GREATER KANSAS CITY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

You’ve reached that time in your life when you want to give back. Perhaps you feel strongly about a cause. Maybe one organization has touched your life or the life of a loved one. You might want to create a legacy or pass along your values to future generations.

Whatever your motivation for giving, the key to a rewarding experience is to fi nd the best fi t between your charitable dreams and fi nancial resources to achieve your goals.

This giving guide is designed to help you fi nd the best fi t as you answer, “What is important to me?”

becoming strategic with your giving

Giving away money is easy. Giving it away wisely is hard, but extremely satisfying work. Even small amounts of money, well placed, can matter. Effective and meaningful giving does not necessarily require great wealth or enormous funding initiatives – just thoughtfulness and planning.

The Giving Guide is a step-by-step discussion guide to lead you through exercises that help you: • Defi ne your values • Identify your interest areas • Create a mission statement • Make strategic decisions about your charitable giving

By aligning your charitable giving and volunteer work with your values, life experiences and interests, you can make a meaningful difference in the community.

”“TO ACHIEVE GREATNESS:

USE WHAT YOU HAVE,do what you can.start where you are,

ARTHUR ASHE

IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE

Ultimately, charitable giving is about improving the quality of life. For the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, it’s our mission. We improve the quality of life in our region by increasing charitable giving, connecting donors to community needs they care about and providing leadership on critical community issues.

Since 1978, we have partnered with an estimated 20,000 individuals to grant more than $1 billion to our community. Collectively our donors have supported more than 2,500 nonprofi ts in the metropolitan area.

No matter how much you give, or how you give, everyone can be a strategic philanthropist. Whether it’s a $25 credit card donation made online at www.donoredge.org or it’s a $1 million bequest for scholarships, you can invest in the community in ways that you care about the most.

DEFINING YOUR PERSONAL VALUES AND BELIEFS

Values are what we hold to be of the greatest personal importance and worth. They refl ect your core principles and defi ne how you live your life. What are your most important values?

Choose three values from this list or other ideas of your own. If you’d like to involve your family in charitable giving, encourage family members to talk about their individual values and fi nd some similarities.

Identify your top three values.

Example: My/Our top three values areknowledge, opportunity and respect.

My/Our top three values are:

AcceptanceBeautyCommitmentCompassionCourageCreativity Democracy

DisciplineDignityDiversityEmpathyEmpoweringEqualityFaith

FreedomFree enterpriseGenerosityHarmonyHealingHonesty Integrity

InnovationJusticeJoyKnowledgeLeadershipLoveOpportunity

PatriotismPeacePersonal libertyPreservationRespectResponsibility

values:

Self suffi ciencyServiceSimplicityWork ethic

What moves you the most when you read the paper, listen to the news, or think about the state of our community, nation or the world? Where do you already volunteer or serve on a board? What causes do you care about? What organizations have made a difference in your life or the lives of your family members?

This exercise is meant to help you narrow your interest areas to those that matter most to you. Identify three areas of interest, think about why they are important, then record and discuss the answers.

q Arts and Culture _____Visual _____Performing

q Animal-Relatedq Civil Rights and Advocacyq Community Improvementq Crime and Legal-relatedq Diseases, Disorders and Medicineq Education ____Preschool ____Elementary and Secondary ____Higher Education q Employment q Environment q Food, Agriculture and Nutritionq Health

IDENTIFYING YOUR INTEREST AREAS

q Housing and Shelter q Human Services

____Children, Youth and Family Services ____Domestic Violence ____Aging

q International Affairs and National Securityq Medical Researchq Mental Health and Crisis Interventionq Philanthropy and Voluntarismq Betterment of Society q Disaster Preparedness and Reliefq Recreation and Sportsq Religion-relatedq Science and Technologyq Youth Development

interest area examples:

My/Our top three interest areas are:

Take your three values and your three interest areas and look for connections. What links your values and interests? Look at the family values and common interest areas and ask:

“What would a better world look like?”“What is something I want to change?”

Example: If your top three values are knowledge, opportunity and respect and your top three interests are education, literacy and self-suffi ciency, then the link between them might be:

In order for everyone to have the opportunity to become self-suffi cient and lead their lives with respect, they must be able to read and learn.

CONNECTING VALUES AND INTERESTS

The link between my/our values and interests is:

AccomplishAdapt

AdvocateChangeCommit

CompetentConsistent

DecreaseDedicateDevelopEducateEffectiveEffi cient

active mission statement words

DEVELOPING YOUR MISSION STATEMENT

EliminateEncourageEstablishIncreaseInsure

KnowledgeablePerform

Your mission statement should help clarify your philanthropic goals and establish giving priorities and/or volunteer activities. Talk about what you can do to achieve your philanthropic goals. This should be an action statement about your philanthropic purpose or mission statement.

You may need to draft a few statements and refi ne them over time, but your mission statement can guide your charitable giving and volunteering for many years.

Sample mission statement:

“We seek to decrease illiteracy in our community. We do this by supporting adult and child literacy programs and volunteering 10 hours a month tutoring youth and adults.”

PreventProduceProvideReliableRelieve

Respond

Mission statement:

RetainSupportSustainTrainValueVisible

Volunteer

Now that you know what is important to you, how can you fi nd out which nonprofi t organizations can help fulfi ll your charitable dreams? DonorEdge® was developed by the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation to provide comprehensive information online about nonprofi t organizations in the metropolitan area. At www.donoredge.org, you can enter keywords to help you fi nd organizations that share your mission. For example, if you enter “children” as a keyword, you’ll fi nd all the organizations in the community that have programs for children. Or, if you already have an interest in a particular organization, enter the organization name to view its in-depth profi le.

WAYS THE GREATER KANSAS CITY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION CAN HELP

Invest in the CommunitySome donors simply react to grant requests and support organizations they know, trusting that good things will happen with the grants they make. The result of this approach is awarding a variety of grants, which may or may not make an impact on the community.

Some donors are charitable investors who strive to make a strategic, measurable impact on the community. Ultimately, successful charitable investments will result in positive changes on the quality of life in this community.

Donors who are charitable investors are guided by three questions:What result will my dollars achieve?What are the chances that my dollars will, in fact, achieve those results?Is this the best possible use of my money?

DonorEdge® offers you the opportunity to assess whether a nonprofi t’s programs are working and, if so, whether the nonprofi t has the capacity to fulfi ll its mission. The table below offers a baseline of recommended best practices.

criteria recommended best practicePrograms Measurable performance criteria and program

results are favorable

Operating budget Revenue meets or exceeds expenses and growth in revenue exceeds the rate of infl ation

Income sources A balance of three or more sources is ideal

Rainy day fund (operating reserve) Three to six months savings reserve

Administrative and fundraising expense as compared to program expense

≤ 25% administrative expense is ideal; ≤ 35% may be justifi able based on special circumstances

Senior leadership Retention of senior staff leadership ≥ 75%

Executive compensation Compensation is in line with overall performance, budget and staff size of the organization

Transparency Current information regarding the organization can be easily accessed. Validated IRS Form 990 reports and audits are posted on DonorEdge®

Board engagement Board meets in a policy mode with meeting attendance rate ≥ 67%

Other ideas to help you identify a charitable organization you are passionate about include talking with the charity and touring its facilities. This gives you a chance to learn fi rst hand about its goals and challenges.

Why should you get involved with charitable giving? Because you can, and the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation can help you get started.

Establish your family foundation fund for a fee of just $21 per month. Start a giving circle to rally your friends and family around your favorite charitable cause. Or, purchase a Charity Giving Card to help celebrate a birthday, a job well done, or any special occasion.

We take seriously our mission to improve the quality of life in Kansas City by involving everyone—all races and ages and our entire metropolitan area, north, south, east and west—in the joy of making a difference.

We hope this Giving Guide will help you connect to the charitable causes important to you. For more information, contact us at 816-842-0944 or visit us at www.gkccf.org.

EXPERIENCE THE JOY OF MAKING A DIFFERENCE

1055 Broadway, Sui te 130Kansas Ci t y, MO 64105

816 -842- 0944 • Fax: 816 -842-8079www.gkccf.org