Today, we chatted with GMCF's president and CEO, Vern Henricks. In the first of a two-part series, we discussed the community foundation's 25 years. We covered everything from the initial $200 donation to legalize GMCF as a non-profit community Foundation to our 365 million dollars in assets 25 years later and everything in between.
Today, we chatted with GMCF's president and CEO, Vern Henricks. In the first of a two-part series, we discussed the community foundation's 25 years. We covered everything from the initial $200 donation to legalize GMCF as a non-profit community Foundation to our 365 million dollars in assets 25 years later and everything in between.
Welcome to Philanthropy Today. Our goal is to inspire giving by educating listeners on ways to give and how to connect with charitable causes. My name is Dave Lewis. I'm your host of Philanthropy Today. Thank you for joining the show. 25 years of philanthropy that's our theme today for Philanthropy. Today of philanthropy that's our theme today for philanthropy today. And we are going to be visiting with Bern Hendricks, and boy I tell you what. We've had an awful lot of fun reflecting on the past 25 years of history at the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation, especially visiting with some of the past presidents, past chairs, and then, of course, you know, we had the CFAs here in March and just a remarkable opportunity to reflect, and that's one of the things we'd like to do today.
Speaker 2:Indeed, this is kind of a summary of the 25-year discussions that we've had with the past presidents, past chairs. There was a transition made in 2013 to go from presidents to a chair position in the governance, and so these are all things to talk about as we move through the timeline.
Speaker 1:You know we got some great stories out of the previous podcast and we encourage our listeners and viewers that if they get the chance to go back and listen to some of those, you know because you know at the very beginning, when you got Jim Morrison and Jim Gordon and Mark Knockadoff will start talking and then that grows. I mean just you know you think about those three and everybody else that kind of came in. You know on the tailwinds of that first discussion back in 1999. And how the Community Foundation, with starting off with a $200 check to start, is where it is today, in 2024.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was great is where it is today, in 2024.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was great, and actually in our 20th anniversary year we did a lengthy interview of Mark Knockadoffel and Jim Morrison and Jim Gordon as to how that all got started and it was fun listening to them go back and forth what their expectations would be and what motivated the process and you heard it from Mark early on.
Speaker 2:I mean it stemmed from sending gifts outside of Manhattan to charitable causes that really didn't get much of a response back and in thanks, and so the Community Foundation world was kind of being discussed in Kansas and so Mark called Jim Morrison and said, hey, we need to visit with this. And they called Jim Gordon and a few others and before you know it, the discussion about establishing a community foundation took place in 1999. I was actually at the Kansas State University Foundation at that time and so one of our staff members, sandy Fruit, had been at a community foundation in southwest Kansas and kind of helped them with a little bit of the thought process of a community foundation. And before you know it, it became real and they ended 1999 with $200 $200.
Speaker 1:And the Kansas Health Foundation was significant in the very beginning.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the Kansas Health Foundation had done some research in their way of keeping Kansas healthy, and so most of us would think of physical health.
Speaker 2:But it was more than that. They did a county by county research under the title of Keep Five in Kansas and determined how much, over a period of 5, 10, and 20 years, was leaving the counties, and that really opened the eyes to a lot of citizens and leaders in particular communities. As to wait a minute, we got to do something. And so, as a inspiration to actually do something, they created a grow matching program, and so they challenged community foundations to raise $300,000 that would be matched by the Kansas Health Foundation with another $300,000 so that they could start an operational fund. We call it our Founders Fund here right now. And so the other premise of that is they had to hire somebody and they had to have a office, neither of which the Manhattan Community Foundation, as it was known at that time, had, and so that started the process of Sue Mays talking to an old friend of hers from South Dakota that was in this area, like Annalee Donnelly. She said, hey, would you be willing to serve as executive director? And that's how that started.
Speaker 1:Well, and there have been quite a bit of transition with directors and staff over the years and that day, you know, there was one staff and now there's more.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, we certainly continue to grow. I'm the fifth executive director or president or CEO of the foundation and so at this point, having been here 11 years now, I'm the longest standing of the bunch. But you know, in that we've grown. We've had 32 employees over that period of time. Most of it was part-time employees. In 2013, when I first came on board, there were just Marla and I as full-time and Elaine Duvetter as probably three-quarters to nine-tenths to 99-tenths as we grew, and now, before the end of 2024, we'll be probably 20-plus employees of the Community Foundation of 2024, we'll be probably 20 plus employees of the community foundation.
Speaker 1:When you take a look back at everybody that's been involved over the years with the foundation, let's talk from the philanthropist point of view, how you became a holding company for a lot of trusts, and the significant one that seems to stand out most is probably the Goldstein. Foundation because that just really kind of propelled the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation to a whole new level, Right.
Speaker 2:So when the foundation was started, obviously it was grown on the generosity of local businesses and individuals, and so at about the 10-year mark in 2010, it had grown in assets to about $10 million, and so that was considered significant. At that point in time. We mentioned the GROW program. Subsequently, there was a GROW 1, GROW 2 program over those years, but in 2010, Jack Goldstein had passed away and as a part of that structure in his estate he left stock closely held stock to the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. Well, here again, Manhattan Community Foundation at that time and that stock resulted in about $21 million in asset value. Now, the significant part of that is that was twice as much as the Community Foundation had in assets.
Speaker 2:So the IRS rulings that would throw us into a private foundation stature, and so it was discussed, researched and decided to create a supporting organization and at the time it was called the Community Foundation of the Flint Hills, and so that supporting organization held the assets of the stock of the Goldstein gift and the dividends whatever that dividend determination was from the steel and pipe stock now SPS companies that determined how much was granted out of that based on that dividend price. So it created a nice granting program there and that stock that was given in 2010-ish for $21 million has now grown to an asset value of about $190 million. My goodness, yeah, it's been great. And the granting from that has certainly grown to support what was originally just kind of needs charitable needs originally just kind of needs, charitable needs. Now, with other grant programs, their focus has really been on capital projects where they can make a larger gift to make a more meaningful impact in the community.
Speaker 1:There have been a number of other gifts, foundations that have contributed greatly to the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation in the years since. And you look at all of these different things, they all have a different mission, a different motive too Right.
Speaker 2:Well, and probably the next big significant gift that we received was shortly after I arrived, had nothing to do with it, but it came from the estate of Lincoln and Dorothy Deal.
Speaker 2:Lincoln and Dorothy were faculty members at Kansas State, never had any children. Members at Kansas State never had any children and they just had a love for the arts, the community members, those in need and certainly youth. Since they didn't have kids, they had an affinity there and so they started some funds here at the Community Foundation and I would go back today and it was kind of a test case for them. One was an endowed fund for Beach Museum. They really enjoyed the arts and so it was a small endowed fund for them. And then another one just for kind of basic human needs that they could kind of give from Much like a donor advised fund million from their estate that was left to the community foundation. Now that, with our 4% spending policy, has resulted in nearly $600,000 a year going to arts, basic human needs and youth programs, which was tremendous, you know that will live in perpetuity and has changed the art world of the Manhattan community for a long time. You can see it all over.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think it's a symbol of pride for our community to be able to drive down points or Lee Elementary and seeing some of this great stuff that we have. You know, sculptures talk about what's been popped up at the Douglas Center, right, just different things like that, and they may not seem really really big, but they are.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, and we, because of this gift, we created as part of our trustee program here a trustee committee that is involving community arts and humanities. Even yesterday, we were just talking about challenging them to think big. Where do we want art in town? What's our impressions when people drive into this town? We would like to pay tribute to Lincoln and Dorothy Deal's trust in us by creating Manhattan as one of the most well-known, if not the most well-known, community of art in Kansas. We're not there yet, but we're going to do our best every year to create a significant amount of meaningful art in the community and to say thanks to Lincoln and Dorothy.
Speaker 1:There are a lot of things that have happened in Manhattan over the last 25 years even before that, with a resurgence of the university athletics and what we're seeing in Manhattan now. I mean it's just the whole community has a different perspective now, people that live here. It's just like there's a greater sense of pride and a wonderful synergy. It's just like man. I live in Manhattan and this place is just getting more and more cool all the time.
Speaker 2:Well, and we would like to hope that the Community Foundation which, after we took on a couple of affiliates Dover and Frankfurt in the the early 2000,. Our name changed to the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation and we would like to think we've been a part of that energy that's a change agent in Manhattan, and one of those change agents was in 2013,. We had our first Grow Green Match Day. The match days were a new element in Kansas. We actually kind of took our lead from Hutchison and Salina. They had those before us and Salina called theirs the March Madness, and so we went with Earth Day and called ours Grow Green.
Speaker 2:And Phil Howe, who is certainly a significant image in the minds of Manhattanites, was our first match donor. He gave $40,000 in a 50 cents on a dollar match. We raised $100,000 that day, so it was $140,000 matching day. He took the cap off of it, so the next year it was 50 cents on the dollar for all gifts. So the first year we had 26 funds in match day. Last year, in our 2023 match day, we had 97 funds and with his gift we raised over $2 million and his gift was $470,000 on the match. There are some caps placed on the side, but it's a long way from $100,000 to $2 million, and it is all because of the generosity of Phil Howe, and I know Phil's a significant man not just in the community but also to you personally.
Speaker 1:What would he say about how Grow Green Match Day has grown since its inception?
Speaker 2:Well, he obviously viewed all of the growth having just passed, but it was a pride point to him because he inspired others to give to that day in ways that he was inspired every day. Phil wanted to make a difference. He was very grateful to the community where it allowed him to have wealth and have discretionary funds to give away and he wanted to give back and I've shared. Often I had to be careful when I talked to Phil about the needs of the community. He always asked me what are the needs? What do we need to help burn, what do we need to do? And I had to be careful about sharing everything because he always wanted to help, always wanted to do it, and I said, phil, other people can do this too. You can't be the only one that has the fun. And we joked a lot. But the man had a real love for this community and the people in the community and he wanted to make a difference and he wanted to give back, to say thanks. And it was fun knowing Phil professionally, personally and in many ways.
Speaker 1:You know, you look back at some of those people. You know we reflect now on the Goldsteins and you talked about the deals, and now Phil, and there are many, many others. But there are so many people that had such a passion for the community, a passion for people in need, but also had great vision that they brought along. And I think that's one of the things that when you think back 25 years ago the vision that Jim, jim and Mark had they couldn't have imagined where the foundation is today. But there's a lot of vision, a lot of application of ideas Well, and to keep following our timeline.
Speaker 2:In 2020, we were at a point in time where we were 20 years old and we were close to $100 million. At that time, software company working with government programs, they established a nice-sized donor-advised fund and that year, at our annual meeting and Community Foundation Awards event, we were able to announce the 20-year mark. We reached over $100 million through their gift, and so in 10 years, we had reached $10 million and Jack's gift took us to the $30 million mark. In 20 years, we reached $100 million. We were starting to catch some steam and so, obviously, in our 25th annual meeting, we announced that we had an asset total of $367 million. So the engine is moving quickly and $400 is not far away. We're excited about the differences we could make, and part of that is obviously we've talked to partners a little bit earlier. We now have 19 communities that we partner with and three school foundations that we partner with as well.
Speaker 1:And that all obviously contributes to the growth, but they all have their own vision. Right, they're taking some of the aspects that we've witnessed here Right, we've been a part of here and applying it in their own communities, and that's a high honor to be able to say that.
Speaker 2:It is. We give a great appreciation and thanks and we're humbled to be able to work with them in those communities. They have a board. They don't have staff. We are their staff for them.
Speaker 2:This year, for the first time, thanks to the Patterson Family Foundation, they offered capacity building grants. So four of our community foundations received three-year capacity building grants. Now what that does is allows us to have staff in those four communities and so for three years they'll pay for those staff on a full-time basis. After three years the community will have to then step up through their growth and take care of those individuals or we'll have to backstop it on our end, which we've prepared for that process. But those 19 communities encompass $55 million of those $367 million in assets that we have. There will be a day in the not-for-long future where, collectively, our communities in our partner program will equal the assets that we have in Manhattan. So if you can figure the 300 plus million that we have in Manhattan combined with another 300 million in those communities, you know now you're talking to 600 million and of course we're not stopping our growth. So to say, the billion dollar mark is certainly approachable, absolutely.
Speaker 1:I think it was about 12 years ago, you asked me to get together for lunch at the Chef Cafe and you shared this concept that you had about recognizing people in the community and what would eventually become the Community Foundation Awards the CFAs and from my perspective and A it's a high honor for me to be able to have served as host or MC for that event every year, but it is one of the great events in this town because we share stories that a lot of people aren't familiar with. We recognize people that are highly deserving, and I think that it has created greater awareness for the community foundation. Along with Grow Green Match Day, it has helped propel us to the level where we are today.
Speaker 2:Well, that's very true. In the early days we didn't have much marketing money. We wore our billboards on our chest and were active and involved in the community. And you're right, even when I was at the K-State Foundation, I had a vision of thanking the community for their time, talent and treasure. But the time element didn't allow me to do that, and so when I accepted this role in 2013, it was certainly something that kind of rekindled itself. So I knew I need to have a location. So I reached out to the Hilton and a good Dickinson County girl named Jill Mason was there. I knew I needed an emcee and you were a longstanding voice of Manhattan and also a Dickinson County boy.
Speaker 1:We're starting to run out of Dickinson County people to get engaged in this.
Speaker 2:We're starting to run out of Dickinson County people to get engaged in this and I knew I needed to have somebody with a technology vision. And Blade Mages, who I had recently met as a young man he wasn't Dickinson County but he was at Kansan, was in mine, and so we got together and we just started envisioning how can we celebrate the time, talent and treasure of the Manhattan individuals. And so the concept of creating a Emmys, espys, grammys kind of event so that we could tell stories and educate people. And this came about because even in our annual meetings of the Community Foundation you'd have less than 100 there. A nonprofit would have probably less than 50 at something, and we had so much to tell and I thought, well, we got to get them all in the room at the same time.
Speaker 2:So this event has grown to 600 people on a regular basis and we tell stories that nobody has heard about. We surprise people, we inspire people, we thank people. Even you on our morning show that we have. The two best words that I can ever share any evening is thank you, and that event has allowed us to thank people and bring them together and share week that is a prominent community member and share with you that I had no idea that such and such was going on in this town, and I've lived here all my life and that's pretty gratifying that we can share those stories.
Speaker 1:We look back at a lot of different things the financial aspect, the number of grants that have been made available to hundreds and hundreds of organizations. There's also a different aspect about the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. Not only has the foundation been highly involved in getting monies from those that have the capacity to share their treasures to the people that need that assistance. Join us in our next episode of Philanthropy Today as we continue our conversation with Vern Hendricks covering 25 years of the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. Thank you for joining us for Philanthropy Today, an inside look at the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. You can always learn more about the GMCF at our website, mcfksorg. We also invite you to subscribe to Philanthropy Today on Apple, spotify, amazon or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Dave Lewis. I'm proud to host Philanthropy Today. It's hosted and produced in the Ad Astor Cast Studios in downtown Manhattan, kansas.