President's Letter

On a recent trip to Hagerman, I saw a framed portrait of one of our state’s most famous residents — Ernest Hemingway. In 1939 he came to Idaho by invitation from the Union Pacific Railroad Company to promote their new Sun Valley Lodge. Next to his portrait was a quote from his visit: “...a lot of state, this Idaho, that I didn’t know about.” He spent part of the next 20 years learning enough about our state that he finally took up permanent residence here in 1959. 

Hemingway’s quote resonates with me because it seems that in a way, his quote applies to the Idaho Community Foundation as well.  “...a lot of Foundation, this ICF, that I didn’t know about.” Nearly every day I visit with people who don’t know about the Idaho Community Foundation. They are amazed to hear such an organization exists. They are delighted to hear about all the people who have created funds with ICF and the impact we’ve had across the state. Their reaction is always that same, “so much…that I didn’t know about.”

This year, we adopted a goal of granting at least $20 million per year by our 40th anniversary in 2028. This is an ambitious goal, but it is what Idaho communities need from us — to continue to build the Idaho Community Foundation to help meet the needs of our rapidly growing state. 

This means that we will need to work with hundreds of Idahoans to create charitable funds that help them take care of their communities. The first step in making this happen is for people to know the ICF story.

We adopted a second goal of telling our story 20,000 times per year through our 40th anniversary. This is a challenging goal. Idaho is a big place. As Hemingway said “...a lot of state this Idaho.” This is where we need your help — telling our story.

Recently we created this document that provides an overview of the Idaho Community Foundation and our work throughout the state. If you have trouble explaining what we do or aren’t sure you’ll get it right, we want to help. If you know someone who should know about ICF, then please share In Idaho For Good with them. If you prefer, you can print it and share it that way. We appreciate that you’ve chosen ICF as your partner in charitable giving and we hope that you will tell your friends. We hope this makes it easy for you to do so. 

Thank you. 

Best wishes,
Steve Burns

Help us celebrate East Idaho Philanthropy!

We are proud to be your partners in charitable giving. Together, we granted more than $1.4 million in east Idaho communities from Island Park to Bear Lake in 2022. Since our grantmaking began in 1990, we’ve granted more than $25 million in the region!

We’ll share some of the stories behind the numbers at our in-person Celebration of Philanthropy this month. We will recognize retiring Board Director Steve Carr as a champion of philanthropy by presenting him with the Friend of the Foundation Award, which recognizes exceptional contributions to the Idaho Community Foundation and to Idaho. Deadline to RSVP is May 10.

Date: Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Time: 6:30-8:30 p.m. (award presentation at 7:30 p.m.)
Location: Museum of Idaho, 200 N. Eastern Ave., Idaho Falls
Cost: $50 per person, includes hearty appetizers, beer, wine, cider and nonalcoholic beverages, and admission to the museum exhibits.

Idaho Gives, the statewide day of giving hosted by the Idaho Nonprofit Center, is back for its 11th year! Last year, nearly 14,000 donors gave nearly $3.7 million to community organizations throughout the state. Idaho Gives runs May 1-4.

We are excited to partner with the Idaho Nonprofit Center to make it easy for ICF Donor Advised Funds to support Idaho Gives. Using your DAF to give is as simple as 1-2-3!

1. Visit the Idaho Gives website and decide which community organization(s) you wish to support.
   
   
2. When you checkout, you’ll see an option for Donor Advised Fund. From the dropdown menu titled “Where are your funds held?” select “Idaho Community Foundation” and complete the transaction.
   
   OR
   
   Send an email to Sarah Wissenbach telling her which organization(s) you’d like to support and in what amounts.
   
   
3. Keep an eye on the Idaho Gives website to see how your favorite organizations are doing. Grants from ICF Donor Advised Funds will be considered toward prizes for your nonprofit!

Thank you for choosing the Idaho Community Foundation as your partner in charitable giving. Together, we are making Idaho communities even better through philanthropy.

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