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Union County Foundation

2007 Annual Report

THE UNION COUNTY FOUNDATION

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A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

A Look Back at 2007
It has been said that it is difficult to know where you are going if you don't know where you have been. Consequently every year at this time we report to you about our prior year's activity. As has been the pattern in recent years we are again able to report to you that the Foundation had a very successful 2007. Several significant milestones were achieved during the year that I think indicate the Foundation is having a positive impact on philanthropy in Union County. Our goal is to promote and facilitate charitable giving and the fact that we passed $5,000,000 in assets during '07 indicates more and more people are coming to understand the many ways we can help them fulfill their charitable goals. Perhaps more important than the asset level obtained is the amount of money we disbursed in '07 to myriad charitable causes and projects. It is amazing for me to be able to report to you that in 2007 the Foundation disbursed in excess of $1,000,000 to these causes. The spectrum of distributions ranged from $60 to support a foster child's summer softball registration to $400,000 + to pay for the glorious Union County Veteran's Memorial Monument. Local Fraternal organizations (Eagles, Elks, Moose) continue to give substantial financial support ($243,000+) to local charitable causes through the Foundation. The organizations give without fanfare but they certainly deserve sincere thanks and praise.

During 2007 the Foundation added seven new charitable named funds to our menu bringing our total to an historical high of 46. We were proud to partner with the Marysville High School Alumni Scholarship Foundation to merge their fund into the Union County Foundation umbrella. The MHS scholarship fund joins 16 other Foundation housed scholarship funds that paid out over $75,000 in scholarships to Union County students in 2007. In 2007 the Foundation was proud to accommodate growing numbers of families and individuals who wanted to set up lifetime income producing charitable instruments such as charitable gift annuities and charitable remainder trusts. These relatively simple charitable tools will one day substantially benefit charitable causes in and around Union County.

The Foundation's grant application process continues to be an important part of our work and one that is becoming more familiar to our County's citizens and organizations. The Foundation encourages grant applications on a quarterly basis with deadlines for 2008 being the first week of January, April, July, and October. Grant applications can be found on our website (unioncountyfoundation.org) or picked up at our office.

If the benchmark of our success is the amount of charitable dollars accumulated and dispersed in a given year then clearly '07 was successful. But we think the real measure of our success is are we motivating people towards acts of charity and are we helping to shape Union County into a better place to live, work, and raise our families. We think we are beginning to accomplish that and hope to do much more in the years ahead.

The Union County Foundation is honored to be of service to the people of Union County. By design our volunteer board serves in relative obscurity. I'd like you to know who they were in 2007: David Allen (legal Counsel), Bob Buckley (CPA), Gary Conklin, Phillip Connolly, Robin Craft, John Eufinger, Dan Fitzgerald, Don Fraser, Barbara Holcomb, JR Kruse, Robert Lewis, Dr. John Linscott, Tom McCarthy, Carolyn Mitchell, Greg Sehnert, Jeff Swartz, and Barbara Timmons. We hope we can work with you and for you in 2008.

David A. Vollrath,
Executive Director Union County Foundation


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