Over the past 40 years, Arkansas Community Foundation has partnered with Arkansans who are passionate about making a difference in their communities. As our mission says, we engage people, connect resources and inspire solutions to build community. Here’s a recent example of how White County Community Foundation, an affiliate of Arkansas Community Foundation, connected community resources.

Serving students of all ages with developmental disabilities, Sunshine School had a specific need for iPads to change the way their students learn. Hearing about this need, Community Foundation board members saw an opportunity to partner with other community organizations. The Rotary Club of Searcy, Edward Jones Financial Advisor Amy Daniels and Haymond Insurance joined forces to grow their impact and provided funds for the purchase of iPads.

Sunshine School began in 1964 under the sponsorship of the Searcy Junior Auxiliary. Starting with seven special education students attending on a half-day basis, classes were held in converted Army barracks on land leased from Searcy Public Schools. Two locations later, the school relocated in August 2011 to their new, updated and spacious facility with 12 classrooms, a large multipurpose room, several therapy rooms, as well as office and conference room space.

Sunshine School serves students from Searcy, Augusta, Pangburn, Kensett, Des Arc, Pleasant Plains, Beebe, Judsonia, Hazen, Bradford and McCrory. There is no age limit for students to be admitted to the preschool, nor is there a cut-off age for adults to attend. To learn more about Sunshine School, check out the information provided on their website.

To find out how we partner with Arkansans like you who love to give, check out previous blog posts, get updates from us or read about ArkansasGives, our one-day online giving event on April 6, 2017.

Along with more than 780 community foundations across the US, we are celebrating Community Foundation Week! Our work succeeds because people like you believe in building a strategic legacy that will impact future generations. We are so grateful to everyone who has contributed to our success, and we look forward to growing our work together!

We often get the question – so what does a community foundation do? Well, we’re glad you asked. Community foundations are independent, public entities that steward charitable dollars from institutional and individual donors to local nonprofits. Since 1976, Arkansas Community Foundation has provided more than $156 million in grants and partnered with thousands of Arkansans to help them improve our neighborhoods, our towns and our entire state.

You also may find it surprising that community foundations represent one of the fastest-growing forms of philanthropy. Every state in the United States is home to at least one community foundation—large and small, urban and rural—working to advance solutions on a wide range of social issues.

Community foundations routinely work with families, individuals, attorneys and estate and financial planners to design gift plans that fit every economic situation, ensuring that donors receive the most benefit from their charitable contributions and that their philanthropic dollars are put to good use. Nearly every type of gift – real estate, closely held stock, artwork and insurance – can be contributed to a community foundation.

In 2012, according to the Foundation Center, community foundations received an estimated $7.5 billion in gifts, gave $5 billion in grants, and held total assets of $65 billion. The Foundation Center also reports that even though community foundations represent just 1% of the more than 82,000 foundations in the United States, their gifts represented 9% of total giving.

For the past 25 years, Community Foundation Week has raised awareness about the increasingly important role of community foundations in fostering local collaboration and innovation to address persistent civic and economic challenges.

Even before the age of an all-volunteer military service, James Pappas knew he wanted to serve in the United States Navy, enlisting during his freshman year of medical school in the early 1950s. Dr. Pappas was called to active duty in 1958, where he first served as the Medical Officer for a Mobile Construction Battalion (Sea-Bee) and later treated Navy and Marine personnel and families through the base’s outpatient and emergency clinics. After completing his tour of duty, serving eight years in the Naval Reserve and finishing a residency at Baylor Medical Center, Dr. Pappas came back to his home state of Arkansas, where he had a private Otolaryngology (Ear, Nose & Throat) group practice until retiring in 2001.

Being an avid community supporter and successful doctor—particularly one with a giving heart—put Dr. and Mrs. Pappas on every nonprofit’s mailing solicitation list. They carefully considered each request and wrote countless personal checks to support the worthy causes closest to their hearts, but found it was a headache to keep track of all the tax acknowledgement letters. Their trusted financial advisor recommended Arkansas Community Foundation as a way to streamline giving while maintaining the maximum tax benefit. Having a donor-advised fund with the Community Foundation not only allows Dr.  and Mrs. Pappas to make financially sound tax deductible gifts and continue their giving with ease, but they can also direct grants to multiple nonprofits knowing their programs are vetted by our informed staff. 

The Dr. James and Eva Pappas Charitable Fund supports a wide range of nonprofits, including education and medical causes. But, as you can imagine, his service on Guam continues to shape their giving philosophy. While they give to numerous veteran-related charities, Dr. Pappas specifically supports those who serve disabled and wounded veterans. When asked about why he champions these causes, Dr. Pappas offers a statement we can all agree on: “I have tremendous respect for the men and women who serve in our military and defend our liberties.”

For more information on how you can start a charitable giving plan, contact Ashley Coldiron at 501-372-1116 or acoldiron@arcf.org.

Arnell Willis, Sr. grew up in the 50s in the small segregated town we know as West Helena, Arkansas, located in Phillips County. Growing up in the Delta region presented many hardships, but through the lessons taught by his mother, Laura Nelson and his aunt, Lillie May Stevenson, Arnell was able to overcome incredible odds and achieve his American dream.

His mother, a homemaker, custodian and private duty attendant, taught him the importance of faith, education, hard work and discipline. Most importantly, she instilled in him the belief that education is the great lifting mechanism in our society – through education he could realize his full potential.

His aunt, an entrepreneur, civil-rights worker, politician and labor union representative, taught Arnell the importance of giving back to his community. Living a life committed to civic involvement, she had the most influence on his political involvement.

During the last semester of his senior year at Philander Smith College, Arnell didn’t have the money he needed for tuition. After discussing his situation with the president of Philander Smith College at the time, Dr. Walt Hazzard, his tuition was waived – instead of paying back the money he owed, Dr. Hazzard asked Arnell to help others in a similar way; to pay it forward. Arnell and his family established two scholarships that will help students from Phillips County, Arkansas and students attending Philander Smith College in substantial ways.

In recognition of these extraordinary examples in Arnell’s life, his family hopes to accomplish three important things by establishing these scholarships at Arkansas Community Foundation:

1. Recognize the importance of “lessons learned” from two important women who made indelible marks on Arnell’s character and development;
2. Share Arnell’s story and inspire others to find hope and chase their dreams; and
3. Help other reach their full potential by giving back because he had so many people help him find success.

Charitable gifts should be an investment in the causes you care about and generate returns for your community. Arnell Willis, Sr. and his family partnered with the Community Foundation to honor those that mean the most to them. Learn more about how the Community Foundation can help you identify tools to help you give smart by contacting Ashley Coldiron, acoldiron@arcf.org or 501-372-1116. 

When literacy coach Liz Easley first came to work at Marvell-Elaine Elementary School, many students couldn’t read. The school’s leadership, however, has been hard at work to create a positive school climate focusing on supporting each child—and the results are showing. Perhaps most significantly, between the 2012-13 and 2014-15 school years, the chronic absence rate at the school dropped from 18 percent to 7 percent.

Marvell-Elaine is one of eight Arkansas school districts currently working with the Arkansas Campaign for Grade-Level Reading’s (AR-GLR) “Make Every Day Count” initiative. It’s an effort to help schools, districts and communities track chronic absence, and to develop and implement plans for keeping children in classrooms. Data show that when children miss too much school, they miss out on critical instruction—and are less likely to read proficiently.

AR-GLR, partnering with Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF), recently released a new report, Make Every Day Count: Reducing Chronic Absence in Arkansas Schools. It details chronic absence data in the state—and some strategies to address the issue. The report includes an analysis by AACF of Arkansas Department of Education data showing that:

• Chronic absence starts early. Over 13 percent of kindergarten and first grade students miss a month or more of school.
• Nearly all elementary schools in Arkansas had some chronically absent students in 2014-2015. However, one-quarter of chronically absent students were concentrated in just ten percent of the state’s 522 elementary schools.
• Chronically absent third graders are less likely to read on grade level. Only 20 percent of chronically absent students read on grade-level as opposed to 30 percent of non-chronically absent students.
• Economic disadvantage affects attendance. Students from low-income families were twice as likely to be chronically absent.

AR-GLR and AACF presented the report—which also outlines tiered interventions used by Marvell-Elaine and other bright spot schools, including Monitor and Parson Hills Elementary Schools in Springdale—to the Arkansas Board of Education on October 14. AR-GLR also produced an online toolkit: Leading Attendance in Arkansas: How principals can help students succeed by reducing chronic absence. It outlines five strategies to help principals develop a comprehensive plan to reduce chronic absence in their schools.

The report and the toolkit are the two latest resources being used to support AR-GLR’s Make Every Day Count initiative. In addition to Marvell-Elaine, the initiative is currently working in Atkins, Fort Smith, Greenbrier, Hope, Hot Springs, Springdale, and Western Yell County. However, the campaign’s resources are available online for anyone.

To learn more, or to find out how your school or district can participate in the Make Every Day Count Learning Community, contact AR-GLR Campaign Director Angela Duran.

If you haven’t heard, we recently announced big news for ArkansasGives. The third and final day of giving will be April 6, 2017. We’re excited to see the generosity of Arkansans exceed our expectations, yet again!

Since we’ve heard questions about why 2017 will be the last year, we wanted to take some time to explain why the Community Foundation made this decision.

Arkansas Community Foundation works to meet community needs by making grants and sharing knowledge. We support programs that work and we partner to create new initiatives that address the gaps. ArkansasGives is one way we support programs across the state and partner with nonprofits in the valuable work they’re doing. Thanks to the generosity of thousands who wish to do the same, over six MILLION dollars has been deployed to support programs that are working to address the needs in Arkansas. That’s amazing!

We know that Arkansans are generous. By sponsoring a vehicle to help nonprofits tell their story and raise money in a simple but effective way, we believed ArkansasGives could help build the nonprofit sector and its capacity to continue making change happen.

As we began planning ArkansasGives, we set some big goals for the event:

1. We wanted to get people excited about giving to nonprofits at a time other than the traditional year-end.
2. We believed that expanding nonprofits’ capacities for marketing and fundraising would help them take full advantage of social media and online giving to achieve their missions
3. We wanted to help increase awareness of the impact of nonprofits and their programs statewide.

From the beginning, ArkansasGives was not designed as an ongoing annual event. We believe that after this third event, ArkansasGives has run its course. You may ask why stop a good thing? We believe that all of goals will be met after this third year, and that nonprofits will have the tools they need to continue the good channeled by ArkansasGives.

There are so many stories of impact. As you browse the list of top money raisers and those who had the most numbers of donations from 2015 and 2016, you’ll see nonprofits of all sizes that raised funds for programs or initiatives impacting their local communities in critical ways. Behind those dollars are individuals who have a passion to support the wonderful things that are happening in the nonprofit sector in our state.

The Community Foundation is excited to think about what will follow. Before ArkansasGives, some of our initiatives included Write for Arkansas, Aspire Arkansas and the Stop Hunger initiative. We can’t wait to unveil what’s next!

What do you think 2017 will bring? Stay tuned for when we announce our BIG goal in February. Help us spread the word that nonprofits can start signing up Oct. 1!

Thelma Lambert had been a resident of Carroll County for a little more than ten years when she passed away in early April, but she and her husband Richard ensured their legacy will never be forgotten thanks to the generous provision of their charitable endowment.

Their story speaks to the power of giving – something that they experienced personally as Hurricane Katrina refugees.

It was August 2005 and the massive hurricane was churning in the Gulf. Richard and Thelma watched as neighbors and friends packed up their belongings and headed north in fear Katrina would hit the Mississippi coastline they called home. The Lamberts hesitated. They were happily living in a house they built themselves in Ansley, Mississippi and life was good. Richard, especially, did not want to leave, hoping the hurricane would turn or lessen in intensity. Thelma knew it was finally time to go.

“I started packing but he refused. I asked him to go watch the news for a bit longer and then decide,” Thelma said in an interview in 2014. “It didn’t take long before he very quietly started loading up the truck, working around the outside of the house securing latches and so forth,” she added.

On that Saturday they drove to Meridian and Jackson, finding no vacancies along the way. With lodging scarce in every direction, they decided to drive all the way to Eureka Springs, Arkansas where they often spent vacations. There, they knew, they would find lodging and safety.

When they arrived, Richard went to the police station in Eureka Springs to let them know they were safe. “Everybody had gone in so many directions; no one knew where anyone was,” Thelma said.

But there was no escaping the awful news – their house had been destroyed – water was above their roof. “We lost it all,” said Thelma.

What happened after that seemed like a series of small miracles. “Everybody we met was willing to help us,” Thelma recalled.

A female police officer had been listening to Richard’s story and told him about an unfurnished apartment she thought they might like. Not too long after that, she offered to take the Lamberts over to see it. “We walked in expecting to see an empty room, and instead it was totally furnished with furniture and food, clothes in the closet and even toothbrushes and toothpaste! All we had to do was walk in.”

When Carroll County locals heard their story, they helped with grocery bills, cash and provided household items to sustain them. “People were so good to us,” she added.

When the insurance on their home and property loss was finally settled, the Lamberts discussed rebuilding in Mississippi but decided to settle in Berryville, Arkansas instead, just a few miles east of Eureka Spring. By then, they had come to love Carroll County.

After Richard’s passing in 2013, and touched by the continuing generosity of the community, Thelma decided it was time to return the favor. With the help of her professional advisor and the executive director of the local Arkansas Community Foundation affiliate, she created the Richard and Thelma Lambert Charitable Endowment with the proceeds from their life insurance policy.

Beginning this Fall, the first grants from the Richard and Thelma Lambert Charitable Endowment will begin supporting both the Meals on Wheels program (through the Carroll County Senior Activity Center), and the Loaves and Fishes Food Bank in Carroll County. Every year after, these programs will remember the generosity of the Lamberts as their endowment gives back to those who had helped them in their time of need.

Funding Source/Title:
Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas
Regular grants from $5,000 to $150,000 for health projects in Arkansas

Deadline:
July 15, 2016

Purpose:
Grants to fund any health-improvement program in Arkansas, to be implemented during calendar year 2017. Applicants are notified of decision in mid-November, and grants are distributed in December 2016.

Eligibility Criteria:
Any 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, public school, church, nonprofit hospital or governmental organization in Arkansas is eligible.

Contact Information:
Online application found at www.BlueAndYouFoundationArkansas.org.
Patrick O’Sullivan, 501-378-2221.