Twin Lakes Community Foundation Receives $10,000 from South Shore Group
March 2003

Twin Lakes Community Foundation Explains Goals Deborah Knox and Estella Tullgren (standing), of Twin Lakes Community Foundation, present information to the trustees of the South Shore Foundation, who made a $10,000 donation recently to the new foundation. South Shore Trustees shown (clockwise from top right) are:Steve L. Smith, Deanna Sullivan, Heidi Volltrauer, Betty Barker Smith, Phyllis Speer, and Jodie Jeffrey. Trustees present, but not visible in photo are Margaret Hall and Ed Coulter. Twin Lakes Community Foundation serves Baxter, Marion, Fulton, and Izard counties.

The South Shore Foundation has made a $10,000 donation to the newly- formed Twin Lakes Community Foundation, which serves four counties: Marion, Baxter, Fulton, and Izard.

The $10,000 donation goes toward the Twin Lakes Community Foundation's goal of raising $70,000 by June 30. Since the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation is matching beginning years' funds dollar-for-dollar, Sam Rhoades, fund-raising chairman, said the $41,000 raised locally to date becomes $82,000 to be used to benefit the Twin Lakes area. "If another $29,000 in endowments can be raised, the area will benefit from earnings on $140,000 year after year," he said.

Jodie Elizabeth Jeffrey, a South Shore Foundation trustee, said the $10,000 gift is a "challenge" to other organizations in the area to help the Twin Lakes Community Foundation reach its goal by the June 30 deadline. "South Shore Foundation trustees see the potential of the community foundation to help the four-county area now and in the future. That's why we stepped forward with a donation now, when the Twin Lakes Community Foundation can get local contributions doubled. This is a great time to donate, and we hope others will plan to do so right away."

Rhoades added, "This is a great opportunity to help with a cause in which you are interested and double the impact of your donation."

Rhoades explained that endowments, such as South Shore Foundation's, can be established within the Twin Lakes Community Foundation to ensure that their causes can be funded forever. Rhoades said the Twin Lakes Community Foundation is a "general public charity serving our area." Its mission is to encourage the building of a pool of permanent endowed funds from which earnings will be granted to assist with needs in the area.

Estella Tullgren, executive director of the Twin Lakes Community Foundation, said a community foundation's unique role is to provide a home for hundreds of donors both living and deceased, who take advantage of this tax-favored way to enhance their charitable giving. She added, "Any citizen may become a philanthropist through gifts to a community foundation."

A community foundation works with individuals who wish to make targeted donations or bequests. Twin Lakes Community Foundation accepts donations - either named or anonymously - and channels them to the purposes requested by the donors and needed by the community. A community foundation, in handling the bookkeeping for charitable donations, allows those who want to make charitable donations to receive all the tax advantages without setting up their own charitable foundation, she said.

Twin Lakes Community Foundation serves as an information center for both donors and nonprofit organizations to learn about the community and its many needs.

Mrs. Tullgren and Rhoades said the Twin Lakes Community Foundation will be awarding grants from a $10,000 gift from Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation in May. Applications for these grants will be available in March. An announcement will be made in the next couple of weeks about how to obtain a grant application, they said.

Since 1996, the South Shore Foundation has awarded grants to nonprofit organizations to advance education, preserve the environment and develop the economy in Marion and Boone counties. Trustees will continue to fulfill its stated mission while working in conjunction with the Twin Lakes Community Foundation. Interest from the $10,000 can be designated to recipients annually by the South Shore Foundation.

South Shore Foundation is the charitable foundation of NATCO. To learn more about the foundation, call 1-800-775-6682. To learn more about the new Twin Lakes Community Foundation, contact Estella Tullgren at (870) 425-2694 or contact her by e-mail: tullgren@webewireless.com.