Today, we chatted with GMCF's president and CEO, Vern Henricks. In the second of our two-part series, we discussed the community foundation's MHK Together Program initiated to combat the COVID business shutdown, GMCF's disaster relief fund, and the childcare and business accelerator.
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. There's a lot of content to talk about when it comes to looking back at 25 years of the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. Now, when it comes to looking back at 25 years of the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation, we had a wonderful opportunity to visit together Vern, and here we are now moving into a second part of our discussion.
Speaker 2:Indeed, the 25 years is a lot to share and it's hard to do in one sit down, but we are very grateful to the community and we want them to know everything that we've done, and it's great to have another session to be able to keep people updated.
Speaker 1:We became problem solvers around here and one of the significant things started with a flood.
Speaker 2:Ironically, we have a community foundation conference in Kansas every year and the discussion of disaster relief kind of came up one year.
Speaker 2:The discussion of disaster relief kind of came up one year and Elaine, who was our grants administrator here, said you know, we need to really prepare for a disaster in some way, shape or form. And so we reached out to the deal committee and they funded $50,000 to put into a fund, a ready fund. Didn't know what it was going to be used or when it was going to be used, but they allocated $50,000 for a disaster recovery fund. Well, the transition had barely happened and we had a flood and Elaine kicked it into gear. And so the things that we were able to do immediately for those victims and Elaine's time and working with the local disaster response team, what they asked her to do, was just terrific and it really placed the importance of the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. We have used that now a couple times, we've replenished it and we've used it a couple times, which has been great. But if the Community Foundation wasn't here, if the Lincoln and Dorsey Deal funds weren't here, what would have happened and how long would it have taken to recover theirs? Mhk.
Speaker 1:Together was significant during the pandemic. Yes, A great story about how that came about. But here again you're solving problems and making sure that you have a disaster-type situation that you were able to find a way to get people, to get people some help that needed help.
Speaker 2:The key to any great success is food and friendship. The Friday, right after COVID hit, blade, who we talked about helping us with our Community Foundation Awards, called me and said Vern, we need to do something. I've got an idea. How about I grab you a Philly cheesesteak sandwich, which he knew I liked, and why don't you meet me at my house?
Speaker 2:And so I went over to his house so we ate and talked and dreamed and thought and dreamed and talked and ate, and before you know it, I said Blade, I think I can get us $100,000 next week. He said, vern, I can have a package put together based on what we talked about by the weekend. And he went to work that weekend getting some software put together so that we could match up a gift card and charitable causes to support individuals and businesses and charities. And so by the Thursday not even a week, but by the Thursday, six days later we launched MHK together. At that time I had already assembled just a little over $200,000, which eventually grew to $270,000 from seven donors. They were calling me to be a part of this process Now how cool is that.
Speaker 2:That is pretty cool. But Blade had set up a software package so that when an individual because all the restaurants were closed at that time and so they didn't have money to pay their employees to pay their bills. And so we said, how do we inspire people to buy gift cards? People couldn't eat there at that time, so we inspired them to buy gift cards so that the businesses could have money. Then we did it through this software program and then we transferred the money to the restaurants or the businesses and then we also inspired them to buy the gift cards through a gift to a charitable cause that was supporting the needs of the employees that couldn't go to work, because a lot of them were hourly employees and they had bills at home to pay as well. And so we raised $270,000 to inspire $270,000 in gift card purchases, and so the impact was well over a half million dollars. And you know that all came about because Blade had an idea and knew a need and really because he bought me a Philly cheesesteak sandwich.
Speaker 2:So he bought you he bought me, wow, but it was a great and and, yeah, the. We had funds here that stepped up and we had individual philanthropists in the community stepped up to make that all happen.
Speaker 1:You know we talk about problem solving and let's step up a couple of years the Child Care Accelerator and also now Foundation for Manhattan Parks and Recreation. Here we have challenges that the community is facing Obviously there's been a child care shortage for who knows how long and to take some initiative and getting organizations to come into play and help build something significant. I think it says a lot about the direction of we're not just accepting monies from organizations and from people and distributing grants, but we're solving problems for our community.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a couple years ago the Manhattan Park and Rec program was struggling financially a little bit and they were having to make some tough decisions about programming. Could they afford to run certain programs? And anytime you're dealing with youth, that gets the attention of parents who want their kids involved in things and want them to participate in things that they had as a youth that they felt meaningful. So the chamber had a discussion group and said, hey, we need to do something. And reached out to us and what can we do? And that led to lots of discussions and the establishment of the Manhattan Park and Rec Foundation Fund in the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. And what that fund is for is to support the needs of youth and those families that can't afford the newly structured park programs and any fees that they may have to charge. And so we were happy to step up and help facilitate that process. It'll be an ongoing thing forever that will provide financial support to youth.
Speaker 2:The child care initiative is a bigger one. Several years we've all gone to the Flint Hills Leadership Retreat where we talk about issues what can we do to help Manhattan grow, prosper and be more meaningful? And always child care has been brought up. How do we retain young professionals, recruit young professionals, attract businesses to move to Manhattan to hire individuals? Well, child care was always part of the discussion, and the chamber again decided that hey, we need to do something.
Speaker 2:After COVID, there's a lot of funds that were available SPARC funds, some federal grants. Child care became an emphasis and so we became the point of applying as a 501c3, applying for those funds, and so we now are in the early stages of creating Flint Hills Community Accelerator that will encompass a child care business accelerator. So not only will it do child care, but it'll combine the efforts of the Manhattan Freed Clinic, the Heartland Works Employment Services and Manhattan Area Technical College's testing services as a part of this project, and so we're very excited about it. It's got an opening date projected of third quarter, 25. And so we're anxiously moving in that direction.
Speaker 1:We talk about problem solving. There's a lot of things and a lot of the problem solving is A listening, but also B communicating with the community, and a number of things that have happened over the last several years that include me, and that is the communication through the program that we have on NewsRadio KMAN every Monday morning. Then also the podcasts that we have been doing, and I'm grateful to have been a part of that. But you know, this ability to communicate with everybody and having that access to information about not just what is done here with the community foundation or at the community foundation, but also what a lot of the nonprofits are doing, and it has really, I think, added a lot of energy to the nonprofits that they feel that they have a partnership with with the Community Foundation, and I think that that's really significant for all of the ventures that they're involved in.
Speaker 2:We never want it to be about us.
Speaker 2:We are certainly a facilitator of funds, going from those with philanthropic abilities to those that have charitable needs.
Speaker 2:We're a matchmaker, and to tell the stories in a meaningful way can only be done best by those who are serving the charitable needs. And so when the opportunity came up for us to have a Monday morning radio show called the GMCF Community Hour, it was a nice opportunity to bring on board our nonprofits so that they had a voice every week that they could use as their platform. If we're going to enjoy it a little bit for ourselves, let's share that enjoyment with the others. And so we structured it, with you and I giving a little GMCF update at the beginning. We have two nonprofit groups that speak during the day and share their updates and then kind of close it with what's happening this week with our charitable community. And so it's become very well known and listened to, certainly by those that are interested in the Manhattan community and how they can make a difference, so excited about that and you never know if somebody's listening we hear about it, we hear about it when we go to other events.
Speaker 2:That's been cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of fun for a couple of Dickinson County boys being on the radio together, huh.
Speaker 2:And then you mentioned the podcast. That was just the never-ending evolution of media. Podcasts become the thing. And so, hey, we're in the philanthropic business, why not us? And so here again, an opportunity, just like we've done with our last series of past presidents and chairs, now moving forward to our 25-anniversary awardees, to the recap that we're doing today just to share the story so people know about the Community Foundation and what we do to help make a difference, and we're excited about that and we hope people listen to us.
Speaker 1:Well, we know that they listen to us and I know that we talk about all the different stories that we've touched base on here, the organizations that have been created because of the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation I'm thinking Fairy Godmothers, the Guardians and all the other funds. Think about all the different other communities that have come under a partnership umbrella. It's a wonderful book to share. There are so many different chapters.
Speaker 2:Every year, our annual report tells that story, and last year we gave away nearly $26 million to charitable needs, and that started with a year of assets around $200 million. That grew to $367 million. So you add that 67 with another 26, you're approaching a $100 billion asset growth or impact year, and so, even though we've grown to $367 million, the amount of money that we've given away to charitable purpose is significant and, as an example, in 2013, we reached giving away or distributing a million dollars for the first time. So that's from 13 to 23, moved to 26 million and continues to grow.
Speaker 1:Well, I know that you had made a comment about this earlier. If you could encapsulate in just a few words what those words may be to share with the community, to share with the people that are involved from the very beginning to where the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation is in 2024 and the future, and those words are thank you.
Speaker 2:It never ends with a thank you, but it never begins without one. It never ends with a thank you, but it never begins without one, and all we can say here through the Community Foundation is really thank everyone for their support of our efforts. The staff do a great job here. We love working, we love to make an impact, we love to satisfy the needs of the community. We're here to answer the call whenever the community feels like we are the right people to help out, and we hope in the next 25 years we can do a lot more, and so we thank everybody for listening and we stay tuned. There's more to come.
Speaker 1: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 Astra Cast Studios in downtown Manhattan, kansas.