Happy Holidays!

As we get to the end of the year, the Tyler Area Community Foundation would like to extend a Happy Holidays to all of our blog readers and thank the community for there support in 2010 and their continued support in 2011.
Thank you!!

Update 11-3-10

It has been awhile since I posted any updates on what has been happening at the Tyler Area Community Foundation, so I thought I would do that today. Over the last couple of months, your foundation reached its donation goals for the year and its goal for the dollar for dollar match from the Southwest Initiative Foundation (SWIF). Right now, we have $52,000 in a permanent endowment fund. The board is now looking at how it will take grant applications for the $894 available for granting in 2011. This will be the first time that the local foundation will have money available to grant and we will be looking for community projects that will make good use of the available funds. We ran a newspaper ad thanking all of our donors that helped us reach our goals and for those donors that didn't read the newspaper that week, "Thank You!".

The foundation is still accepting donations for the golf course project and for the National Danish Performance team visit to Tyler next week. If you want to send a donation to the Foundation, you can make the check out to TACF and mail it to PO Box 239, Tyler, MN 56178. Please mark on the check where you would like your donation to be deposited, for example: endowment, golf course project, or Danish performance team project. Thank you all for your support over the last couple of years as we work to re-establish the foundation in our community. If you would like to serve on the Foundation's board, please send an email to toleary@llec.coop and let me know. Thank you!

$1550 Raised in Month of June

It looks like the challenge of an anonymous Tyler resident has been matched by the generous donations of other Tyler residents who wanted to take advantage of this challenge. The donations will also be matched by the Southwest Initiative Foundation and should get us to the $25,000 match challenge originally issued by Southwest Initiative Foundation when the Tyler Area Community Foundation was started. The TACF would like to thank everyone that helped meet this goal.

The following donated to the endowment fund since my last blog post: Southwest Insurance Service (Barb Bornhoft), Larry and Kathy DeBoer, Tyler Wholesale (Curt, Kari, and Justin Dass), Dale and Joy Schak, Buzzy and Joyce Dass, Chris and Amy Determan (Southwest Family Chiropractic), and Christianson Implement (Mory and Mona Christianson).

The foundation also received a donation from Ryan and Jamie Schreurs for the golf course remodel project.

Thank you to everyone that donated to these funds!

Challenge Update and Update on other Projects

Only a week left in the Endowment Challenge that was issued late last month by a Tyler resident. The challenge was made to match up to $1500 of all donations made to the Endowment Fund from June 2nd to July 1st. To date, the TACF has received $400 towards the challenge. If you are looking at making a tax deductible donation to the Endowment Fund, now is the time to do it. As someone mentioned to me, for every dollar she donated it would be matched by a $1 from the challenge and $1 from SWIF which is a pretty good value. Donations should be made out to TACF Endowment Fund and mailed to TACF, PO Box 239, Tyler, MN 56178.

TACF is also working with the Friends of the National Danish Performance Team and the Southwest Initiative Foundation on another project fund that would help offset the expenses to bring the team to perform in Tyler and at the RTR schools. Donations have already reached $1950 in this project, but the group will continue to look for more donations over the coming months. The Performance Team is scheduled to perform in Tyler on November 8th. Please contact Ricke Bly to learn more about the Performance Team and its visit to Tyler. If you would like to donate to this project, please send your donation to TACF, PO Box 239 Tyler, MN 56178 with a note saying that it is for the NDPT project fund.

It also looks like the Tyler Golf Course Project remodeling project is coming along nicely, but they are still looking for donations to help them with finishing the remodeling project. If you would like to donate to this project, please send your donation to TACF, PO Box 239 Tyler, MN 56178 with a note saying that it is for the Tyler Golf Course project fund.

Donations have been received for the endowment fund and the two project funds from the following: Leon and Diane Sorensen, Ron and Pam Thooft, Trent and Jackie Hess, Tim and Stacy O'Leary, Henry and Sharon Jacobsen, Buzzy and Joyce Dass, Curt and Darla Madsen, Jerry and Ricke Bly, Harlan and Marsha Petersen, Greg and Marilyn Peter, Denny and Jeanne Blomgren, Dennis and Jolean Faaborg, John and Margaret Bornhoft, Ines Peter, John and Nancy Utoft, Kurt Thomsen (Shadetree Auto), and the Tyler Healthcare Center. Thank you!

Challenge

A local resident has issued a challenge to the citizens of Tyler in hopes of getting the final dollars raised to get the full matching dollars from the Southwest Initiative Foundation (SWIF) matching challenge for the Tyler Foundation's endowment fund. We have approximately $3,400 left to raise to meet the $25,000 match challenge from SWIF. The resident, who doesn't want to be revealed, has mentioned that he/she will match up to $1,500 for all dollars raised between June 2nd and July 1st for the endowment fund. We hope to have a notice put into the Tyler Tribute this week and would like all of you to get the word out as well. Lets not let this opportunity pass by without taking advantage of this very generous offer. You can mail your donations to: TACF PO Box 239, Tyler, MN 56178 with a note letting us know that the donation be put to the Foundation's Endowment Fund.

Thank you in advance for helping us reach our goal.

Donation Update

We have recently received two donations to the Tyler Area Community Foundation's Endowment fund. With these two donations, the endowment fund is now within $3,500 of reaching the $25,000 matching grant from the Southwest Initiative Foundation. We have until the end of 2010 to raise the remaining $3,500. The two donations to the endowment fund came from Maynards and Clair and Deanna Drake.

We also received a very generous donation from Jerry and Rickie Bly to the golf course project fund. To date $221,525 has been raised for the clubhouse remodel project.

Last week, Tyler Golf Club Chair Gary Heffele let the stag night crowd know that it still needs up to $100,000 to finish the project without taking on additional debt at the golf course. The golf course project fund can stay open for an additional 12 months to take in additional donations. If you haven't had a chance to get out to look at the project, please take the time to go out and see what an asset this will be to the community of Tyler and the surrounding areas.

If you would like to donate to the endowment fund or the project fund, you can send your check to TACF, PO Box 239, Tyler, MN 56178 and write a note on the check indicating endowment fund or project fund.

April Update

Hard to believe that it has been a month since my last post, so I thought that I would update everyone on recent donors and our recent board meeting. The Board met on April 12th and the highlight of the meeting came when I updated the rest of the board that we had $5,093.67 left to raise for the Endowment Fund to take full advantage of the $25,000 match from the Southwest Iniative Foundation. The board was also informed that $219,975 has been raised for the golf course project as of Monday. These are great accomplishments that couldn't have been reached without the support of our community residents/donors.

As I noted above, we aren't finished with our efforts to raise the remaining $5,093.67 to meet the challenge from the Southwest Iniative Foundation for our Endowment Fund. So, for those of you that haven't mailed off that check, please help us reach our fundraising goals for the Endowment Fund by mailing your check to TACF Endowment Fund PO Box 239 Tyler, MN 56178.

Now the list of donors since my last update: First the Endowment fund received donations from Carl Holmquist (if you see Carl out and about, please thank him for his very generous donation to the endowment fund), Jorgensen Financial, Stephens Funeral Services, First Farmers and Merchant, Danebod Lutheran Church, Mark and Sandy Enemark, Buzz and Joyce Dass and Sharon and Henry Jacobsen.

For the Golf Course Project: donations were received from Carl Holmquist, John and Margaret Bornhoft, Don and Cilla Hughes, Byrl and Karen Koster, the Johnson's, Brad Lund, Sherman and Jane DeZeeuw and Paul and Jill Borreson. Thank you to everyone that donated over the last month.

More Donors

Good Morning! Since my last post, we have received a number of donations to the golf course project fund and one to the endowment fund. Over the last couple of weeks we have received donations to the golf course project fund from Craig and Jeanne Norgaard, Peterson Law Office (Glen Peterson), Curt and Darla Madsen, Greg Goodmund, Leland Isenberg, Don and Cillia Hughes in Memory of Doug Hess and Tim and Stacy O'Leary in Memory of Doug Hess. Curt and Darla Madsen also contributed to the endowment fund.

I am still working on the donor request letters for the endowment fund and I hope to get them out early next week. In the meantime, if you would like to make a tax deductible donation to either the golf course project or the endowment fund, you can make your check out to TACF and make a note on the check that indicates which fund you would like you donation put to. And mail that check to TACF, PO Box 239, Tyler, MN 56178.

February Update

Good Afternoon to everyone!
Since my last post we have received additional donations and I will start this posting by noting these donations. For the endowment fund, we received another memorial donation from Buzz and Joyce Dass. For the golf course project fund, we received donations from Steve Thomsen, Shirley Schnell, Dan and Joann Schak, Roger and Julie Isenburg, Harold Madsen, Mel Bornhoft and Pastor Lyle Snyder. To date, $205,550 has been raised for the Club House remodeling project, but it looks like they need between $80,000 to $100,000 to finish the project.

In regards to the endowment fundraising drive, the Tyler Area Community Foundation board of directors met on February 18th to identify individuals that will receive a fundraising request letter in the next couple of weeks. The endowment fund is like a savings account for the Tyler community. Your gift will be invested and never spent; only the income earned will be used for community grants. It is unrestricted in the sense that our local advisory board will direct grants based on local needs and opportunities that may change in the future. This flexibility will keep our community a viable and thriving place for years to come. We plan on using the letter to see if it is the most appropriate way to try and raise the remaining $11,000 needed to take full advantage of the $25,000 match challenge from our foundation partner, the Southwest Initiative Foundation (SWIF). Don't worry if you don't get a letter during this first round, we will working on ways to identify other individuals in the community to send our next round of letters. If you don't get a letter and you want to make an investment into the Community of Tyler, please send your donation to TACF, PO Box 239, Tyler, MN 56178 and make your check out to TACF with a note on your check that the donation be put to the endowment fund or the project fund(if you want to donate to the golf course project). Remember that any donation is tax-deductible and you will receive a receipt for your donation from the SWIF.

PS:Remember, when you invest in the TACF endowment fund, you invest in your community. Please send in your tax-deductible gift today.

January 15th Update

Good Morning!
It has been awhile and I thought that I better update everyone on donations that have bee received since my last post. We have received donations from the following people for the Foundation's Endowment Fund: Joyce and Buzz Dass, Tom and Carolyn Mundt, Jack Johnson, and East River Electric Power Cooperative. For the Golf Course Project, we have received donations from: Jim and Carol Kopel(2nd donation), Bo Duncan, Tom and Carolyn Mundt, Lyle and Dona Hanson, Merle and Shirley Hansen, Jack Johnson(2nd donation), and Jon Johnson. To date $192,850 has been raised for the Golf Club Project and as of November 30th a little over $14,000 has been raised for the Endowment Fund. This leaves us with $11,000 left to raise in 2010. The remaining $11,000 will be matched dollar for dollar by the Southwest Iniative Foundation.

As always, thank you to all of the donors for their investment in the Community of Tyler.