YES! Fund Campaign 2026 on the GMCF Community Hour Show Episode - 317

We talk with Dr. Sarah Barrett about the YES! Fund and how a community-funded grant model builds safe, engaging after-school programs for youth across Manhattan. We trace the fund’s roots back to the 1993 flood, the moment local leaders listened to young people, and how that choice has led to more than $6.3 million in support over 30 years.
• what the Yes Fund is and what “YES” stands for
• why youth engagement matters outside school hours
• how the 1993 flood recovery shaped youth priorities
• examples of programs funded, from sports to leadership to creative exploration
• how the Yes Fund differs from other GMCF grants through community donations and matching
• the Kansas State University College of Education partnership and why it matters
• results to date and what the funding makes possible for local kids

Folks can contribute to the Yes Fund throughout the year, but our 2026 campaign begins on July 12th, and that will run through September 7th. Folks can send a check to GMCF, P.O. Box1127, Manhattan, Kansas, 66505, or donate directly at mcfks.org at the YES! Fund tab, and check the Manhattan Mercury each week for donor names and program stories.

GMCF

CFAs

Transcript

Sponsor And Segment Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. In this episode, we feature a recently broadcast segment of the GMCF Community Hour, as heard on News Radio KMAN.

Welcome And Light Studio Banter

SPEAKER_00 0:13

We are back with the GMCF Community Hour here on News Radio KMAN. We're going to talk about the Yes Fund with Dr. Sarah Barrett. She is the GMCF VP for Impact Strategy and Grant Programs.

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Talk about a mouthful.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

I thought it was 16.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

Down to four. And I have all of the words. Does DMCF count as one?

SPEAKER_00 0:40

I mean that's four syllables and four letters.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Round up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

And then VP, that's six syllables and six letters. So um seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen syllables altogether in that title.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

I know. How are you?

SPEAKER_02 0:57

I'm doing well.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

You're looking great.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

It's nice to be here.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

You always bring such joy to the place. Wow. Thank you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

I have a face for radio. But I I love being here. It's really, it's really a nice way to start your weekend.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

You know, it it's it's it's the funnest part of the job that you do is to come in here and sit in with Dave and talk about your work.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

It might be a tie. It might be a tie. There's some pretty fun parts to my job.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Okay, I won't take that personally.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

I'll tell you more about it next week. Spoiler alert. I will be here two weeks in a row. Boom. Let me just tell you. Let me just tell you. Vern is out and about. And so the A-team? Are we the A Team? We're the 18 filling in for here.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

You're the backfield.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

And so I will be here two weeks in a row. Next week I will share a little bit more about all the fun that I'm doing. Uh huh. Spoiler alert. It has to do with reporting and research.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Oh, that just sounds like so much fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

That's the kind of fun idea.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

I can't imagine a greater joy.

SPEAKER_02 2:02

You know? Get ready. So prepare yourself. That will be post-firework. So we'll see how you're doing if you're recovered.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

You got uh plans for the fourth?

Fourth Of July And Small-Town Pride

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Not at all. So I used to live in Wamega, and we actually lived on Pine Street. So you're right there. We were right there. Yeah in all of the fun. And you know what? I think I've had my fair shape. You had your fill? Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

And I know that they've ramped it up a little bit for the 250th. So my wife and I, my newlywed wife and I have not been there together. And the our Ukrainian family, extended family, um we're all going over there. So we're really looking forward to that. One of my best friends is going to be in town. He's from Wamigo. And and I I you know just love Wamigo. What they do over there is just hens. It's a great town, right?

SPEAKER_02 2:58

When people think of a place where they want to be. I mean, Manhattan's pretty darn great, too.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

But Wamigo, there's something special about it. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

That small town charm. Yeah. And you know, the the you know, that's a great example. And and they they don't do things the wrong way. But um I lived there for a year back in the eighties, and uh just it's always gonna be a special place for me.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

But um, you know, the what they do and and I don't know if you were there when they had their match day, but it's just a sensational experience. And you know, that that's a community that that loves their community and invests in it.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

So indeed.

What The Yes Fund Does

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Good segue to what we're talking about today.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

I was just gonna make that segue.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

Wow. The S Fund. Community coming together around a need. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

That's what we do with the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. Or I guess I should say that's what you guys do.

SPEAKER_02 3:51

Aaron Powell That's what I get the pleasure of doing every day, day in and day out. And so as we think about what's coming up, so a lot of folks might think, oh, granting. Granting stops over the summer, right? But in the same way we think about um, you know, students learning and education and things continuing on, granting doesn't stop for the summer, it just looks a little bit different at GMCF. And one of the granting programs that we have is the Yes Fund. And so the Yes Fund is a longstanding uh initiative or campaign, and it's really designed to provide support for high-quality, safe, and engaging programs for youth across our community. And so these programs are happening in non-school hours. So, you know, just in the same way we were just talking about how important it is for our kiddos to show up and to have engaging and um really uh, you know, important interactions during the school time, during our the school day, we know that it's also important to have that level of engagement outside of the school hours as well. And so the Yes Fund is a wonderful initiative that helps support that programming. And the yes fund, little known fact, do you know what yes stands for with the yes fund?

SPEAKER_00 5:11

Youth empowering success. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

You nailed it.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Is that what it is?

SPEAKER_02 5:16

Youth empowerment and success.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

I may have heard that once.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Exclamation point. Exclamation point. Oh, I forgot that. You know, and really it's because the program's mission is to empower youth by offering these structured activities and to foster personal growth, um, confidence, and community engagement. So all of those things coming together under one umbrella.

The 1993 Flood And The Origin

SPEAKER_00 5:39

So this has got uh over 30-year history. Started back in the um early 90s. Um the McCormick Foundation, you know, and this is kind of an outreach of some of the things that happened before your time in the 93 flood.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

And um, you know, this is a Chicago-based entity that embraced us and and with the the Seton family and the expansion of that into, you know, a lot of K-State educators and a lot of folks came together to make this a thing.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

To help kids. Yeah. You know, and when I lived here in the 80s, I had this mindset that this just wasn't a community that did enough for its kids. But that has changed. Aaron Ross Powell, Jr.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

It has changed.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Trevor Burrus And you know, things like the Yes Fund have been instrumental in in making that change happen. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

I think that sentiment that you had back in the 80s was pretty representative of what was going on in the community. So kind of going back to that timeline, you talk about the 90s, there was a lot going on that summer in 1993. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

I still have nightmares.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

Right. Right. Well, I mean, I think, especially as you talk about the flood, right? Like that was really impactful for the community. So from May through August, Manhattan received, I think it was 42 inches of rain. When you think about normally, we're sitting around eight inches on average for the year. And so by any Midwestern metric, right, like 42 is a lot. And so there were a lot of different impacts that happened across the community as part of that flooding through infrastructure, um, to the workforce. But as part of some of that recovery, there were these listening sessions that were taking place. And something that came out time and time again in those conversations was that young people really felt disconnected from the community and they didn't feel like this was a place that they wanted to stay after graduation. They wanted to leave as soon as possible. And I think hearing that and recognizing what that meant, right, for the future of our community and for the future of our our young people. Um, what needed to happen for the community to be a place where these folks felt like they could stay here, that they could build a life here, and that they were wanted here. And so kind of going back to what the Yes Fund represents and what their mission was, it was really to ensure that these programs that were taking place in the community for youth outside of the school day really could help them discover new interests, to strengthen their academic success in the classroom, and then to build confidence and to develop some of those leadership skills that they would be able to leverage as they became young professionals in in our community. So, you know, as we think about the kind of timeline, yeah, over 30 years. And so there's so much impact that has happened in that time span, but it probably feels like just yesterday, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:46

Like I said, there are a lot of nightmares about 93, but uh, you know, this is one of the great things that came out of that. Um let's talk a bit about the yes fund itself and some of the programs that the the proceeds have helped

After-School Programs Youth Actually Use

SPEAKER_00 9:00

fund.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Yeah. So the primary focus is for after school program, but sometimes that can also look like an before school program for uh some of our kiddos. And really they span the continuum, right? So we might be looking at sports, and that can range from anywhere between, you know, volleyball camps and and golf clinics and basketball, swimming, even soccer. So shout out to our uh World Cup Hopefuls or the young crew. But it's also programs that are focused on volunteering and community service, as well as youth leadership, and then also creative exploration and hands-on activity. So those kiddos continue to have that engagement, not just in the classroom, but outside of the classroom as well.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Aaron Ross Powell There is a difference with what you do with the Yes Fund as opposed to other grants, and this is your area of expertise, you know, dealing with grants, and you you have the great opportunity to to help a number of organizations. But let's talk a bit about the Yes Fund and how that's different from some of the grant programs that the Community Foundation offers.

Why This Grant Model Is Different

SPEAKER_02 10:08

Yes. So we have various different granting programs, and I'll talk once again uh about those next week. But really, the Yes Fund is a community-driven effort from top to bottom. And so if you think about our granting programs, really the Yes Fund Initiative is probably our first granting program that existed. And so instead of the grant funds coming from, say, like an endowment or a donor-advised fund, it's really um the creation of the community. So we have collective um funds that are generated through folks donating directly, so at the individual level, at the household level, and then we see that matched by various donors within the community, kind of similar to match day almost. And so really we see that starting, you know, from that individual gift, the collective um coming together, and then that match, but then also we have members of the community that sit on uh a committee. That committee is led by Dean Mercer in the College of Education at K-State, so kind of bringing that full circle. And then uh those funds are distributed to our community programs, those after school programs, and that really it's meant to uh continue to support our our young community, our our kiddo. So it's really kind of that full circle from that individual gift and then making its way to those individuals who hopefully are participating in those programs and building that self-confidence, um, finding that engagement in the community and making the decision to stay here and live in the community.

K-State Partnership And Community Momentum

SPEAKER_00 11:39

One of the things that I think is that makes this so unique is that collaboration you have with the Kansas State University Department of Education. You know, and that started years ago. I know Dean Mike Holand, um late great Mike Holand was so instrumental in doing a lot of those uh, you know, kind of boosting this. And and this is a wonderful collaboration that benefits not just the kids, but those also at K-State and the education department and those students.

SPEAKER_02 12:08

Indeed, yeah. So um you really find that kind of cross-collaboration and then, you know, that town and gown uh connection as well, because you know, Manhattan would not be Manhattan had it not been for a case at Kansas State University and and the interactions that we have with the university. And so it's so important for us to maintain that connection for our um future educators. So uh the folks who are going to be in the classroom, the folks that are engaging and and working with students outside of the classroom as part of some of these um organizations that are um overseeing the after school programming, but really making that connection back to ultimately ensuring that our students are engaging, learning, and fostering that community spirit.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

But this is a fun deal.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

It is. It is it is. It's been fun. We've enjoyed um, you know, each year uh the program has um gained momentum, it's grown. Um, and you know, we've enjoyed working with our folks at the College of Education, all of the organizations that are engaging in this um after school programming. And to date, we have awarded over 6.3 million dollars through the Yes Fund. So um we know that these funding or these funds are going directly to ensuring that our community um youth are are um in programs where they can thrive and really be successful. And so we know that these investments help strengthen programs across our community, but really more importantly, helping countless individuals really see Manhattan as a place where they want to be, where they belong, and where they can build their future.

Campaign Dates And How To Donate

SPEAKER_02 13:55

So uh as a reminder, as we kind of think about next steps, folks can contribute to the Yes Fund throughout the year, but our 2026 campaign begins on July 12th, and that will run through September 7th. And so folks can check out their Manhattan Mercury. So every week we will put a uh full page in the Manhattan Mercury, and then folks can kind of cut out that bottom strip there, get their scissors out and cut that. And if they'd like to, they can send a check directly to our P.O. box. So GMCF, P.O. Box1127, Manhattan, Kansas, 66505, or donate directly at mcfks.org at the you the yes fund tab. So they can look out for all the names of folks that are donating on a weekly basis. And we also have highlighted stories of our programs that are taking place year in and year out. So if you want to read more about all the different types of activities and the impact that we're having in the community, make sure to check out your Mercury each week.

Wrap-Up And Next Week Preview

SPEAKER_00 15:01

All right. Sounds great. Well, looking forward to that. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. Thanks for bringing the joy and following up with Shane.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

I mean uh hard act to follow, but not that bad. We shall see next week. Next week. We shall see.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

What are we talking about next week?

SPEAKER_02 15:18

All types of stuff. All the fun. All right. Granting, reporting. All right. Just bring the joy. That's that's it. That's what I'm here for.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

She's Dr. Sarah Barrett, uh, the GMCF VP for Impact Strategy and Grant Programs. 16 syllables.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

Excellent.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

It's a lot on a business card, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 15:36

Just enough.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

Talking about the yes fund. When we come back, Jane is going to be taking the seat behind the microphone, and we're going to talk about some things that are coming up in the near future and give you a preview of next week's program as well on the GMCF Community Hour that we do every Monday morning at nine here on News Radio KMAN.