ST. LOUIS, MO--(Marketwired - April 04, 2017) - The venerable St. Louis Community Foundation closed out its 2016 fiscal year with strength, making more than 4,000 grants on behalf of its donors to nonprofits around the globe. Of these grants, which totaled nearly $40 million, 85 percent remained in the St. Louis region and supported local charitable organizations.
It should be noted that the Community Foundation converted to a fiscal year ending on December 31. As a result, year-end results for the 2016 fiscal year reflect a nine-month period extending from April 1 to December 31, 2016.
During the 2016 fiscal year, the Community Foundation received nearly $70 million in new gifts from donors and ended the period with $347 million in assets. In the 12 months that comprised fiscal year 2015, the Community Foundation made 4,300 grants totaling $63.2 million and closed with just over $300 million in assets.
"By all measures, 2016 was our second-best year for donor gifts behind 2015, and our asset base grew 14.5 percent," said Amelia A.J. Bond, president and CEO of the St. Louis Community Foundation. "Thanks to donor generosity and engagement, we are among the fastest growing community foundations in the country, according to industry statistics. In fact, we were the second-fastest growing community foundation in 2015."
Since 2012, the Community Foundation has pumped more than $221 million to regional nonprofits on behalf of its donors.
"Unlike off-the-shelf donor-advised funds offered by financial services firms, our donors receive informed advice and personalized assistance from our philanthropy experts at the Community Foundation," said Bond. "Moreover, we connect our donors with other donors in the community, which often provides added lift and perspective as we work together to address our community's needs and take advantage of opportunities."
Give STL Day - Thursday, May 11
While not part of the organization's annual totals, Bond also announced that this year's Give STL Day, St. Louis' 24-hour day of giving, will be held on Thursday, May 11. For more information and to register, organizations should visit GiveSTLDay.org. Nonprofit registration for the event is currently underway and closes on April 14.
Powered by the St. Louis Community Foundation, three previous Give STL Day events have raised nearly $5.5 million for hundreds of local nonprofits. Last year's effort raised $2.15 million -- the most ever -- despite unexpected technology challenges.
"Last year clearly demonstrated that nothing stands in the way of St. Louis' generosity, and we along with all of the participating nonprofits remain grateful," said Bond. "As we planned our 2017 Give STL Day activities, we listened to the nonprofits and they understandably wanted to see changes on the technology front, so we took action."
According to Bond, after an extensive search, the Community Foundation partnered with CiviCore, which has worked with nonprofits and public service agencies for more than 15 years. "We're confident that CiviCore's technology platform has the bandwidth and multiple redundancies necessary to handle the online volume generated by St. Louis' spirit of philanthropy," Bond added. "We're once again looking forward to seeing what St. Louis can do in a day."
About the St. Louis Community Foundation
Since its founding in 1915 as one of the nation's first community foundations, the goal of the St. Louis Community Foundation has been to increase charitable giving within the St. Louis region and expand the impact charitable dollars have on improving the quality of life in our area and beyond.
The St. Louis Community Foundation is a nonprofit foundation composed of more than 570 charitable funds with total assets of approximately $382 million. Each fund represents a unique charitable-giving partnership between an individual, family, or business and designated nonprofit recipients. Since 1990, more than $350 million in grants have been distributed, with approximately 80% remaining in the St. Louis region. For more information about the St. Louis Community Foundation, please visit stlgives.org.
Contact Information:
For more information, contact:
Margaret Welch
314-703-1215