

• Established with a gift of $60,300

• 25 years of grants totaling $122,600

• Current value is $127,017

Our TeamZac Bauer 269.585.7236 / [email protected]

Coby Chalmers 269.585.7249 / [email protected]

Joanna Donnelly Dales 269.585.7260 / [email protected]

Ann Fergemann 269.585.7238 / [email protected]

Jeanne Grubb 269.585.7248 / [email protected]

Nonprofit OrganizationU.S. PostagepaidKalamazoo, MI Permit Number 66

402 East Michigan Avenue Kalamazoo, MI 49007-3888

269.381.4416 www.kalfound.org

Equity for All video wins national awardEquity for All, the video that opened our 2015 Community Meeting last November, recently won a silver medal in the 14th Annual Stevies, an award competition sponsored by the American Business Awards. The purpose of the video was to provide local context for the remarks of the event’s keynote speaker, author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, who spoke about race in America.

Equity for All features eight community members describing inequities they see or have experienced in our community and asking if our community is up for the challenge of addressing them. They include Bob Ells, Tracy Hall, Buddy Hannah, Diana Hernandez, Jay Maddock, Donna Odom, Judge William Schma and the late Dr. Charles Warfield.

A survey we did after the event revealed that 77 percent of those who attended found the video helpful in understanding why equity is important to the Community Foundation and the Kalamazoo community.

The video was produced by Kalamazoo-based Rhino Media and has been viewed more than 1,500 times on our website and social media channels.

“An excellent film that captures the concept of equity extremely well and presents it in a way that would resonate with the audience,” said one judge. “It goes a step further because the film can stand by itself. It ‘speaks’ about the issue in such a way that those who were not at the meeting would be able to appreciate the call to action to be ‘up’ for making a difference.”

In addition to the silver medal for Equity for All, we also were awarded a bronze medal for our 2014 Annual Report: The Corner of History & Progress, which tells the story of our 90-year history and presents our aspirations for the future of this organization and the Kalamazoo community.

Said one judge, “You can feel the caring and pride for their community.”

u Watch the video online at www.kalfound.org/equityvideo

U | Summer 2016

Documents

Transcript of U | Summer 2016