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Michigan 4-H Founder’s Fund
Make a 4-H Founders Fund gift now! |
Providing perpetual support for the operations of 4-H and the Michigan 4-H Foundation
Addressing a Perpetual Dilemma
In the Michigan 4-H Foundation's 56-year history, our primary mission
has been focused on increasing opportunities for private support of Michigan
4-H Youth Development work statewide. That mission has helped us grow in
the past 20 years to an $8 million organization and one of the historically
strongest
4-H foundations in the nation, granting in excess of $500,000 annually to
support 4-H programs in Michigan’s communities.
Our support of 4-H of course is driven by three primary responsibilities — ownership and management of Kettunen Center, the Michigan 4-H Foundation’s volunteer training center; stewardship of permanently-endowed investments for the long-term support of 4-H; and of course annual private resource development for ongoing and new state and county 4-H programming.
As costs increase for managing these responsibilities, our ability to focus primarily on providing donors opportunities to support the community-based programming that 4-H does for and with Michigan’s young people is increasingly challenged.
The perpetual dilemma for Michigan 4-H Foundation board members – and those of most non-profit boards — is how best to manage the ongoing operational costs of supporting community-based 4-H programs and ensure donor gifts support the 4-H programs they care most about. Establishing the Founder’s Fund of the Michigan 4-H Foundation would allow us to continue to be Michigan’s advocate for a strong and viable 4-H program, to encourage innovation in the work we do with Michigan’s young people and be better stewards of the gifts donors make to support 4-H’s work with young people.
The Founder’s Fund – A Perpetual Solution
The Michigan 4-H Founders Fund would provide a stable unrestricted source of revenue to meet the ongoing needs of Michigan 4-H Youth Development. Investment in this fund would allow for increased support and advocacy for on-going 4-H programs and new 4-H program development, 4-H volunteer training, youth recognition and learning opportunities – all the things that allows 4-H to support the positive growth and development of Michigan’s young people. Our goal is to establish this endowment fund that ensures well into the future the foundation’s ability to be advocates and stewards for Michigan 4-H.
Getting to $5 million for Perpetual Operational Support
Our goal for The Founder’s Fund is to encourage donor commitments for major and documented planned gifts over the next seven years that combined will result in the foundation having a $5 million interest-earning reserve fund capable of generating ongoing and perpetual unrestricted support for the areas of greatest need for 4-H and the Michigan 4-H Foundation.
Any year this balance grows toward that goal, this fund will be enhancing the asset growth of the foundation while providing perpetual annual support to meet operating and programming needs. It also provides flexibility to address unanticipated opportunities and challenges. Ultimately, our goal would be to ensure that when a donor makes a gift to support 4-H, most if not all of those dollars can be used for supporting the community-based 4-H programs that have helped young people grow and learn for the past 100 years.
In years when revenue is such that the interest earnings on the endowment are not all required for operational support, Michigan 4-H Foundation trustees can make investments in new 4-H initiatives that may not be adequately supported through traditional funding lines. In this way, the Founder’s Fund would effectively position the Michigan 4-H Foundation to continue to always be change agents by helping 4-H adjust to the contemporary and ever-changing needs of young people.
Donor Involvement and Recognition for Building the Founder’s Fund
This opportunity will best be realized by participation of donors giving at major gift levels – starting at $10,000 and above. But, any gift to grow this fund for 4-H’s future is welcomed. We are also encouraging potential donors to consider “a gift now and a gift later” or a combination of a current cash gift combined with a larger planned gift e.g. 25 percent now and 75 percent later through planned giving opportunities to help grow the fund. We also will seek significant match opportunities through private foundations and corporations who also believe in the importance of building capacity for non-profit organizations.
Donors that help us create and reach this Founder’s Fund goal with gifts of $25,000 or more will be permanently recognized at Kettunen Center, the foundation’s signature 4-H volunteer training facility, and through an on-going listing in the foundation’s annual report as members of the Michigan 4-H Foundation’s Cornerstone Society.