2010 Annual Report to the Community

Grantmaking is only one tool in the toolkit we use to make a difference in our community.

In addition to making grants, we also play a critical role as a convener, collaborator and catalyst. We are much stronger, and we are able to accomplish more and greater things, when we work together to address complex and difficult issues.

Convener
Better Together Cincinnati – the funding collaborative formed to implement recommendations of Cincinnati CAN after 2001’s racial unrest – is wrapping up its work with a summary report Cincinnati in Black and White: A Decade Later. The report chronicles some of the successes and challenges in our community’s response to a difficult time in Cincinnati’s history. The collaboration and the lessons learned about reducing racial disparities continue through the work of the Greater Cincinnati Workforce Network, Strive Partnership, place matters, and Weathering the Economic Storm.

Collaborator
United Way of Greater Cincinnati and the Strive Partnership were awarded one of 11 federal Social Innovation Fund grants, the only local community in the nation to receive one of these prestigious awards of $2 million over two years. GCF and other funders are co-investing in taking high-performing cradle-to-career programs to scale in 2011 and 2012.

Donors of the Future is a collaboration among the Lois and Richard Rosenthal Foundation, Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, ArtsWave, United Way, University of Cincinnati, Xavier University and GCF to inspire greater giving in the region. The group hosted Jeffrey Solomon, co-author with Charles Bronfman of The Art of Giving, for a discussion of intergenerational giving with some of Cincinnati’s most philanthropic families.

Catalyst
The Women’s Fund of GCF launched 1000 Women Strong as a grassroots collective among women to create one strong voice on the issues impacting women and girls in our region. 1000 Women Strong includes an online community dialogue, a regular issue-focused newsletter and a $20/month commitment from donors.

The Greater Cincinnati Workforce Network (GCWN) helped secure a federal grant to prepare women to access nontraditional careers. GCWN also received an additional year of funding from the National Fund for Workforce Solutions.

GCF received a grant from The Rockefeller Foundation to develop a new impact investing program. It will allow people with donor advised funds at GCF to “recycle” their charitable dollars by investing in projects that will improve our community but are able to pay back the investment in time so that the money can be used again.

GCF is investing $500,000 over five years in the energy retrofit of nonprofit organizations  through a partnership with the Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance.

Grants for Kids – Learning Links and Summertime Kids – turned 20! Thanks to these small but mighty grants, thousands of children have benefited from programming during the school year and the summer! Thanks to our longtime supporters, including the Charles H. Dater Foundation.

GCF facilitated a swift and generous response from our donors following the devastating earthquake in Haiti, including a huge outpouring from donors associated with our partner Procter & Gamble’s Disaster Relief Fund.

• $70 million in grants were made by GCF in 2010, both from donor advised funds and from funds entrusted to GCF over almost 50 years.
• 65,000 individuals were served through grants from the Weathering the Economic Storm partnership, now in its third year of helping individuals and organizations on the long road to economic recovery.
• Individuals and organizations established 46 new funds and made $63 million in gifts to funds at GCF.
• By December 31, 2010, GCF had recovered 37 percent of its net assets from the recession low point of $331 million in March 2009.
• More than $5 million in grants were awarded from unrestricted and field of interest funds through GCF’s competitive grant process and community leadership initiatives.
• The HealthPath Foundation of Ohio, a supporting organization of GCF, approved more than $1 million in grants for family violence prevention, healthcare access, oral health and safety net services.
• GCF helped to facilitate more than $3 million in grants from our six private foundation clients.
• More than $1.2 million was committed to improve cradle-to-career education systems in the region.
• $282,647 was distributed through Grants for Kids, benefitting our region’s children through school and summer educational programs.
• $287,938 was distributed by the Greater Cincinnati Workforce Network to help low-income adults attain good jobs while helping businesses access skilled workers.
• $1,500,000 in mission-related investments (loans, equity) was approved in 2010.

We welcomed new Governing Board members Christopher L. Fister and Teri L. List-Stoll.

We said farewell after nine years of board service to Wym Portman and Paul Chellgren.

Nancy Swanson completed three years of service as Chair of the Board, handing the leadership to David Ellis for 2011.

The Northern Kentucky Fund of GCF awarded the seventh annual Devou Cup to Judy Clabes. The Devou Cup honors those who have made a difference in the Northern Kentucky community.

We welcomed Shiloh Turner as the new Vice President for Community Investment and said farewell to Ellen Gilligan after more than 12 years at GCF. Ellen is now the CEO of The Greater Milwaukee Foundation.

We welcomed Melissa Currence, Interactive Media Project Manager; Linda Hillyer, Giving Strategies Assistant; Robert Killins, Jr., Program Director for Economic Development and the Environment; Melissa Krabbe, Senior Accountant and Suzanne Rohlfs, Director of Professional Advisor Relations, to the staff.

We hired former Haile Fellow LaToya Moore as an Associate Program Officer and welcomed new Haile Fellow Tova Suddarth.

Links:

• GCF Governing Board
• GCF Committees and Task Forces
• GCF Staff

Grants for Kids – Learning Links and Summertime Kids – turned 20! Thanks to these small but mighty grants, thousands of children have benefited from programming during the school year and the summer! Thanks to our longtime supporters, including the Charles H. Dater Foundation.

The first grants were given in 1991 for Summertime Kids and were expanded the next year to include Learning Links.

In the last 20 years, Summertime Kids has awarded more than 2,000 grants, totaling nearly $2 million. 

Learning Links has given more than 2,500 grants for a total of $2 million since 1992.

Special thanks to the many volunteers have helped in the grantmaking process over the years. More than 600 volunteers have helped in the Grants for Kids process. That makes 4,500 volunteer hours!

Watch all our annual report videos below or on our YouTube channel at youtube.com/user/GCFonline.

Welcome by Kathy Merchant

Marcus from Avondale/Every Child Succeeds' A Solider program

Lafawnda Sanderson, Avondale/Every Child Succeeds community liaison

Andy Holzhauser - Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance

Weathering the Economic Storm Update by LaToya Moore

Grants for Kids Update by Karen Bond

• Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Below is the complete listing of our funds in 2010.

• Designated Funds
• Donor Advised Funds 
• New Funds for 2010  
• Field of Interest Funds 
• Organization Funds 
• Scholarship Funds 
• Unrestricted Funds 
• Clermont County Funds 
• Northern Kentucky Funds 

To view our up-to-date financial information, including our IRS 990, please visit our Financial & Investment Information page.

Here you'll find

• GCF's Form 990 and Audit Report
• Investment Information and Options
• Investment Performance
• Investment Firm Relationships

Download our full report here as a PDF