As we begin a new year it’s a great time to reflect on milestones from this year in charitable giving and think about our goals and hopes for the coming year. 

At your Community Foundation for Eastern Jackson County (Truman Heartland Community Foundation) we have many highlights to celebrate from 2024, made possible by the generosity of our fundholders.

The growth of charitable contributions within our foundation has set records in several important categories, including Grants, Scholarships, Donor Advised Fund contributions, and legacy building.

GRANTS & SCHOLARSHIPS:

We set another record for total number of grants distributed to hundreds of nonprofit organizations and student scholarships in our community. The total in 2024 is $9 million compared to $7.3 million in 2023; an increase of 23%. 

An important portion of this total is scholarships which set a new record of $828,000 in 2024. These scholarships from 173 scholarship funds will enhance the education opportunities of the 334 students who received scholarships. 

The total amount is an increase of 70% in scholarships compared to the total in 2020. All of this has been made possible by the generosity of people in our community who have a passion for education and compassion for those who can use some support to achieve their educational dreams. 

DONOR ADVISED FUNDS:

Our Donor Advised Fundholders continue to set records making generous grants from their funds to their favorite charities. Grants from these 320 funds totaled $4.5 million in 2024 compared to $3.1 million in 2023, an increase of 45%. 

More than 1,800 separate grants were made from these Donor Advised Funds, and every one of them tells a story about the passion a fundholder has for a nonprofit and their compassion for those served by the organization. 

We are pleased that we added 43 new funds in 2024 and welcome these new members to our foundation family. 

BUILDING LEGACIES:

We also had 14 families join our Heartland Legacy Society by including their fund at the Foundation in their estate plans. It’s our pleasure to work with these families (now totaling 204) to enable them to leave a legacy through their charitable giving.

We are extremely grateful for the generosity of our fundholders, who are key members of our foundation family. As we look forward to 2025 my hope is that the care and concern that our foundation family has for the community is contagious. 

In a time in our country’s history when division seems to be the common theme, it brings such a sense of hopefulness for our future when local donors are showing so much generosity to our community. 

Wouldn’t it be a much better world if compassion and the passion for supporting charity went viral and our focus was building stronger communities together everywhere. Happy New Year!