McCook Community Foundation Fund reaches $500K goal ahead of schedule

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Funding more worthy projects to benefit the people of Southwest Nebraska will now be possible because McCook Community Foundation Fund has announced completion of the $500,000 Commitment to Community campaign 20 months ahead of schedule.

The Commitment to Community campaign publicly launched over Heritage Days weekend last September 27th, 2013. The Commitment to Community campaign has received pledges and donations to meet its full $500,000 goal, ensuring MCFF will receive the full challenge match from The Sherwood Foundation of an additional $250,000. Once all donations and the full match are received, MCFF will be able to grant out over $65,000 annually -- more than doubling its community grants program.

"I remember the meeting down at MNB when we were first discussing the Sherwood Challenge. We were all thinking: Dare we try to go for the full $500,000? How would we undertake such an ambitious campaign?" Doug Skiles, Chair of McCook Community Foundation Fund remembered.

"But, we decided collectively to try. We figured there was no point in aiming at a closer, easier target. That is what coaches are for; coaches like Nebraska Community Foundation and The Sherwood Foundation -- to recognize potential and make us stretch our abilities."

The Sherwood Foundation challenged McCook to raise $500,000 towards its unrestricted endowment by December 31, 2015. For every $2 received in gifts to the unrestricted endowment, The Sherwood Foundation will grant an additional $1 to the account, up to a maximum of $250,000.

"Our aspiration was to reach the half-million dollar goal by May 1st," said Mark Graff, treasurer of McCook Community Foundation Fund. That is when three other Sherwood Challenge communities are coming to McCook for a peer learning session. The community leaders from Nebraska City, Norfolk and Shickley have become really good friends during this process and we wanted to be able to celebrate with them."

The peer learning sessions are an innovative component of the Sherwood Foundation's challenge grant. Recognizing that improving the quality of life within a community is about much more than just money, the Sherwood Foundation partnered with Nebraska Community Foundation (NCF) to not only offer the half-million dollar challenge grants to four NCF affiliated communities (McCook, Nebraska City, Norfolk and Shickley) but also to develop a series of trainings that brought leaders from the communities together to learn as a team. The peer learning sessions have developed the talents and skills of participants to not only raise funds and build endowments, but also to become skilled community conveners who invest philanthropic assets in ways that have long-term, strategic value.

All donations to the Commitment to Community campaign grow MCFF's unrestricted endowment. Gifts to endowments not only last forever, they increase in size. Each year MCFF awards a portion of the endowment earnings to local organizations or projects, while keeping the principal intact and growing. This assures long-term support for community needs that can't be envisioned today and provides resources for current and future generations to seize opportunities as they appear.

Once all donations and the full match are received for the Commitment to Community campaign, MCFF will be able to award over $65,000 annually in community grants. This will more than double McCook's community grants program. In 2013, MCFF granted out $31,000 to community organizations and projects that benefited McCook in many ways: from challenging young people to take leadership roles in the community ($8,000 challenge grant to Build McCook a Skate Park) to supporting services for the elderly ($3,000 to help Hillcrest Nursing Home purchase a new service bus) and supporting projects that build on arts and culture ($2,500 to stage lighting at the Fox Theatre) to emergency health services ($5,000 for Community Hospital's radiation oncology center).

"When an idea comes, you have to have the capacity to fund it. That's where MCFF comes in and why our expanded grants program is so valuable. We support a wide variety of causes and are able to jump in when an opportunity or need arises. If you don't seize opportunity when it presents itself, it will pass you by," Dale Dueland, MCFF member explained.

"Building a strong endowment today will have an impact in McCook beyond our lifetimes and insure a bright future for generations to come," explained former MCFF chair Leigh Ann Miller. "So even though it doesn't come as a surprise to me that McCook is extremely charitable, I am humbled by the willingness of so many generous individuals to join us working to make McCook as vibrant and engaged of a hometown as possible."

McCook Community Foundation Fund is an affiliated fund of the Nebraska Community Foundation. McCook Community Foundation Fund works to maintain McCook as a vibrant, inclusive community with access to the world for generations to come. McCook's legacy and heritage have endured for 130 years. MCFF helps prepare McCook for the next 130. If you would like more information about the McCook Community Foundation Fund, please visit nebcommfound.org/fund/McCook, email foundation@mccookne.org, like us at facebook.com/McCookCommunityFoundationFund or call (308) 344-9363.