"Doing Good"

Sent: 10/27/2020

Legacy Family,

We hear it a lot these days. This has been quite a year. In the midst of all the change and activity, I find myself looking for normal things that are relatable. I want to share a couple of my thoughts with you.

First, it may seem silly, but sometimes work at Legacy feels a lot like spinning plates. You might remember the old vaudeville specialty act where the talent spins plates balanced at the end of a long stick.

Though my plate spinning skills leave a lot to be desired, I see a similarity. You get one plate project going andquickly shift your focus to another. Just when it the first plate project starts making steady progress, another starts or sometimes it's back to the first to make an adjustment to keep everything in the air and balanced. The real difference is, though there's an end to the act, when we get it right in community life the table keeps getting longer as more plates (projects) are added requiring the help of more hands to keep things spinning. I'm fortunate to have you and our community partners helping to keep our "act" on track.

Second, I repeatedly return to the image of the Tin Man finally receiving his Heart near the end of the movie the Wizard of Oz. It was the first time I heard the word "philanthropist." Well, the Wizard tried to say philanthropist, but ended up shifting to "Good Deed Doer." That's a lot easier for a young person to grasp. Children can understand doing things that are good for others and “performing actions that benefit people other than oneself. It's good for all of us to sometimes keep things simple. Today we use “Doing good” is a short way of saying “doing good deeds,”

The challenges of 2020 have afforded Legacy Foundation with many "doing good" opportunties to actively support our community. Your gifts have been at work providing everything from scholarships to teacher mini grants and COVID-19 Pandemic crisis Relief - Recovery - Resilence.

Following are a few of the highlights.

  • Legacy awarded over $126,000 in scholarships for the 2020 2021 school year assisting over 75 area students in pursuing higher education. Click here to view the list of scholarship recipients.

  • Legacy designated $12,500 ($2,500 per USD) to assist with COVID-19 related costs in our public school districts.

  • Legacy led the Rally Cowley Relief effort with the Winfield and Arkansas City Area Chambers of Commerce matching dollar for dollar the gift cards purchased through their Giftfly program providing $20,000 in grants supporting area food distributions.

  • Legacy hosted Match Monday leveraging matching funds of $15,000 into raising over $34,000 in additional gifts to support twenty-one local nonprofit organizations. The total of nearly $50,000 was invested in growing their endowment funds for long term sustainability, as well as providing immediate operating grants in this challenging environment.

  • Legacy gathered important resources and information to share with area nonprofit organizations and the community at large impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

  • Legacy achieved the GuideStar Platinum Level of Transparency in 2020. GuideStar's database of over 2.2 million IRS-recognized nonprofits is the most complete, up-to-date nonprofit data available..GuideStar Seals of Transparency indicate that a nonprofit has a commitment to transparency and has provided key information to its Nonprofit Profile. GuideStar believes by providing up-to-date information, nonprofits allow potential donors and funders to make educated decisions.

One specific opportunity for you to engage with Legacy this Fall is the Warrender Match Challenge.

Robert Warrender Revocable Trust (RWRT) Trustee Wayne Hamilton has offered a matching grant opportunity. If Legacy raises $100,000 for its operating endowment by 12/31/2020 then RWRT will give $50,000 for the same purpose. We are excited for this opportunity because growing assets and unrestricted funds will underwrite core programming, allowing Legacy to increase assets available for community grants and scholarships. To support this growing opportunity, the board of directors has launched the Keep 5 At Home initiative. We would love to talk with you about ways you may choose to support this effort! Will you contact us today?

Your gifts are making a difference right here at home everyday! You are a Good Deed Doer!

With gratitude and appreciation,

Yazmin