The Lori Genske Fund was created this year by the group of her friends that had rallied around her & held fundraisers to help defray costs relating to experimental breast cancer treatments. Lori succumbed to cancer before the money could be used. Wishing to honor their friend and to carry on her memory as an active community member, they approached the Elkhorn Fund Advisory Board. As a component of the Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin, the Elkhorn Fund already had the structure in place to accept charitable gifts & have them professionally managed and to facilitate grants awards. Lori’s friends transferred the assets held in a trust to the Elkhorn Fund, creating the Lori Genske Fund of the Elkhorn Fund.
Annually the Elkhorn Fund Advisory Board reviews grant applications submitted by schools and not-for-profit organizations providing services to Elkhorn. Grants are awarded to support new and on-going programs and projects that improve the community.
Annual Grant Award Ceremony November 11, 2010-Peoples Bank
From the Elkhorn Fund grants were awarded to:
Matheson Memorial Library-$500 for Summer Reading Program
UW Extension Walworth County-$575 for Parenting Newsletter for Elkhorn clients
VIP- $800 for Guest Artist Program
Elkhorn Food Pantry-$125
From the Lori Genske Fund grants were awarded to:
UW Extension Walworth County-$1000 for Parenting Newsletter for Elkhorn clients
Walworth County Association of Home & Community Education-$1000 for Wisconsin Bookworms Reading Program for Elkhorn children
What You Always Wanted to Know About the Elkhorn Fund
I’m local.
I help you give where you live.
I know our community.
My advisory board is made up of people like you. People who keep in touch with the needs and concerns of Elkhorn.
I’m concerned about the things that you’re concerned about.
Education for youth and adults, health & human services, access to arts programming, and much more.
I’ll never give up.
I’m built on the concept of permanence. I’m an endowment fund that starts small and will I continue to grow. You can give to me knowing that I’ll be working for a better Elkhorn. Principal is not spent. A portion of the income earned is granted back to the community. When community needs change, and they will, I’ll be here to respond. I’m here For good. For ever.
I carry a big umbrella.
Actually, I’m under the umbrella of the Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin, Inc., a 501 c 3 not-for-profit public charity. The Community Foundation helps me and more than 450 other charitable funds make a difference in the quality of community life, wherever ‘community' might be.
I’m Elkhorn’s ‘nest egg’.
Like your own nest egg, I grow too. Gifts to the Elkhorn Fund are pooled with other gifts (like a mutual fund) providing higher yield and more diverse investment instruments. With the help of the Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin and seven investment banks, I enjoy some very attractive investment opportunities.
I accept gifts from everyone.
Most of my gifts come from working families, kids and small businesses. What they share is a common desire to lift the lives of their fellow citizens and see change in Elkhorn. By combining our resources we maximize the impact of modest gifts (see nest egg).
I can wait till you die.
I don’t want to-but, you don’t have to give now. You can leave a little something to me in your will. A percentage is best. Nothing extravagant. I want you to take care of your family first. How about 5%?
I give with care.
Each year the Elkhorn Fund advisory board will review grant applications submitted by schools and not-for-profit organizations providing services to Elkhorn. The grant-making goal of the Elkhorn Fund is to fund, strengthen and encourage projects likely to make a clear difference in the quality of life for the citizens of Elkhorn. The Elkhorn Fund favors projects that propose practical solutions to current community needs, in addressing positive changes, promote volunteer involvement, strengthen an organization’s effectiveness and stability, and address prevention as well as intervention.
I’ve got my priorities straight.
Individual not-for-profits focus on one specific issue. The Elkhorn Fund’s role is to consider all the needs of Elkhorn: education, health & human services, environment, historic preservation, the arts.
I play well with others.
I am dedicated to Elkhorn and the creative people that make it thrive. Collaboration ensures that the best minds are put to use generating wise solutions.
I can save you money.
As a component of the Community Foundation I can help you save money while benefiting Elkhorn. Gifts to the Elkhorn Fund are tax deductible to the maximum extent allowed by law. For example, in most cases you may deduct up to 50% of current income for gifts of cash and you may deduct the full appreciated value of securities and property up to 30% of annual current income.
Giving is really the easy part.
Imparting philanthropic wisdom and values are equally important.
Jessica Berge
Tina Bosworth
Chris Clapper
John Henderson
Karen Ramsett-Chair
Jeff Rosendahl
Dave Scurek
Ryan Stelzer
Attorney Lowell Sweet
Doris Wedige
Greg Wescott
For more information you may also contact
CFSW liaison to the Elkhorn Fund, Jane Maldonis at jane@cfsw.org
