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Neb. Community Foundation
The past few months have been a time of unprecedented change in our country. Countless organizations and institutions are experiencing budget cuts that will undoubtedly have an impact on hometowns across our state. To be clear, the purpose of this column is not to determine if these cuts to funding are good, bad, right or wrong. Ask 10 Nebraskans and you are sure to get 10 different answers.
The purpose of this column, rather, is to acknowledge the reality that rural communities across Nebraska are facing and examine the ways our hometowns can best prepare for whatever the future holds.
Build an Endowment
We know as individuals it’s a good idea to save money should an unforeseen need arise. Many of us also routinely build up our 401(k)s in an effort to make our retirement years more comfortable. Growing an unrestricted endowment is the same concept, but for communities. Each charitable contribution, made by those who care deeply about the community’s future, is invested. Every year the investment earnings on the endowment may be used to make grants to further community progress. Because the principal remains untouched, it grows with every gift – and so does the annual payout.
Many hometowns in the Nebraska Community Foundation network have been building their endowments for years and now have tens of thousands of dollars to utilize for community needs each year.
In Shickley, the annual endowment payout now exceeds the Village’s budget. They’re reinvesting those unrestricted charitable dollars back into the community in ways that impact all 343 residents. Like the old saying goes, the best time to plant a tree (or start an endowment) was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.
Encourage Planned Giving
In 2021, Nebraska Community Foundation released its third Transfer of Wealth Study. We discovered that during the 2020s more than $100 billion in Nebraska wealth will pass from one generation to the next. In the next half century, that number jumps to $950 billion.
The simplest and most powerful way to ensure at least some of the transfer of wealth remains in Nebraska is by making a charitable planned gift to benefit your hometown or favorite Nebraska charity.
NCF’s Five to Thrive campaign suggests a gift of 5%. That small percentage of one’s assets has a minimal impact on heirs, but an outsized influence on your hometown, especially considering the collective power of all Nebraskans choosing to “leave five.”
Between 2010 and 2024, communities in the NCF network have received an impressive $47.4 million in realized planned gifts. Of those, 36 gifts exceeded $100,000 and 14 were $1 million or more.
For most, a planned gift is the largest and most impactful charitable contribution they will ever make.
Places that have made concerted efforts to solicit planned gifts – like Pender and McCook – are seeing their decades-long efforts pay dividends in the form of abundant resources to finance their biggest dreams.
Nurture a Sense of Belonging
When was the first time you felt like you belonged? If you were lucky like me, it happened in your youth. My hometown of Red Cloud provided a sense of safety and security that undoubtedly set me up for success later in life. Every kid (and adult) needs and deserves that.
Creating a sense of belonging is some of the most important work we do as community builders – it’s the hardest, too.
No matter where you are on the political spectrum, the national landscape feels more divisive than ever. Nebraska Community Foundation is post-partisan.
We operate far beyond two-, four- and six-year terms. NCF is the place where we set our differences aside and get to work because of our shared unwavering commitment to the core value that Greater Nebraska is worthy of our efforts and our investment.
Belonging is rooted in having your unique gifts received and appreciated by those in your community. In a small town, it’s a matter of necessity. The work is endless, and we need everyone’s help. The work our volunteers are doing is generational. We build endowments today because no matter what the future holds, they will be there for whatever community needs arise. In 2025 and beyond, we will work to make Greater Nebraska a more welcoming place for all who call it home. The future of our state depends on it.
Jeff Yost is president and CEO of Nebraska Community Foundation. Learn more about NCF’s work at Nebraska-Hometown.org.
