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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.
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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
The Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area is pleased to announce the awarding of 17 grants totaling $568,604 from the Community’s Endowment in 2019.
Outdoor Discovery Center - ecoSystem Education Network
Macatawa Area Coordinating Council - Creating a Green Infrastructure Vision for the Macatawa Watershed
Ladder Homes - Housing Capacity Expansion
Goodwill Industries of West Michigan - Holland/Zeeland Career Training Center
Beacon of Hope - Building Campaign
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 are pleased to announce the fourth round of grant distributions from the Community Stabilization Fund. An initial investment of $200,000 from our Community's Endowment, combined with the generous investments of local donors, allows us to assist in setting the stage for recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Community Stabilization Fund targets three priority areas that were identified in conversations with local nonprofit partners: financial stability, health, and education.
This month’s funding was focused on both of our Financial Stability strategies:
In preparation for each month’s decisions, our Community Impact staff and leadership team connects with the various nonprofit organizations striving to meet the needs within the strategy we have identified that month for investment. In September, we met with 23 organizations working to keep people from slipping into poverty and providing basic needs support.
In response to all that we learned and understand about the needs right now, the Community Stabilization Fund awarded $236,000 to thirteen organizations during the fourth round of grants.
to Increase Resource Navigation, Case Management, and Community Kitchen Capacity
Amount Awarded: $75,000
Community Action House (CAH) is one of our core safety net providers working to assist people who are struggling to meet their basic needs and to help ALICE households maintain stability. CAH is currently serving nearly three times the number of people they had in the past and 30-40% of people served each week are seeking help for the first time. This funding will assist CAH in increasing resource navigation capacity through additional staff and case management tools. It also provides supplies for the Community Kitchen, operating in partnership with Western Theological Seminary, to continue serving daily meals in a take-away format as necessitated by the pandemic.
for Food Assistance, Micro-Pantry Initiative, and Freezer Capacity
Amount Awarded: $20,000
Harvest Stand Ministries, located at City on a Hill Ministries, is the Zeeland hub for basic needs assistance. This grant will support their food assistance efforts which have stepped up in response to the pandemic as well as support a new creative partnership to bring a micro-pantry model to four local churches.
for their Food Pantry
Holland Rescue Mission is our community’s only homeless shelter and serves men, women, and children. A major source of food for the meals they serve their guests, the Postal Service Food Drive, was cancelled due to the pandemic. This grant will help fill the need for food that occurred as a result of the cancellation.
for the Sack Supper Program
Kids’ Food Basket (KFB) has been adapted quickly to different food distribution processes in partnership with local schools to ensure hungry students continue to receive healthy sack suppers. Childhood hunger is an increasing concern and sack suppers are a low barrier to access way to address this. Their services are targeted to area schools with the greatest numbers of vulnerable students.
for the Housing and Empowerment Fund
Housing is essential to preventing victims of domestic violence from slipping into poverty or returning to live with an abuser. This grant will help ensure Resilience has flexible dollars to combine with other available resources to reach stable and safe housing solutions for their clients.
for the Immigrant Relief Fund for Holland/Zeeland Area residents
This grant will provide flexible funds to help meet housing and other basic needs for many of our most vulnerable community members who did not receive any federal aid.
for Remote Renewal Services
Amount Awarded: $15,000
This program ensures that individuals can remain legally eligible to work by renewing their immigration status. This is essential for these individuals and their families to maintain their household income. Lapsing in status can have negative ripple effects on the household that greatly increase the likelihood of falling into poverty.
for Rental Assistance Expansion
Salvation Army is one of the key places local residents can turn to for rental assistance and many other basic needs agencies refer clients there for this purpose. This grant will be used to provide greater flexibility and increase the dollars available for this program.
for the Weekend Meal Program
Amount Awarded: $10,000
Hand2Hand’s (H2H) model of providing backpack meals for students to take home over the weekend has been well-suited to meet the challenges of the current service environment. As childhood hunger is increasing, these direct forms of support provided through schools are more important than ever. H2H’s services are broadly available to area schools whether they have a large or small number of students in need.
for Monthly Diaper Distributions to Community Partners
Nestlings provides diapers for Community Action House, Holland Rescue Mission, Resilience, Harvest Stand Ministries, and many more. Diapers are a significant expense for struggling families with small children and in high demand at area agencies. Centralized procurement and distribution through Nestlings allows all of the partner organizations to meet this need more efficiently.
for Mobile Food Pantries coordinated with Ottawa Community Schools Network
Amount Awarded: $5,000
Mobile Food Pantries are a valuable “tool in the toolbox” for our community to meet basic needs. Ottawa Community Schools Network coordinators play a pivotal role in organizing these mobile pantries, often hosted in school parking lots or other nearby sites. While many families of students are served, these mobile pantries are also available to the surrounding community and are a low barrier way for people in need to access assistance and well suited to the service delivery constraints of the pandemic.
for Beds, Cribs, Mattresses and Bedding
Amount Awarded: $3,000
DHHS is another hub for basic needs and their staff is highly adept at piecing together supports for families in need. In particular when they are helping a household with housing, beds, cribs, mattresses, and bedding are gaps they often struggle to fill with existing community resources. This grant will provide flexible funding to help address this unmet need.
for Winterizing/Repairs in partnership with Solid Rock Ministries
These two grassroots organizations in Zeeland are working together to help people who live in substandard housing make basic improvements to ensure they can stay safe and warm in their current homes.
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