News & Event
Please click here to watch our investment update!
The Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area is the steward of more than $80 million in philanthropic assets. We are host to more than 650 philanthropic funds including our Community’s Endowment and donor service funds. During this time of financial uncertainty and deep crises, the stewardship of our community’s philanthropic capital entrusted to us is paramount. In a recent webinar, Jim Wiersma, chair of the CFHZ Investment Committee discussed CFHZ’s investment policy and governance process. CFHZ’s investment consultant, NEPC, provided a brief market update and detailed profile and performance update of our main investment portfolio which houses our Community’s Endowment assets and the majority of our donor service funds.
Our thanks to the following contributors:
James Wiersma President Family Investment and Resource Management LLC CFHZ Trustee and Chair of Investment Committee Catherine Konicki, CFA, CAIA Partner NEPC Michael Valchine, CAIA, CIPM Principal, Senior Consultant NEPC
Listen Here
Topics covered in this webinar included:
CFHZ was founded in 1951 because our founders believed there would always be challenges and opportunities in our community, and that it would be wise, and important, to build a permanent flexible endowment to ensure we had the resources to respond. It is thanks to our founders, and the trust of thousands of individuals, families and companies who have partnered with CFHZ and contributed to our Community’s Endowment over the past 70 years, that CFHZ had the infrastructure, leadership, resources, and relationships to respond swiftly and meaningfully to the challenges of 2020.
In our community update, we discussed what we are hearing from our nonprofit partners in the community, how local philanthropy found its niche to complement state and federal resources, and how funders, nonprofit and government agencies collaborated to develop strategy to achieve the greatest impact.
The Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area’s (CFHZ’s) Line of Credit (LOC) Guarantee Program allows nonprofit organizations that are tax exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, are serving a charitable purpose in the greater Holland/Zeeland area, and had a 2019 operating budget in excess of $500,000 to apply to have a CFHZ guaranteed line of credit established through West Michigan Community Bank.
CFHZ’s Line of Credit Guarantee Program has a total cap of $2 million, so we anticipate being able to partner with 10-15 nonprofits through this program. Please note – as with CFHZ’s competitive grantmaking program, religious organizations that advocate specific religious doctrines through their programs, or do not serve the broader community, are not eligible.
Those nonprofit organizations accepted into this program by CFHZ will then be connected to West Michigan Community Bank (WMCB) to establish their line of credit account. Since CFHZ is guaranteeing this line of credit, the nonprofit will not have to put forward any collateral, nor will the nonprofit go through a traditional underwriting process.
In addition to guaranteeing the LOC, CFHZ will provide reimbursement to the nonprofit for all interest that the nonprofit has paid on the LOC during the first 2 years, up to 4% per year. During the third year that the LOC is open (third year is open for repayment only), CFHZ will not be reimbursing interest costs paid by the nonprofit. Here are some additional details on how the interest reimbursement will work:
CFHZ has been listening to our partners as they describe the significant cash flow challenges being experienced so suddenly due to loss of revenue and increased demand for services during this pandemic crisis. We have heard that significant decisions need to be made quickly, and without a lot of clarity as to what the next 3-12 months are going to look like.
In response, we are launching this new program as a way to further leverage our Community’s Endowment assets to support some of our mid-to-large nonprofit partners and preserve critical community capacity in this time of extraordinary need.
Here is what we hope the program will accomplish:
We understand that this is likely not going to prevent nonprofits from having to make tough choices down the road, as this isn’t grant money, but it will hopefully provide nonprofits the gift of time to make those choices and the option of choosing to spread the difficult decisions out over a multi-year period.
We also acknowledge that by only allowing nonprofit organizations with budgets over $500,000 to apply for this program that this tool is for a limited portion of our nonprofit sector. We recognize that many of our smaller nonprofit organizations are doing very important and critical work as well and want to be clear that this particular program is only one tool in our toolbox.
In addition to this LOC guarantee program, we are utilizing the Emergency Human Needs Fund to deploy capital over a six-week period to organizations providing emergency basic needs services, and we will be re-working our competitive grantmaking strategy for the remainder of 2020. We anticipate our new competitive grantmaking framework and process to be announced in June when we have a better sense of how the federal stimulus funds have supported our community members in need and our nonprofit partners.
Please note – participating in this Line of Credit Guarantee program does not preclude an organization from receiving a grant from CFHZ. This is an entirely different process and tool.
Applications will be reviewed by a joint taskforce of CFHZ Distribution Committee and Program Related Investment (PRI) Committee members with support from CFHZ staff. The review committee will be choosing organizations based on the following priorities:
Step 1: Submit your CFHZ line of credit guarantee program application via the following link by April 24, 2020:
You can use this PDF as a worksheet to view all questions in preparation for submitting the application form online.
The PDF worksheet shows you the “word count” limits for each question, but you do not need to use all the words, and lists are fine. In addition to the PDF worksheet that shows the “open ended” questions in the application, you will also be asked to submit attachments as follows:
LOC GUARANTEE PROGRAM APPLICATION
Step 2: CFHZ will reach out to the contact listed for your organization as close to May 4 as possible with our final decision as to whether your nonprofit has been accepted into the program. We may reach out to you ahead of this date if additional information is needed alongside your application.
Step 3: If your nonprofit is approved to be included in this program, CFHZ will provide your organization it’s Line of Credit dollar approval limit, and will connect you to West Michigan Community Bank in order to establish your line of credit account via a separate application (which will NOT involve collateral or underwriting).
Step 4: At that point, any ongoing communication and reporting requirements will be between the nonprofit organization and their assigned contact at West Michigan Community Bank, with CFHZ being involved only in reimbursing interest every 12 months for the first two years.
Unlike our competitive grant program, you do not need to contact CFHZ prior to completing this Line of Credit Guarantee application. However, if you do have additional questions about the program or application, please contact Mike Goorhouse at mgoorhouse@cfhz.org or 616-994-8855.
We've made the difficult decision to cancel our 2020 Annual Luncheon, previously scheduled for Thursday, May 21. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to evolve, and it's our responsibility to keep public health at the forefront of our decisions. Until we can gather together again, we'll be sharing digital updates on our work in the community.
For any additional questions about this event cancellation, please contact Jessica Lynch at jlynch@cfhz.org
The Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area’s Board of Trustees recently elected three new members. Lucia Rios, Tom DenHerder, and Ryan Lindberg were all elected during the Board’s annual meeting held on May 28.
Lucia Rios is the Resource Navigator for The SOURCE stationed at Herman Miller and is a freelance writer. A West Michigan native, she has worked in the nonprofit sector for over 15 years and is an advocate for disability inclusion. Lucia also serves on the Community Foundation’s distribution committee.
Tom DenHerder is the President/CEO of Yacht Basin Marina. He currently also serves on the Zeeland Public School Board of Education, the Zeeland Education Foundation Board, Chemical Bank Holland Community Board, and the Community Foundation’s investment committee. State-wide he serves on the Michigan Boating Industries Association Board.
Ryan Lindberg is a senior at Holland Christian High School and serves as the Board's youth trustee. He has been a member of Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) since 2016 and will serve as Chair of YAC for the 2019–2020 school year. In addition to YAC, Ryan participates in soccer, is a member of the Michigan Community Foundations Youth Project, the Holland Youth Advisory Council, and currently holds an internship at Lakeshore Advantage.
The Board of Trustees of the Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area elected a new slate of officers during its annual meeting held on May 28, 2019. Elected as Board Chair is Leslie Brown, Chairman of the Board at Metal Flow Corporation, Brown succeeds Bret Docter, who held the position of Chair in 2018. Brown served as Chair-Elect to Docter for the past year and Jim Bishop will be the new Chair-Elect.
Leslie Brown joined the Board in spring of 2015 and is owner and Chairman of the Board of Metal Flow Corporation in Holland. She has served as the past Chair of the Board of Holland Hospital as well as serving on the boards of Talent 2025, West Coast Chamber of Commerce, Holland Historical Trust, West Michigan Community Bank and Harbor House Ministries.
Jim joined the Board in spring of 2014. A 37-year veteran of banking, in 2015, Jim joined West Michigan Community Bank and is Senior Vice President / Lakeshore Market Manager. Jim currently serves on the City of Holland Downtown Development Authority. Jim is a past board member of the Holland Area Arts Council, Holland Area Chamber of Commerce, Junior Achievement, Lakeshore 504, and a former trustee of the Muskegon Public Schools Board of Education. He also served as a charter member of the executive committee for the Ready for School Council.
Deborah Sterken will continue to serve as Secretary and Mark Harder will serve as Treasurer, and Bret Docter will become Past-Chair.
Dear Friends of the Foundation,
I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and are looking forward to a great year ahead.
I write to you today filled with gratitude and excitement. Over the last few years, you have heard me talk extensively about how the Community Foundation’s work is divided into two parts: building our Community’s Endowment and providing Donor Services.
From 2015–2017, we prioritized the Community’s Endowment side of our work as we engaged in our Today. Tomorrow. Forever. Campaign for our Community’s Endowment. With the momentum of some very generous matching donations, we spent a significant amount of time and energy elevating the important role that our Community’s Endowment plays in the long-term vitality of the Holland/Zeeland area. You all responded in amazingly generous ways that grew our Community’s Endowment by $5 million “Today” and our pipeline of “Tomorrow” estate gift commitments by more than $30 million.
With the campaign wrapped up and with the new Federal income tax law changes taking effect, in 2018 we prioritized the Donor Service side of our work. We spent time with companies, families and professional advisors highlighting the various tools we have to make giving as efficient and effective as possible. We were astounded and humbled by the deep generosity of many in our community as we received close to $20 million in contributions to Donor Service funds here at CFHZ. These gifts ranged in size from $25 to $7 million, and combined with nearly $1 million in gifts to our Community’s Endowment, led to CFHZ’s 2018 contributions totaling close to $21 million. That is more than double our previous high of $9.7 million!
These resources will impact many individuals and nonprofits in the Holland/Zeeland area, and we are honored that many of you chose to partner with CFHZ to help you best achieve your charitable goals.
For me, this record year says two things: 1. Our community is deeply generous and is committed to making a difference in the lives of others and 2. The hard work of so many staff and board members over the last 65 years has made the Community Foundation a trusted partner for many local families and companies.
Nothing inspires me more than having witnessed and felt these two things in profound ways over the last few months. It is a privilege to serve this organization and work with you all!
Strategic Planning:
Community Impact:
Events:
Publications:
There was much more that happened during the year, but the above list aggregates some of the highlights from my perspective.
It was an inspiring year here at CFHZ and I want to thank each of you for all that you have done, and continue to do, to partner with the Community Foundation to ensure that the Holland/Zeeland area thrives Today, Tomorrow and Forever.
With deep gratitude,
Mike
Each year, the Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area hosts an annual fall event to celebrate members of our community whose philanthropy is creating lasting positive change in our region. This event is an important opportunity to come together to support charitable giving and build awareness of our work to build our community’s endowment and help donors achieve their charitable goals.
This annual event brings together more than 600 community leaders and Foundation supporters for an evening of celebrating our community's generosity while enjoying grazing-style dining from a number of the area's best restaurants, bakeries, and caterers.
New Event Location
The 2019 event will be held at M.E. Yacht Restoration, 471 Howard Ave, Holland, Michigan 49424 Special thanks to the Evenhouse Family for generously donating the venue and being willing to host us!
Join the Foundation for a Celebration of Philanthropy, Ripples of Hope, at ME Yacht Restoration. Celebrate our community’s generosity while enjoying an evening of grazing featuring many of the area’s finest restaurants and live music.
The social hour with appetizers and cocktails will begin at 5:30pm. Dinner will be available at 6:00pm with program to follow at 7:30pm.
We strongly encourage guests to arrive as close to 5:30pm as possible to maximize time to connect with other attendees prior to the grazing-style dinner and the program.
Email Lina if you'd like a printed invite or additional invites mailed to you.
Event tickets are $150/person. 75% of the ticket cost is tax-deductible. Thanks to a generous sponsor, we offer a half-price discount to young professionals and first-time event attendees.
Table sponsorship pricing begins at $2,000 for a reserved table of 8 with table tent acknowledgment, and recognition on event program and website. (90% tax-deductible).
SEE ALL SPONSORSHIP LEVELS AND BENEFITS
Note: The name tag at the event entrance will serve as your ticket. There are no physical event tickets.
PURCHASE TICKETS ONLINE
Please RSVP by September 4th! RSVP to rsvp@cfhz.org
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