Daily Sitka Sentinel

Sitka Endowment Awards $12K in Grants

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The Greater Sitka Legacy Fund announced the awarding of more than $12,000 in grants to nine local nonprofit organizations Wednesday at the Chamber of Commerce meeting.
    Robin Sherman, the fund’s program manager, and advisory board chairman Mike Venneberg were the speakers at the weekly luncheon meeting.
    Organizations receiving funding were:
    – $3,000 to Alaska Arts Southeast LLC for financial aid to assist Sitka students with the cost of Fine Arts Camp
    – $2,000 to Sitka Sound Science Center for education classroom improvements
    – $1,665 to Betty Eliason Childcare Center to pay for tuition for early childhood education for staff
    – $1,500 to Artchange Inc. for “14 Miles”
    – $1,500 to Sitka Historical Society for the new Sitka History Museum
    – $1,000 to Mt. Edgecumbe Preschool for purchase of early childhood education resource materials
    – $577 to the SEER School for Art to Lift a Senior’s Spirit
    – $500 to Fireweed Dance Theater for costs associated with “The Nutcracker – an Alaskan Tale”
    – $500 to Sitka Health Summit Coalition to support the new student activities and health equity fund
    The organization received 13 applications for a total of $27,810 in funding, and awarded $12,242. That’s on top of the $6,000 awarded earlier in the year, $5,000 of which went to Southeast Alaska Independent Living for the Sitka Community Playground.
    “The total of $18,242 in grants made in 2017 significantly exceeds the value of awards made between 2013, when GSLF was established, and 2016,” Sherman said in a news release. “The higher level of grants made in 2017 is a direct result of the past generosity of individual and business donors and GSLF’s relationship with ACF and Rasmuson Foundation.”
    Venneberg and Sherman also talked about the origins of the legacy fund, and its purpose.
    The Greater Sitka Legacy Fund is one of 10 affiliates under the Alaska Community Foundation. It accepts donations from inside and outside the community, with matching funds from the Rasmuson Foundation and ACF to build an endowment. Earnings from the legacy fund’s investments provide income that can be distributed in grants.
    At the end of the presentation, Sherman said the organization is in a campaign to raise $25,000 by the end of the year, which will be matched 100 percent by the Ramuson Foundation and Alaska Community Foundation.
    So far $12,200 has been raised, and another $12,800 is needed to be eligible for the match.
    “The only catch is we need to raise a total of $25,000 by December 31 to get any matching funds for our permanent endowment this year,” Sherman said. Failing to reach the goal means no matching funds.
    This is the first year Rasmuson offered the 100 percent match, and has pledged to do so every year through 2020 for a potential $125,000 in matching funds for the Sitka Legacy Fund.
    The purpose of the Sitka fund is to “support local resiliency and self-reliance by promoting individual, family and business philanthropy, and providing grants to local projects and organizations.” The local legacy fund also connects local organizations and individuals to ACF for provides services, and helping donors set up funds for their own charitable projects and programs. ACF provides investment management services and philanthropic advising as well.
    The local legacy fund is an arm of the Anchorage-based Alaska Community Foundation, but it has its own advisory board to make decisions in the interest of Sitka. The total pool of investments from all communities involved is more than $80 million, which is professionally managed, Sherman said.
    This is the third year GSLF has distributed grants in Sitka, with $4,900 given out in 2014 to seven organizations, $5,220 in 2015 to four organizations, none in 2016 and the $18,242 awarded to 11 Sitka nonprofits in 2017.
    The grant total was based on earnings from the Sitka fund’s permanent endowment balance, which now stands at $238,000, and pass-through grants from Rasmuson. The balance has grown every year, from local donations, donations from outside Sitka and more than $130,000 in matching gifts from the Alaska Community Foundation and Rasmuson Foundation, Sherman said. She noted 60 percent of the amount raised for the local fund came from Rasmuson and ACF.
    Sitka, along with Kodiak, Ketchikan and Fairbanks, came on board as affiliates of the ACF in 2013.
    The first five communities established their own local funds in 2008, with one, from Seward, distributing more than $500,000 to local organizations since then. Sherman noted that the Seward fund benefited from a surprise legacy gift of $1.9 million.
    “A few significant legacy gifts can make an enormous difference,” Sherman said. A promise to give a legacy gift helps the local fund immediately because ACF lets GSLF count 5 percent of legacy gifts toward the local match needed for the Rasmuson-ACF matching funds, she added.
    The legacy fund also has an operating endowment of $2,454, which provides funding for local operations. Operations are currently funded under a grant from the Rasmuson Foundation for the next three years.
    “Looking to the future, that will have to come from somewhere,” Sherman said.
    Donations may be made to the organization on its website greatersitkalegacyfund.org, or by sending a check to Greater Sitka Legacy Fund, P.O. Box 2354, Sitka 99835.