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ICF President’s Report
It was another busy month
for the Idaho Community Foundation staff and Leslee and I worked to become
familiar with Idaho’s nonprofits, the Idaho Community Foundation and ICF’s many
constituents and activities. We split September time between Boise and Idaho
Falls with a couple of side trips to Coeur d’Alene and Sandpoint.
Last week Idaho lost one of its most noble people—Larry Kissler. He was a grand
philanthropist and was one of Idaho’s great 20th Century business
leaders. As the Idaho Statesmen’s obituary suggests, Larry always felt
that his Norco Company “should not just be a place to work. [It] should have a
cause for its existence. The cause is to save and prolong life … this includes
our customers, fellow employees, suppliers, and all mankind. Therefore, in
fighting for our cause of saving and providing a better life for all, we must do
it better than anyone else in the world; to be professional and serve our
cause.” As a result of his philosophy, Larry and his family have donated
portions of their earnings for humanitarian causes and scholarships. Their
donations helped pay for the Kissler Family Chapel at St. Luke’s Regional
Medical Center and the Kissler Family Library at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical
Center. The Kissler Family Foundation now supports charitable efforts in
communities Norco serves and is an ICF philanthropic gift fund. He leaves a
marvelous family that was brought-up with his philanthropic tradition.
For the past two week, Leslee and I have been in Eastern Idaho. The Eastern
Idaho time represents a very interesting occasion for us. We attended ICF’s
“Greatest Need Grant Award” events in Bannock, Bonneville, Franklin, Custer, and
Lemhi Counties, the opening of the Lincoln Exhibition at the Idaho Museum in
Idaho Falls (A MUST SEE), visits with many ICF fund managers, and several new
prospects for new funds. We also visited with ICF members and friends about
establishing a signature event in Eastern Idaho. In the near future I will
share the initial plans for this new event in 2010. All and all we very much
enjoyed getting to know Eastern Idaho again!
We are featuring another great nonprofit story in this month’s ICF E-Bulletin.
It is about the Assistance League of Boise (ALB) and the extraordinary job they
do for young school students in that community. Lauren Carlson and I
visited them recently and their Boise Thrift Shop that they run to support their
mission. It was an extraordinary morning. Organizations like this
and ICF’s
association with them makes my life meaningful every day and drives me to
encourage others to become ICF members and to create funds that will assist
nonprofits like SRAS and ALB to enhance the quality of life in Idaho. |
As I
write this, I am in Idaho Falls and the most emotionally satisfying part of our
time here was again the stories about what Eastern Idaho nonprofits are doing to
“enhance the quality of life.” The Snake River Animal Shelter (SRAS) is an
example of one of those very good stories. They suggest that “nearly 5000 dogs
and cats are euthanized each year in [the Eastern Idaho] region.” That number
is a much larger figure for the size of the population of Idaho Falls than one
can probably find any where in Idaho. To provide an alternative to this large
euthanized activity, SRAS has plans to build a $2.5 million new shelter to give
these animals a longer lease on life and hopefully time for SRAS to find a
loving home for them. Also, SRAS will be working on an education program that
will lead to greater spaying of dogs and cats and in turn will reduce the
significant problem of unwanted animals in Idaho Falls and eventually in the
Upper Snake Valley area. The SRAS Board and staff are changing the quality of
life in this area and ICF is proud to have awarded a grant to support their
effort. It is another one of those stories about what ICF and nonprofit
philanthropy does for Idaho. If you want to learn more about SRAS,
click here to visit their
website.
Bob Hoover
Assistance League of Boise Featured as
Seven’s Heroes
The hard-working volunteers of
Assistance League of Boise were recently recognized by KTVB News Channel
7 as “Seven’s Heroes” for their extraordinary efforts to help area youth
through the Operation School Bell program.
Engaging more than 365 female members, Assistance League of Boise is an
all-volunteer nonprofit that supports seven community-based
philanthropic programs, including Operation School Bell. Through this
program in 2008, over 3,500 Ada County youth were given the opportunity
to shop for new clothes and items to start their school year right – an
experience many of them have never had before.
The Idaho Community Foundation has enjoyed a long relationship with
Assistance League of Boise – whose members established a designated
endowment fund to support organization operations – and is proud of
their many achievements.
See Channel 7 News
Video
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MORE NEWS
Wood River Valley Nonprofits Receive
$145,250 from Deer Creek Fund
(Click
Here)
GRANT OPPORTUNITIES
Geography
Knowledge Fund (Oct. 1-15)
Northern Region
Competitive Grant Cycle (Nov 1 – Jan 15)
* Reminder: Northern Region End of Grant Reports due Feb. 15,
2010.
(Click
Here)
NEWLY CREATED FUNDS
Community Fund: Philanthropic Gift Fund
Leslee and Bob
Hoover Greatest Need Fund: Unrestricted fund
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