More Donations

I would like to start by thanking the Tyler Tribute for printing the Foundation's year end review/update. We have also received additional donations this week. We received a $250 donation from Basin Electric to the endowment fund. We also received a $1,000 donation from the Tyler Kiwanis Club and a $5,000 from Jack Johnson for the golf course project. As always, thank you!

2009 Year End Review

After spending time re-organizing and re-educating, the Tyler Area Community Foundation (TACF) seated its permanent advisory board on Nov. 23. This step marks the end of a year-long process with our partner, the Southwest Initiative Foundation, to “pass the torch” from the original core group of volunteers who got things started to a new board focused on building a permanent endowment for the community and meeting a $25,000 challenge grant from SWIF.
We want to thank those individuals who started TACF in 2001. Their vision is inspiring, as community foundations are among the fastest growing forms of philanthropy today! Now, there is a waiting list at SWIF for a community foundation, and we are grateful we participated in the program when there was availability. Founding board members included: Bo Duncan, Denny Blomgren, Karl Lunder, Marty Gallanter, Dr. John Utoft, Joy Schak, Deanna Drake, Sharon Jacobsen, Kelly Knudsen, Rick Lemonds, Bob Anderson, Kristi Luger and Dacia Burckhardt.
We also want to acknowledge and thank our new advisory board members who will carry TACF forward into the future. These community leaders will set new goals, raise endowment dollars, educate the community and award grants through an application process once enough money has been raised. New board members include: Sandy Enemark, Stephanie Ekema, Trent Hess, Glen Peterson, April Thomas, Joan Jagt, Gary Manson, Dan Tolsma and Tim O’Leary.
As part of its new responsibilities, new board members participated in a fundraising planning session with SWIF and set a goal of raising $13,000 for the permanent endowment. This amount is needed within 12 months to meet the challenge grant from SWIF, and SWIF will match every gift, dollar-for-dollar, up to the $13,000 we have left! Generous donors to the endowment in 2009 include: Hope Mutual, Skiver Car Show, Tyler Community Chest, Kelly Knudsen (State Farm), Tyler Lion’s Club, Sharon and Henry Jacobsen, Buzz and Joyce Dass, Tyler Kiwanis Club, Lois Andersen, Joan and Jerry Jagt, and Tim and Stacy O’Leary.
In addition, TACF has partnered with the Tyler Golf Club and is helping it raise money for the renovation project. Over $175,000 has been raised so far and will be used as expenses are incurred related to the renovation. Generous donors to the golf club project include: Allen Lund, Ines Peter, Jim and Carol Kopel, John and Margaret Bornhoft, Lennie Burckhardt, Charlie Swenson and Sonja Lund, Dr. John and Nancy Utoft, Tim and Stacy O’Leary, Beck Agency (Kullen Stanek), Kelly Knudsen (State Farm), Hope Mutual and the Tyler Lions Club.
Thank you to all donors!
There is still time to give during 2009 – either to the endowment to help us meet the match from SWIF or to the golf club project. All gifts are tax deductible. Contact a TACF board member for more information. You can also follow the activities of the Foundation by reading our blog updates at http://tylerareacf.blogspot.com

December 3rd Update

Good Afternoon! Just a few donations to recognize at this time. Look for a year end write up to appear early next week. The foundation has recently received a donation of $2,000 to the Tyler Golf Club project from Hope Mutual Insurance. The foundation has also received a $250 donation from Lyon-Lincoln Electric Cooperative and a $50 donation from Joan and Jerry Jagt for the endowment fund. We would like to thank these individuals and organizations for the investment in Tyler through the TACF.

November 24th

First, I would like to recognize a couple of recently received donations. We received a $1,000 donation from the Tyler Community Chest for the endowment fund and we received a $500 donation from James and Carol Kopel to the Golf Course Project. Thank you!

Last night, the TACF seated its new board and held a fundraising planning session. The new board members are: April Thomas, Dan Tolsma, Gary Manson, Steph Ekema, Sandy Enemark, Joan Jagt, Glen Peterson, Trent Hess and Tim O'Leary. I would like to thank each of them for taking the time to volunteer to serve on this board.

This also means that you will start to see more of us in the community as we look to raise the final $13,000 needed to meet the $25,000 match challenge from the Southwest Initiative Foundation. We have the next 18 months to raise these dollars, so we will be looking for your help in meeting this goal.

Nov 20th Update

One donation to report to the Tyler Golf Course Project. Lennie Burckhardt has donated $10,000 to the project and we would like to thank him for the donation. To date, $175,100 has been raised for this project.

On November 23rd, we will be seating the new board. Look for an update on next week's blog.

Update

It seems that that the more updates I do to the blog, the more checks we receive. So, I thought that I would try it again. Today, we received a $250 donation to the endowment fund and $1,000 donation to the Golf Course Project from Kelly Knudsen State Farm Agency.

Update on Endowment and Project Funds

Good Afternoon! It has been awhile, so I thought that I would update everyone on what has been going on with our two funds. The endowment fund has received a couple of donations over the last month. So on behalf of the TACF, I would like to recognize the following donors to the endowment fund: Arnold and Joyce Dass, the Tyler Kiwanis Club ($250), Tim and Stacy O'Leary ($100), and the Tyler Lion's Club ($1,000). Thank you very much for your contributions to the future of Tyler.

The Tyler Golf Club Clubhouse remodel project has really taken off fast thanks to Wally Christensen and the other volunteers. To date the following individuals have donated to project fund: Allen Lund ($100,000), Charlie Swenson and Sonja Lund ($30,000) John and Margaret Bornhoft ($25,000), Ines Peter ($5,000), Kullen Stanek ($3,000), John Utoft ($1,000), Tim and Stacy O'Leary ($100) and the Tyler Lion's Club ($500). There has also been various others that have donated time or material to this project including the City of Tyler, Bornhoft Concrete, and Rick Brownlee.

Please let me know if I left anyone out, otherwise, thank you for your donations to both funds.

Update on Projects and Board

Good Afternoon. It looks like we have just filled the last board position for the new foundation board. Sandy Enemark has agreed to fill the remaining 2 year board seat and we thank her for volunteering. In other news, the foundation set up a Tyler Golf Club project fund at its last meeting and we received our first donation to the project from John and Margaret Bornhoft. I have also been contacted by other donors and I hope to recognize all of them when I receive their donations, so look for more recognition updates in the future.

Just a reminder that we are nearing the end of the year, so if you would like to give a tax deductible donation, please remember the Tyler Area Community Foundation where both the endowment fund (which qualifies for matching dollars from the Southwest Initiative Foundation) and the Tyler Golf Club project qualify as tax deductible donations.

September Design Team Meeting

The Design Team held a short meeting this morning to go over last months activities. Since last month, the foundation was able to raise $335 that will be put to the endowment fund and matched dollar for dollar by the Southwest Initiative Foundation. Our next big step will happen in October as the permanent board will be seated and the group goes through a strategic planning session. We still have a 2 year board seats open, so if any of you are interested in serving on this board please let me know. You can email me at oleary@mnns.com. Gary Manson will also be looking at getting "thermometers" built to show the foundations progress in reaching its endowment fund raising goals. Look for more updates on the foundation in the next month.

Donation Update

I would like to thank the Tyler Tribute for coming out and getting a picture for last week's paper. Other than the two characters in the picture, I think it is a positive step for the foundation. We have also received another donation in memory of Barb Swanson for our endowment fund.

Donations Received

Over the last couple of years, the foundation has received donations from the employees at Schwans, Mrs. Allen Gratz, and a $500 donation from Hope Mutual Insurance. Hope Mutual would like to use their donation as a challenge to the rest of the businesses in Tyler to see what they can donate to help the Tyler Area Foundation meet its endowment fund goals of $25,000 and to support the Community of Tyler. Thank you.

I was just at the post office and I see that the foundation has received its first donation since the design team launched its new information campaign. The donation is from Lois Andersen and is in memory of her husband Arvin "Ben" Andersen. Thank you Lois!

August Update

Good Morning to all of you. The design team held it's monthly meeting on Tuesday of this week and we spent our time trying to coming up with ways to get the Foundation information out to the residents of Tyler. We also spent some time on ways to raise the remaining $15,500 dollars for the endowment fund which would be matched by the Southwest Initiative Foundation (SWIF). Once the group gets through the design phase of setting up our local foundation, we will have a limited time to raise these dollars before we lose the matching opportunities from SWIF. So, we want to hit the ground running as soon as we get the first board seated.

It looks like we will have our first donation, since this blog put out that we are accepting donations, and it will come from the Aebelskiver Car Show. We hope to get a picture of the presentation in the local paper and hopefully spur some additional donations. We have also put a "Donations Needed" slide on the local public channel. Here is what the slide looks like:

Donations Needed
The Tyler Area Community Foundation (TACF) is now taking donations to its endowment fund. The first $25,000 in donations will be matched dollar for dollar by the Southwest Initiative Foundation (SWIF).
Donations can be sent to:
TACF
PO Box 239
Tyler, MN 56178
To learn more about the foundation or to catch up on what is going on with the foundation, please visit and read the blog updates at http://tylerareacf.blogspot.com
TACF thanks the community of Tyler in advance for their support of the foundation and its endowment fund.

I will use the next update to list other ideas that we came up with during our August meeting. And if you have ideas for us, please contact one of the members on the design team below and share it with them.

TACF Design Team includes: Tim O’Leary, Deanna Drake, Sharon Jacobsen, Gary Manson, Joan Jagt, Trent Hess, April Thomas, Margo Snow, Steph Ekema and Dan Tolsma.

Thank you again for your support of the foundation.

July Foundation Update

First, I would like to thank Deanna Drake, Joan Jagt, and Sharon Jacobsen for making sure that we had the Tyler Area Community Foundation pamphlets available to be handed out during Aebleskiver Days here in Tyler. I would also like to thank Becky Clipper for making sure that the inserts were completed on time to get into the pamphlets. Thank you, Becky!

On July 28, the Tyler Area Community Foundation (TACF) design team held its monthly meeting and we continue to work on getting to a point of seating a permanent board. This month we worked on the operating procedures for the foundation. The design team decided the board would be made up of between 5 and 9 members, meet monthly and hold its annual meeting in January each year. We expect that the first board would have 9 members and we will be looking at recruiting community members to help fill out the first board. Board members will have the ability to serve two consecutive 3 year terms before a replacement will be needed. If you are interested in serving on the permanent board or would like additional information about the role of the permanent board, I will be listing the design team members at the bottom of the blog for you to contact or you can just email me at oleary@mnns.com and I can try to answer your question.

The design team continued to talk about marketing efforts to get people informed about the Foundation and what a great asset it can turn into for the Tyler Area. The team also talked about the remaining $15,000 that needs to be raised for the TACF endowment fund, so that we can receive the matching dollars from the Southwest Initiative Foundation. I guess that is a small hint that we are taking donations at this time and if you or someone that you know would like to make an investment in Tyler, please let us know.

TACF Design Team includes: Tim O’Leary, Deanna Drake, Sharon Jacobsen, Gary Manson, Joan Jagt, Trent Hess, April Thomas, Margo Snow, Steph Ekema and our newest member Dan Tolsma.

June Update

I would like to thank Mark for helping the Tyler Area Community Foundation (TACF) get out the news about its revival and how everyone can help the Foundation meet its $25,000 match challenge from the Southwest Initiative Foundation (SWIF). The match challenge from SWIF has SWIF matching $1 for $1 every dollar given to our endowment, up to $25,000. I should probably start with a little background on the TACF. The TACF was started back in 2001 and has been used for the golf course expansion project and the new rod and gun club. In each of these situations, the TACF was used to accept donations for these projects in a tax deductible manner and both were very successful. At the end of 2008, the current board decided to refocus their efforts around building a permanent endowment and securing the SWIF challenge grant that was offered when the group was started in 2001. The current board held two community information sessions about the TACF and how community members of Tyler could make a difference in the community of Tyler through a tax deductible donation to the TACF Endowment Fund. We also recruited new members to “re-design” the efforts of the group. This re-design team has been meeting over the last six months and visiting about how to get the community more involved and to get the information out about the TACF. In June, we continued the process by creating and adopting a new mission statement which reads: “The mission of the Tyler Area Community Foundation is to enhance the social, cultural, educational and economic growth of the area through the creation of endowments and other charitable giving.” This message is the first effort in getting information out about the TACF and we thank Mark for helping us. We will be identifying ways to reach the $25,000 match challenge and asking for the community’s help in reaching this goal as to not lose out on the $1 for $1 match from SWIF. If you are interested in contacting anyone on the re-design team, the following community members are: Tim O’Leary, Deanna Drake, Sharon Jacobsen, Gary Manson, Joan Jagt, Trent Hess, April Thomas, Margo Snow and Steph Ekema.