Monthly Giving - We’re In This Together

Stephanie Fritts,  October 24, 2020

Sunset over Leadbetter Point from Highway 101, photo by Jim Sayce

Our connections to Pacific County run deep--we love the ocean and beach, the forests, the community, and more than that, our people.  You see them everyday - your friends, co-workers, acquaintances, and family.  We truly have something special here.  It’s an attitude,  a way of life, the very quality of our lives.  We’re supportive, generous, invested, and grateful. 

This sense of investment and gratitude are why the Pacific Community Foundation exists.  PCF believes in investing where we are, and in what we value—our community.  To that point, the mission of the foundation is to demonstrate leadership in philanthropy to foster a dynamic community.  We know that Pacific County and its surrounding communities have a uniqueness that we can champion through investment.  

In that vein, we encourage you to consider making a recurring monthly donation to the Pacific Community Foundation, to any of our funds.  Monthly donors recognize that we’re in this together, coupling gratitude with a desire to see our community continue to stay as vibrant as it is today.  

For donors, Pacific Community Foundation makes donations simple, no matter the format. Our website includes a secure online donation process, offering one-time, or recurring monthly or annual donations, which makes regular giving easy.  Checks are also accepted by mail.  

The Foundation also offers options for other types of donations, including stocks, mutual funds, property and vehicles. In all cases, you tell us where you want your donation to go, and we make sure it goes to that fund to support your area of interest in the community. In return, you get the benefit of the donated value for tax or estate planning purposes, and the knowledge that you are continuing to help your community thrive.  After all, we’re in this together!

Mark your Calendar--it's time for training

Last spring PCF was about to order coffee and set up tables for a class on grant writing—the pandemic happened instead. In person training was cancelled, and the world pivoted to online classes. 

Mark your calendars:  Today we are promoting two online classes for this fall, one on remote fundraising, and the second on grant writing. 

September 9, 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 

Virtual Fundraising Events

https://washingtonnonprofits.secure.nonprofitsoapbox.com/2020-09-09-virtual-fundraisers

Free to WNP members, $30 for not-yet-members. Members log on first to get the member discount. 

October 28, 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 

Grants Magic, presented by Maryn Boess

 https://washingtonnonprofits.secure.nonprofitsoapbox.com/2020-03-27-ilwaco-grants

$15 for members, $20 for not-yet-members. Members log on first to get the member price. 

Want more? See: The Quick Start Guide to the One-Page Grant Proposal – free 90-minute webinar

https://www.wanonprofitinstitute.org/grants-magic-online-course/

Plus many more classes online, anytime, at https://www.wanonprofitinstitute.org/

We encourage nonprofit organizations to join Washington Nonprofit, an education organization that works across the state on board, staff and member development to build stronger, more effective organizations. In the past three years, we’ve offered classes with WNP on board training, financial planning, and other topics. Classes are online, you can participate from your home, and often on your schedule. We recommend that 2-3 people in your organization take the same class. This way your group will help to reinforce the learning for everyone. 

To join Washington Nonprofit, https://washingtonnonprofits.org/membership/join-renew/

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Need help raising funds for your organization?

For nonprofit organizations, Pacific Community Foundation makes fundraising simpler. We partner with nonprofits to set up dedicated funds for online donations, and send them grants based on those donations.  

Nonprofits can also set up capital campaigns, have PCF hold and invest money for them for projects, and open endowments, which PCF manages in perpetuity for each organization. PCF can save your organization a lot of time in financial management, so that you can focus on your organization’s purpose. 

Contact us at: info@spccf.org, 360-665-5292

Planning Ahead: Naming Charitable Beneficiaries

Making sure our financial houses are in order is a priority for most of us.  It’s normal to assume, and to act as if we will always be around, but now is the time to consider how you, your spouse and family can continue to support, after your passing, the local charities and foundations you have given to during your lifetime, or want to support afterwards.   

In this blog, I’d like to talk with you about how those local charities and foundations may be designated as beneficiaries of insurance, brokerage and non-retirement accounts as secondary beneficiaries; these are also called Transfer on Death (TOD) designations.  

Our spouses are usually designated as our primary beneficiaries and inherit communal assets without tax implications.  After the passing of the surviving spouse, the secondary beneficiaries inherit.  Certain assets to secondary beneficiaries bypass probate and are immediately transferred after death documentation is presented.  

By using beneficiary designation forms, you and your spouse can declare your intent for some parts of your estate without a lawyer. And yes, you can change these plans later on as your circumstances change. Designation forms are available on most investment and insurance websites and generally do not need to be witnessed or notarized.

        You can do it today, from your home. Just in case. 

Life Insurance Policies: Life insurance policies allow you to choose multiple beneficiaries and what percentage of funds should go to each – 100% to a charity(s), or 80% to your family and 20% to charity, or any combination you’d like.  Naming a charity as a beneficiary is simple:  you write in the charity name(s) on your beneficiary designation form.

Non-Retirement, Brokerage and Bank Accounts: As with life insurance policies, you may designate multiple beneficiaries and specify the percentages of funds to charities you wish to receive support after your passing.  If you are married at the time of death your spouse will most likely be the primary beneficiary of these funds, even if other beneficiaries are named, but a TOD designation will provide a transfer to secondary beneficiaries upon the surviving spouse’s passing.  Banks may also ask you to designate beneficiaries for the accounts you maintain with them. 

Tax laws around Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and other retirement instruments are complicated and may be taxed at inheritance.  I’m not going to write about them here, but I do want to point out that unless this is a critical part of your inheritance, speak to your tax advisor about donating these to a nonprofit organization. 

It’s important to keep copies of the beneficiary verification documents you receive from your insurance company and financial institutions.  It is also a good idea to notify intended charitable beneficiaries of your intent. 

You may choose to designate Pacific Community Foundation (SPCCF) 

as a beneficiary.  We would be happy to work with you to create your personal

giving plan.  

When your donation comes to us as a named beneficiary, we do our best to fulfill your intentions, if we know what those intentions are. If you have not indicated a specific intent for your disbursement beforehand, we will place your gift in our endowed Community Fund.

Peace of mind is knowing that local organizations you supported during your lifetime will receive continued support after you are gone.  

DISCLAIMER:  As always, we suggest that you speak with your financial or legal advisor before making significant changes to your estate planning.  None of the information discussed here is given in lieu of conferring with a professional investment manager, estate planner, or attorney. 

Kathleen Sayce, with editorial help from Marcia Scholl, photo by Jerry Macy

Thank you from St Vincent de Paul, Seaview

Hello, I'm Elizabeth Flanders, President of St Vincent De Paul in Seaview. 

I want to thank Pacific Community Foundation’s donors for your generosity during this life-changing pandemic.  I’d like to share with you how support from the Community Relief Fund helped three families impacted by the pandemic.

A family of four with two preschool children fell behind on their rent during the first few months of the pandemic. They called our hot line and left a message. They didn’t have a phone, so it took us four attempts to connect. When we finally met, we discerned their needs:  We paid their rent, bought them a phone, and gave them a voucher for Reach Out Thrift Store for clothing. The father expects to find work soon, as local businesses open up.

Another family of five was caught without rent money when the father was injured at work in the oyster beds. He could not use his hands without pain. The mother is a baker and very pregnant, so also wasn’t working. We paid rent and utilities to help them weather this temporary set back. Their new baby will arrive soon. 

A third family of five didn’t have money for utility bills. Both parents lost their steady jobs due to the pandemic, and what intermittent work they could find was not enough to cover all the bills. We paid their utility bills to help them catch up. 

These are three hard-working, strong young families who are able to stay in their homes thanks to your generosity. On their behalf, we thank those of you who donated to the emergency relief fund. We wish each of you could see the relief and gratitude in their faces.

We at St. Vincent de Paul received grants from the Community Emergency Relief Fund donations. We are a small group of elders who have worked out of St. Mary’s Church, Seaview since 1994. Our mission is to seek, find and serve the vulnerable and forgotten. One of our programs is an emergency hot line. We help with rent, utilities, food, medicines, gas, clothes for work, etc. We help most everyone who calls. We neither judge nor require red tape.

Elizabeth Flanders, President, St. Vincent de Paul.

This is one of several organizations that received grants from Pacific Community Foundation this spring. Timely support for local residents in tough times is an important part of our work. Please consider making donations in the months and years to come as we all weather this pandemic together, and rebuild our community. There is more to do. 

Kathleen Sayce, Treasurer, Pacific Community Foundation

Community Matters--Supporting Our Pets During This Pandemic

Needs don’t go away just because we are staying at home for a few weeks. 

On Sunday, South Pacific County Humane Society opened Peninsula Pets Fund with Pacific Community Foundation. This fund was three years, at least, in the planning. Maybe more than five years. The Peninsula Pets Fund opened this week as it became clear the need was critical.  URL:   https://spccf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create?funit_id=1159

PCF had talked to humane society officers several times over the years about a dedicated fund. Helped them raise money to install a commercial washer and dryer last year—a big step for them, aided by retired architect and foundation board member Phil Allen.

The current situation:

But now, the need is critical. Donations to operate the no-kill shelter were dropping off as the pandemic intensified, shelter at home orders, and quarantines began. 

They need to keep the shelter open and operational, staff paid, animals fed and cared for. Provide veterinary care for animals in need. None of these needs stopped when human sheltering started. 

We use a great foundation accounting program called Community Suite, which takes new funds live within minutes of composing, which Kathleen Sayce did on Sunday, April 12th. 

By Monday, the humane society was spreading this link to the fund’s own URL:   https://spccf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create?funit_id=1159

They continue to promote their fund via the local paper, facebook and direct emails. This outreach matters—in the first week, more than 35 people made donations totaling $2550 to  the Peninsula Pets Fund.  

Wonderful!

The next steps:  Encourage people to make 
recurring monthly donations. 

Keep awareness up with ads, facebook and instagram posts. 

Personal emails. 

Personal thank you notes. 

Stories about how these donations helped animals find new homes, and especially helped people feed their own pets when they were laid off from their jobs. 

 

SPCHS is not alone:

Many important community services are in peril due to hugely increased needs. Pacific County is tiny, population less than 22,000 full time residents. More than 1,000 workers are laid off—a number we hoped would never be attained. 

The stay-at-home period will not last forever, long as it may seem to all of us right now. 

We will eventually have effective vaccines and enough shared immunity to have an open society once more. [I had lunch at Bridgewater Bistro in mid March, and remember wondering as I ate a delicious lunch (wild salmon BLT sandwich, a personal favorite), when I would be able to have this lunch again. I still do not know. No one knows.]

Planning ahead:

Now is the time to be thinking and planning.   Think about what a new improved humane society looks like, and how you can help. Think about recurring donations and endowments.

To those thirty plus people who made donations this week to this new fund, thank you!

Shop at big box stores? Buy for food banks too

March 30, 2020

Get a case or two of food for the Food Bank with every visit. If you garden, add a row of potatoes, squash, cabbage, peas. 

Salad garden at Bridgewater Bistro 2016

Shelf-stable food is key. At the top of the list are canned and boxed foods. Think about buying a case or two every time you shop. In times of great need, while cash donations are great, food banks have to stop and go buy food. If you also donate the right foods, food banks keep on filling orders for their clients. 

Canned fruit 

Canned vegetables 

Canned beans and chili 

Canned meals: Ravioli, pasta in sauce, stew, etc

Canned fish and meat:  tuna, salmon, chicken, etc

Canned soup

Spaghetti sauce

Peanut butter 

Pasta 

Cereal

Boxed meals—macaroni and cheese, and similar

In the past couple of weeks with so many people involuntarily at home, food bank visits have gone up by more than 25%, a trend that will continue for some time. 

For donations, link to our Community Food Fund: https://spccf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create?funit_id=1126

Be well. 

Responding to COVID-19

March 22, 2020

Spotted Towhee keeping an eye on a nearby gardener

The board of Pacific Community Foundation has conferred via email and phone, deciding how to respond to the eminent threat of COVID-19. 

Here’s where we are: PCF is not going to offer our usual spring catalog this season. 

Thank you to all the organizations who put together their proposals. We will save your content, and let you know when the next grants catalog is open. 

We have created a Critical category for key funds to support organizations that help people shelter in place and provide food. These funds will stay at the top of the list for the foreseeable future. We may add other funds as we see new critical needs arise. 

Grants will go out biweekly to monthly, depending on the rate of donation to each of them. We will distribute grants across several organizations in each category.

URL:  https://spccf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/list

To make a donation, click on the fund, and you will go to that fund’s donation page. You may donate to more than one fund in each session by going back to the main list and selecting another fund. 

Consider making monthly donations. This will provide important support in the months to come. 

Critical Funds:

Community Emergency Relief Fund supports rent, utilities, and other needs for vulnerable families. 

Community Food Fund supports local food banks and other food providers. Food banks are now seeing significant increases in the number of families needing basic foods and supplies, due to furloughs. 

White-crowned Sparrow

Food 4 Kids Fund supports the weekend food programs for schoolchildren; weekly backpacks are being distributed by school buses on regular routes. Busses are also delivering assignments and daily meals during the week. 

Pacific County Immigrant Support Fund provides support for immigrant families, including rent, utilities and other needs. 

As with grant catalogs, the Foundation will cover credit card and admin fees through our Cornerstone Fund, so that every dollar raised goes to local nonprofit organizations. 

URL:  https://spccf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/list