Photo: 2018 Giving Tree nonprofit organization grant recipient representatives.
During the week of Nov. 12th through Nov. 18th, Twin Lakes Community Foundation is joining more than 750 community foundations across America celebrating Community Foundation Week. Community foundations are independent, public entities that steward philanthropic resources from institutional and individual donors to local nonprofits that are the heart of strong, vibrant communities.
Local board chair Heather Loftis says the impact of the Twin Lakes Community Foundation on the Mountain Home area is evident. Loftis says the foundation is more determined than ever to bring community partners together to find solutions for some of the area’s most challenging problems and advance smart giving opportunities to benefit local residents.
For example, last year the Twin Lakes Community Foundation allocated $2,500 to address grade-level reading. With matches from the Arkansas Community Foundation and donor advised funds, $2,000 was turned into $9,500, a 375 percent return on investment.
Since its inception in 2002, Twin Lakes Community Foundation has plowed nearly $2.56 million back into to the area in grants to nonprofits in support of education, hunger abatement, health care, and more. In fiscal year 2018, Twin Lakes Community Foundations Giving Tree awarded $20,100 in grants to local nonprofits like Gamma House, Serenity, Kindness, Inc., North Arkansas Youth Center, Single Parent Scholarship Funds, as well as three grants totaling $4,300 to organizations fighting hunger.
Community foundations represent one of the fastest-growing forms of philanthropy. Every state in the United States is home to at least one community foundation-large and small, urban and rural-working to advance solutions on a wide range of local social issues.
Community Foundation Week, created in 1989 by former president George H.W. Bush, recognizes the work of community foundations throughout America and their collaborative approach to working with the public, private and nonprofit sectors to address community problems.
Arkansas Community Foundation is a nonprofit organization fostering smart giving to improve communities. The Community Foundation offers tools to help Arkansans protect, grow and direct their charitable dollars as they learn more about community needs.
By making grants and sharing knowledge, the community foundation supports charitable programs that work for Arkansas and partners to create new initiatives addressing the gaps. Since 1976, the community foundation has provided more than $220 million in grants and partnered with thousands of Arkansans to help them improve neighborhoods, towns and the entire state.
Contributions to the community foundation, its funds and any of its 28 affiliates are fully tax deductible.
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