By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
With just days left in 2022, the Heartland Community Foundation reported this week grant awards this year total more than any previous year.
“We were founded in 2007, and when we look at our total numbers for the year, this was our most amount granted year,” said executive director Sarah Meitner. “We granted $429,772 in our fiscal year 2022, which is an astounding number.”
Those grant awards were distributed across their three-county service area, including Ellis, Rooks and Trego counties and included various projects.
“It was to 67 organizations for 129 projects,” Meitner said, noting some organizations, like USD 489, for example, received grants for more than one project.
Along with the yearly benchmarks, she said their overall giving also reached a notable milestone.
“When we look at that total number, since 2007, we had a really big milestone at Heartland, we passed the $3 million mark. So, for projects altogether, we've granted out $3,205,263,” Meitner said.
And those dollars have helped various groups and impacted a wide variety of area residents, she said.
“It is to everything,” Meitner said. “It's to healthcare, it's to schools, it's to victims organizations or to impoverished groups or to churches. That really touches every element.”
“I like to say to people, you've probably been impacted by a Heartland Community Foundation grant, you just don't realize it,” she continued. “We are really truly behind the scenes, helping to give these grant dollars to our local organizations. And they're the ones doing the amazing work, they're the ones with feet on the ground, but they can't do it if they don't have the funds and the support. And that's where we can help.”
She said often area non-profit organizations rely on organizations like the Heartland Community Foundation to implement initiatives and programs.
“They have great ideas,” Meitner said. “Our local organizations are doing such incredible work. And sometimes they know what they want to do to take it to the next level or to increase their capabilities or increase their capacity, they just need a little bit of extra dollars to do it.”
And while many generous donors help fund those projects, combined donations can be even more powerful, she said.
“They can depend on charitable dollars, they can depend on our local donors who are so generous,” Meitner said. “But when you put that power of endowment to work, it can really fill the gap.”
“We were granting some pass-through dollars from the Dane G. Hanson Foundation, which we’re really, really fortunate to have that partnership,” she said. But those legacy dollars rely on fundraising to grow.
“These are the dollars that we are fundraising for every February, and it's right around the corner,” Meitner said. “We fundraise during what we call match month, and as we boost those funds, we can grant even more.”
And as the year ends, she said time remains to put charitable dollars to work and receive the tax benefit for 2022.
“I always say talk to your financial advisor, but if there is a need to lower your taxable income, a great way to do that is to make a charitable gift,” Meitner said. “And you can open a donor-advised fund with the Heartland Community Foundation, you get that gift for 2022. But you can decide later where you want those charitable dollars to go.”
She added gifts could be accepted up to the end of the year as long as they are postmarked by Dec. 31.
“But the benefit is that you get that tax deduction for 2022,” she continued. “You don't even have to make the charitable gift to 2023, you can make it at any point in the future, which is a really, really kind of neat way to slide in there and get that donation when you don't quite know where you want those dollars to go.”