[0:00:01] Dan: I think no matter who the listener is, there's a nonprofit that they can connect with or could help them. That could be for a truly that's the benefit of the sector, there's something for everyone. And so if somebody needs assistance or is having a hard time or is on a fixed income and inflation is having them make hard decisions. There are organizations and or programs either because of the zip code or the age of the recipient for them. And so if anybody that has any unfulfilled part of their life, I would say that there's a nonprofit that can help them. And one of the best front doors to start exploring what that looks like is, is to call two one one. And that's hands on is the organization. And that could be, again, the referral to a pantry. It could get somebody in the queue for eviction prevention dollars. So that's like the safety net. And so if anybody is having a hard time or even mental health resources and referrals, I would say that's probably a really good place to start. If somebody has surplus time on their hands and they want to give back and they know that they care about X, Y or Z, I'd encourage that they go to the columbusfoundation.org to the giving store, which can be searched by keyword. And so that keyword based on the last question, could be youth philanthropy or it could be grandparents or it could be intellectual disabilities.

[0:01:36] Brett: We are looking forward our way from Studio C in the five one one studios in the Brewery District just south of downtown Columbus, Ohio. Hi. This is Brett. Carol and I have been actively involved in our communities through various volunteer opportunities. We know firsthand the value of helping our neighbors and strengthening the community one step at a time, though today we have the opportunity to share with you the incredible work accomplished in central Ohio. We're honored to be hosting. Dan Sharp, vice president of Community Research and Grants Management for the Columbus Foundation. Dan, thank you for joining us.

[0:02:09] Dan: Thank you for the invitation.

[0:02:10] Brett: We were just talking. We had you on our previous podcast, the first iteration of this, but seems like 20 years ago.

[0:02:17] Dan: I think we are measuring life in dog years.

[0:02:20] Brett: Very good to have you back.

[0:02:21] Carol: Yeah, well, and we're doing a lot of different programs coming from different needs in the community and we always try to include resources for our listeners. Well, what better place to go than the Columbus Foundation as a resource for what's going on? We've always been good volunteers for nonprofit organizations. But until I was involved in the management of a nonprofit, I'm not sure I really understood. And actually being in the midst of it made things a lot different for me. And I had no idea the vast extent of resources available in our community. I want to say we have an impact of over 9000 nonprofits in central Ohio. Lots for us to talk about, but first I want to talk about you, your background, your experiences, what you've done, sort of what led you to this philanthropic role that you play.

[0:03:18] Dan: Well, certainly talking about the Columbus Foundation is going to be more exciting to everybody's ears, and I feel very fortunate to be in the position that I am and see it as a stewardship role for our community. The Columbus Foundation has been around for almost 80 years and has many more bright years ahead of it serving Central Ohio. I'm also passionate about the mission because I born and raised in Central Ohio. My undergraduate is from Ohio Wesleyan in politics and government and economics management, and my master's degree is from Ohio University, the Voynovich School, and it's a public administration. And so all of those academic titles coursework, I feel, have prepared me very well to have an understanding of the civic infrastructure and landscape and how the interconnected nature of public policy, relationships, fundraising, and community challenges. And so that's the that's the about me side of of the work. But I've been at the organization for 17 years, about five years in my current role, working with very talented colleagues on the grant making side. The organization is fortunate to have talented colleagues across the organization, and the grant making side is one of my favorite parts and aspects of what we do.

[0:04:34] Carol: It was my favorite, too, especially when you were sending me a check.

[0:04:37] Dan: Yes. Because of the generosity of our donors.

[0:04:40] Carol: Exactly. It certainly played a great role in my organization. So thank you for that support over all those years.

[0:04:48] Dan: Well, you're welcome. And we need great organizations to inspire our donors to do great things through their generosity.

[0:04:54] Carol: True.

[0:04:54] Dan: So chicken or the egg? However you want to look at it, the nonprofits fuel tanks aren't able to be filled without donors generosity. Donors cyclical, right?

[0:05:03] Carol: Very true.

[0:05:04] Dan: Happy to play our part in that cycle.

[0:05:07] Brett: Yeah. Well, as you mentioned, you've been around for nearly 80 years. A little bit over 80 years. Listeners may not understand the role of a community foundation or even realize the size of the Columbus Foundation or what a foundation really does do. I mean, we hear about other cities foundations, Cleveland Foundation. But could you talk about the Columbus Foundation and what it's achieved and really what a foundation's role is in this whole pushing money in the right directions, put it that way.

[0:05:40] Dan: Really good question. That the base is, we'll say a little F for foundation. A foundation is intended to be a charitable vehicle to, over the longer period, care for a priority. So you could have a family foundation, a business could set up a foundation, in our instance, a community foundation. And we were formed in 1943. So during World War II, some very conscientious community members came together and said, we need to think about the good work and and preparing for our future as a community. And so the community foundation platform, which has only increased in popularity, is all across the country. Many communities have them. And there is, by and large a geographic focus to a community foundation and that would inherently be the community that they are in. But we are able to service our donors desires all across the United States. And last year we did more than 4000 organizations in terms of contributions. So we'll talk more about that in terms of our scope in the national context. But a financial services vehicle is probably the best analogous thought to what a foundation is. But for the good of the community and because of the generosity of Central Ohio and that longevity that we've had, we are by asset size within the top ten in the nation. We have over $3 billion under management and that certainly affords us to dispense dollars through grant making and at donor direction.

[0:07:20] Dan: Whether their donors are deceased or are actively engaged in their philanthropy, we're able to serve them through a variety of vehicles under our roof. And that's exciting too. I can get too philanthropically wonky about some of our products and all of the different ways to do it and gifts of appreciated stocks or IRA rollover all these vehicles that are levers, if you will, that are there to be able to be pulled upon to help an individual become a donor and do good in the community.

[0:07:50] Brett: And it doesn't necessarily take a certain amount of money to do that, does it?

[0:07:54] Dan: There is a minimum to create a donor advised fund and that would be $10,000 but are given.

[0:08:02] Brett: But that's still a lot less than most people. You think, oh, you have to have millions of dollars.

[0:08:05] Dan: Correct? Right, it is. And there are other community foundations where the minimum is a six figure. But we have always been very accessible. And I think that's what surprises most people that don't think of themselves as a donor in a traditional millionaire sense. But we absolutely have a wonderful family of donors at $10,000 and up. Our Giving Store, which is the online catalog of nonprofit organizations, you can give a gift through the Giving Store directly to those organizations for as little as $20 through credit card, Apple, Pay, PayPal.

[0:08:40] Carol: Well, even though the emphasis is on money, money from donors going to organizations, what I saw with the Columbus Foundation as a resource of information, so it's not just the method of giving the money and all those levers. But I called the foundation one day and I said, somebody is going to give me stock as a donation. Can you do that in a small agency? There's no way we could make that happen because there are things that have to occur for that individual to get the tax write off of the donation. And how do you do stock? I mean, it's just that information that support the caring of nonprofits regardless of the size. That's where I see how the foundation, the Columbus Foundation, has played such a major role in our community.

[0:09:39] Dan: Well, thank you. We do want to lean into that community component, and we traffic a lot in the community knowledge and being a resource. And whether that's to donors or to nonprofits or folks that are thinking about becoming a donor, or folks that are thinking about serving the community and is becoming a nonprofit the right avenue for them to do what they intend to do, right?

[0:10:01] Carol: Our focus here is to really look at nonprofits and their role in a community. People recognize the big names. They recognize the medical places st. Jude's hospital or nationwide children's or the American Heart association for national organizations. And those large organizations are phenomenal, but it's really within a community. It's those smaller groups that are likely doing the more direct services to folks on a daily basis. If somebody asked you, what are nonprofits and why would they want to help me, how would you reply?

[0:10:43] Dan: I'd like to point out that the nonprofit sector is the third largest sector in the United States behind retail and manufacturing. So while we hold in our hearts this affinity for the cute little charity doing good work, it's big business. Big business. And nonprofits need to think about themselves as running like a business, right? They have budgets, they have human resources, human capital. There's a lot of parallels to how businesses run and scaling and mission and marketing that I think a lot of people don't necessarily think of when they think of the nonprofit sector. And so those household name organizations certainly are run like businesses and small grassroots organizations, and even with volunteers, and you have boards and bylaws and there are expectations of these. But the question about what is a nonprofit and how might it help me? We're fortunate to have organizations really fulfilling an array of a to Z arts to zoos in our community. If somebody is maybe having a hard time financially, we have resources in the community that can be helpful. Lift up the two one one as the central call line to be connected to everything from food pantry to monetary assistance to in some cases, home weatherization to help people stay in their home or age in place. And then you can think of nonprofit organizations if you have some surplus time on your hands and you're looking to give back. And we often talk about time, talent and treasure or work, wisdom and wealth. It takes all of those to have a successful community. And the nonprofits are a great avenue to having a successful community.

[0:12:25] Carol: Well, as you said, nonprofits are businesses. And I think that was the huge lesson I learned as a nonprofit manager. And normally a business makes a widget and sells it, and then they make another widget and they sell it. But in a nonprofit, you make the widget, you give it away, you find some more money so that you can make it again. So there's really an extra added layer of work to be done. So I don't want to say it's more complicated or more our harder, but there is more to a nonprofit actually being able to be successful in their business to keep their doors open.

[0:12:59] Dan: Absolutely, Carol. And in recent times, the notion of earned revenue, that it's okay for an organization to earn money through that widget or service. So it could be an organization like Freedom All la carte that is working with women who are survivors of human trafficking or have had addiction. And they know that to be self sustaining, they need to have a stable work history and some workforce skills. And so in addition to being a delicious cafe and catering company, which is a wonderful part of a business model, they are employing those that they intend to serve by their mission. And so they're creating this phenomenal community of those that they're serving, and then they're creating a phenomenal community of supporters who go there for the delicious food or want to ensure that they're spending their dollar and having a cause go along with it. And so it's okay for organizations to earn their revenue. And in most cases, you see it being reinvested into the mission and purpose that the organization has been established.

[0:14:07] Carol: Right. And none of the organizations are sitting on money or giving money away. I mean, it's all going back to making the organization stronger, better, doing more services.

[0:14:19] Dan: Right. And to the notion of sitting on money as a business. It's important for nonprofits to have reserves, right. The rainy day fund and more and more we're having conversations over the past.

[0:14:30] Carol: Year, couple of years, everybody's rainy day.

[0:14:34] Dan: And if you didn't have it because maybe board members were of a certain mindset that we need to reinvest everything in the organization or margins or overhead. We're having conversations with donors about the importance of acknowledging that it takes people to run the organization. So of course there's going to be overhead or of course there's a personnel budget. It's not all going to be in kind and volunteer if you're going to scale or have great breadth and depth. And so having wise plans for reserves is one way that we do help nonprofit organizations, largely through our endowment fund services, but also working with them and connecting them to donors who have an understanding of the importance of what a balance sheet looks like for the organization.

[0:15:14] Brett: Yes. Well, I guess I'd forgotten how many nonprofits are in our region. 9000. That's hard to put your head around.

[0:15:22] Dan: I would even say that's low, really, by saying some count houses of worship, which are our nonprofit status. So that may inflate the number, but to say, yeah, more than 9000, you're not lying. Right.

[0:15:35] Brett: Are we typical in our community of having 9000 compared to, like in Indianapolis cities? Do you know? I mean, are we rich in nonprofits compared to other cities of our size?

[0:15:48] Dan: Brett, that's a great question. I don't know that I do know the answer.

[0:15:51] Brett: Okay, because I know it seems as though and I guess this leads forward. The next section of this question I have is that we do have nonprofits that are making some major impact in variety of areas. It seems that we have things that cover everything almost with 9000 you'd think in every area. So could you talk about some stories, success stories of things that have happened because those nonprofits exist?

[0:16:15] Dan: That's my favorite part of the job is to talk about those successes and brag on the sector and brag on organizations. And I'm fond of saying A to Z Arts to Zoos and everything in between because I really do think that's illustrative of how the sector is set up. But in many cases and within the philanthropic field, there's not an argument, but there is conversation about how many is too many. Does it become competition in the fundraising sphere or services being diluted or organizations being held back because there's too many? Well, I would prefer to use the collaboration word over competition. And in many cases we see organizations staying in their lane of travel based on their mission. But in also some cases we see organizations with mission creep, and that's not always sustainable. Mergers and acquisitions are a thing or program line ceasing so that there's this really lively ecosystem within the sector. In some cases, things like a star's life cycle, they might burn out or they may grow and be able to be sustained and do good work. So that's like the macro view because we do get to work with so many organizations and we take our responsibility to our donors very seriously. We have some platforms that we utilize to try to share those stories of organizations. And chiefly, I'd say five nonprofits. To Watch is one platform of ours, as well as the Columbus Foundation Award, which is given annually, you could kind of say, to a top nonprofit within the year. And most recently, the five nonprofits that we had lifted up were Halt Violence, which is working with young men to get them out of the cycle of street violence and gang life. The Martin de Porous Center, which is focused on Latinx families and youth, muslim Family Services, which provides a lot of the culturally centered community care for individuals, root, which stands for Restoring Our Own Through Transformation.

[0:18:28] Dan: And it's a black family led, community based organization focused on the well being of maternal health and families. And then Sanctuary Night, which is a newer organization, really, on Sullivan Avenue working with women who are actively being trafficked and ensuring that they know that they are loved and have the resources for physical health, mental health and everything in between. And then if there's an opportunity for a lifestyle change. Sanctuary night. Dan Be a conduit for that. And then this year's Columbus Foundation Award winner was Directions for Youth and Families, long over 100 years of service in our community. But through also mergers, acquisitions, it's now currently known as Directions for Youth and Families and deploys behavioral health, mental health specialists to all corners of our community through a really unique home based service model to make sure that youth have access to mental health services and counseling. And then they also run summer programming and after school really wrap around holistic support. And the timing for them was important. This year, I feel to elevate because of all those acute needs of the last two years of that age group, that demographic and the challenges in school and the spike in youth violence that we've seen. And Directions for Youth and Families is in the middle of that. And they're thriving and serving as many as they can. And they're opening a new 20,000 square foot community center off of Kimberly Parkway and court right, an area of town that really doesn't have a library branch or a YMCA branch or a lot of community resources. And so they're expanding to uniquely meet and serve families over there.

[0:20:16] Brett: That has got to be one of the most difficult jobs, is to pick those nonprofits to spotlight.

[0:20:23] Dan: It is.

[0:20:24] Brett: It has to, because there has to be so many doing great jobs, but exciting too.

[0:20:28] Dan: But at the same time, yeah, not just for awards like that, but when it comes down to grant making. Even one of our recent application pools for capital investments had four times the requests than what we had available. I'd say 98% of them had great merit and they're strong organizations. And so saying no is not the fun part of the job. But to get the right grant investment opportunity is what we have to take seriously. And that's why it's a little bit of an art, a little bit of a science, and truly complex. We hope we get it right every time.

[0:21:03] Brett: Right?

[0:21:06] Carol: But the work that the foundation has been doing all of these years really can lead you to those good decisions because you know the organizations and you have a feel for what's happening. When I was the director of a nonprofit, I'll bet you a month did not go by in the eleven years I was there that somebody didn't call and say, I want to start my own nonprofit. Can I talk to you about what that's like? And usually my first comment was, no, you don't.

[0:21:33] Brett: I don't think she helped add to that.

[0:21:35] Carol: No, pretty sure I did not. And it's not that I didn't think that their idea was great, but usually what I would talk to them about is, this is your idea. Now, if you go and look at where these resources are, here are the other twelve nonprofits already doing that. And so I'm not trying to defeat anybody's idea, but I also think it's really important for us to see how we can strengthen the nonprofits we have as opposed to more competition instead of collaboration. And there are ways that we can help and do that. So starting a nonprofit isn't necessarily the or even starting a new foundation. I mean, every time there's an issue in our country, somebody's starting a new foundation. And based around that issue, there's only so much money that people are going to give. And I don't think we'll ever run out, but it will certainly dilute. So that's my commentary, I guess, in the middle of all of this.

[0:22:46] Dan: Well, I think you're seeing donors habits changing to be responsive to that. Either they're leaning into it because it was a personal cause and they were close to the founder, but then once you get out of that first concentric circle, sometimes the momentum really dissipates.

[0:23:01] Carol: Right, yeah.

[0:23:02] Dan: Because maybe it was set up in the name of somebody who has been deceased and it's their family and friends and some time, some cases doesn't live on longer or have the same weight and momentum beyond that in a ring.

[0:23:17] Carol: Right. So going back to the last couple of years, it's been tough. Nonprofits have really suffered, but they have also pivoted, and I was very, very impressed. We recently did a podcast with representatives from New Directions, Career Center and Jewish Family Services to talk about what they did during the pandemic to help people who were job seekers and how that has affected their work and services going forward. You've heard from all of the nonprofits, I'm guessing, as to what they have done in order to pivot and to stay in business over the past few years. Can you give us a little overview of that?

[0:24:02] Dan: I think some of the pivots are here to stay and it has just drastically changed the way some organizations are doing business. To your point, Carol, not all are back to pre pandemic budget sizes, headcounts service areas, and in some cases, other organizations have not seen a backing off of the surge. So our Eviction numbers are pre pandemic levels and that's challenging. Our food pantry in the middlehow food collective food system is still higher than the highest point in the pandemic, so the surge has not subsided. And so that's challenging and certainly worth noting and talking about and supporting those organizations that are in the fight and doing the good work. Child care is another visceral example of what has happened in the pandemic. Right. They so shut down. You had to socially distance, which meant these organizations had to reduce their head count and how many they could serve workforce. It's documented that is woefully underpaid, which then means revolving door of staff members or hard to retain. And so how do you then get back up to full headcount when we no longer have these ratio restrictions? You can't find people to staff the classrooms as an example. And then what does that mean to that single mother who relies on childcare to get to her job? They're not case studies.

[0:25:32] Brett: These are lives, right?

[0:25:34] Dan: These are organizations. But there are visceral examples. Many of the food pantries during the pandemic went to boxed meals as opposed to choice pantry where you could walk in and pick wet protein and vegetables and dry goods and grains. And because of the contactless nature of it, the pantries had to put food in boxes and hand them to cars as they came through for drive throughs. That worked well, but obviously took away the access to choice, which was challenging. But some pantries have now gone to delivery models to make sure that the folks you can online order for some pantries. And so it very much mirrors the market and what the rest of the world is doing from a delivery standpoint. So I think some of those pivots are here to stay.

[0:26:23] Carol: Interesting. And that could affect the number of volunteers they need more or less depending on how it's set up, but possibly streamline and make it more efficient and better use so that the food is better used.

[0:26:39] Dan: And organizations are doing a really good job of thinking about efficiencies in all aspects. And so the use of virtual events allows. So we see a lot that are doing hybrid right now because they realize not everybody can make it to the venue at that day and time. But if they live stream it or record it, they can still have their message be shared and in some cases still monetize it if it's a fundraiser for them and somebody can still digest the organizational mission at their leisure. So I think that's a pivot that was a necessity. But I think there's an aspect for many organizations that that's here to stay.

[0:27:14] Carol: Right?

[0:27:15] Brett: Well, there are also nonprofits that literally support other nonprofits such as Bases Work in volunteer management and the Human Services Chamber in advocating for nonprofits. Is this a new variety of nonprofit agency and how do they strengthen philanthropic work?

[0:27:31] Dan: Brett, great question. I think it builds on what we've just talked about in terms of efficiency, organizations, bandwidth and collaboration. And so your question earlier about what all is in the sector and covering everything. In the instance of Bessa, they saw a niche that was not being covered, and so they wanted to help primarily corporate entities with associate engagement and deploying them into the community through an efficient model rather than maybe just that corporation having somebody in HR calling every food pantry to say, hey, when can we schedule a shift? How many people can you take? And then coordinating that in an inefficient fashion. Bessa uses a technology platform to really automate that, but they're also curating community and curating those events that then they're serving it up to that HR department to say, would your associates be interested in doing this? Essentially, it's a really distilled version, but they're, you know, creating community, deploying people. And that is, you know, a triple bottom line, if you will. They're a nonprofit organization employing people. So it's it's working well for them as an entity. The organizations that are featured within their service projects are getting horsepower of caring people that might become new donors, and then the participants are learning about, ideally, a new aspect of our community and in touch with a new organization. And then maybe there's a fourth benefit of those that are ultimately being served.

[0:29:02] Carol: Actually a fifth, because it's basically a networking model for young folks who want to meet other people.

[0:29:14] Dan: Anybody, not just young folks. That's a beautiful community in that regard.

[0:29:17] Carol: Absolutely. So it's an amazing opportunity to hone your professional skills if you're a job seeker. I mean, there's lots and lots of all of that job seeking stuff that falls right in, and it's just a great group.

[0:29:35] Dan: Yes. And Brett, you also asked about the human service chamber. And Carol, we start talking about nonprofits as businesses. So the Human Service Chamber of Franklin County, it mirrors a more traditional, business oriented chamber of commerce. And but for nonprofit organizations, they have more than 130 members, largely in the human service space, and they exist to bring value to their members, those human service agencies, and whether that's aggregating data, whether that's back office services, purchasing power, all of those ROI chamber would exactly.

[0:30:13] Brett: For profit businesses.

[0:30:14] Dan: Exactly so. Analogous in that sense. And so that's, again, about the collaboration, the bandwidth, and filling an important niche and need in our community.

[0:30:26] Carol: So I was reading some information recently. The bank of America did a survey. They were looking to discover who is giving to nonprofits, and they found that younger adults, those under 40, were playing a major role in donations. But they focused on the issues as opposed to focusing on the organizations, which is a little bit of a shift in philanthropic giving. Our nonprofits organizations need community support to meet their mission. But do you provide the various methods that are available for those who wish to support a nonprofit? Is this something that you've seen happen here?

[0:31:06] Dan: Well, the research that you're referencing is in partnership with the Indiana University Lily School of Philanthropy, which is the gold standard in philanthropic research. And the seminal piece that comes out every year is called Giving USA.

[0:31:18] Carol: Right.

[0:31:19] Dan: And it's just so rich with data on trends, who's giving, who's receiving. So religion is the largest recipient group and then followed by education and then human services. So those will be the top three gift receiving categories. And so the bank of America study was looking at those donor trends, and I don't know if tax changes were part of that, but right so now that the standard deduction amount has been increased and so many folks are not keeping all of. Those receipts to the level that they used to or giving to hit that deduction because the ceiling is higher. So I think we're seeing more people, especially under that threshold, just being more charitable in general. And so that often does fit into the causes. And then you get into the notion of needing to have trust in who you're giving to and are you comfortable with the work that they're doing, or because maybe the dollar amount is smaller per se, you are okay parting with it. There's a lot that's emerging and challenging about giving to causes without organizations because it all comes down to relationships. And I think from our standpoint as a foundation, we want to be in relationship with our donors, but we also want our donors to have a relationship with the organization so that they can see their dollars at work. But there's nothing wrong with supporting more broadly a cause as long as I would say you have that trust and understanding or you're being honest with yourself in terms of where it's going and how they're operating with it.

[0:33:02] Carol: That's interesting because I was really looking at it from a different perspective, and maybe it actually is the same. I'm just taking a while for my brain to go through this. I was concerned that the trend was where younger folks, those under 40, were donors, but more to organizations that were younger organizations. So their parents had been traditionally giving to Ronald McDonald house for years. And it's not that they didn't care about families whose children were in the hospital, but they were looking at other things that were more to what they had been learning in school, like environmental issues, that kind of thing. So I guess I was looking at the shift more from traditional funding patterns of organizations that have been around for a long time, as opposed to those that are kind of more up and coming.

[0:33:58] Dan: I think when we look at the donor and the stratification based on age, there are so many different trends that can be parsed out. And so I think younger donors are not at all of the mindset necessarily of year end giving because they haven't been raised like, got to get that in for the tax year percent. Organizations need dollars year round. They're engaging in crowdfunding platforms for these causes in organizations. And an older donor might be more apt to reply to a mailed appeal at the end of the year or have an expectation that the organization gives them return envelope, address stamps or something as a gift of gratitude. And younger donors might not be motivated by that or even open a direct mailer. So Giving USA also does parse out some of that generational giving differences.

[0:34:51] Carol: Is there a difference in younger folks being more involved in events that are fundraising events than older donors?

[0:35:02] Dan: The Anecdotal data that I would feel like I'm familiar with, I think has some to do with discretionary time and lower dollar amount. And so there's a lot of conversation too about board member service. So is the person 50 and up that has a professional experience to build on more intriguing to the nonprofit organization? Or is the young professional because of their maybe activated networks or broader right.

[0:35:31] Carol: In the employer standing, social media?

[0:35:33] Dan: Right. So that's something that you have to make the right selection for either the right hire or the right board placement. But I think there is a social component that we see in events but also through volunteering that does probably skew on a younger side.

[0:35:49] Carol: Well, I mean, if you think about it, 20 years ago, would we ever have thought Pelotonia, literally a bike trip would become the organization that it's become.

[0:35:59] Brett: With the millions of dollars and again, towards cause.

[0:36:02] Dan: Right. They have good partnerships with the Ohio State University Western Medical Center, but I think that's not to the sole extent of who they're supporting. So if you're a writer and a supporter, you know immediately it's synonymous with cancer research, right? As a cause.

[0:36:18] Brett: Right? Yeah, exactly. Well, let's keep going on with this generation idea, but maybe focusing on how parents can encourage their kids to grow into a giving spirit. How does that continue on? How have you seen best practices, I guess you could say, or good examples of how do these families continue to help their kids get excited about giving, whether it's time, talent, treasure, whatever it might be? How does one do that?

[0:36:48] Dan: Successfully, I think modeling the behavior first and foremost. And so as long as the parents or the adults in their lives are charitably inclined one way or another, that's volunteer service, you can model that good behavior. We're fortunate in central Ohio to have more organizations, but two that are really good examples for this conversation seeds of Caring and C Kids Dream, both working with children, both planting the seed of Philanthropy. One is more tied to school based philanthropic drives, educating about community needs, having kids raise money to go towards those causes and have curriculum around it would be C Kids Stream. And then Seeds of Caring is also focused on the youth demographic, two to twelve and a lot of theirs is curriculum based, but in home or community based settings with families. And a lot of it is hands on activities. Stuffing a Ziploc bag with hand warmers, a bottle of water, granola bar and a firming message in a card that the kids do all of that to hand to somebody that might be standing at a corner panhandling or at the end of a freeway ramp, but to make the connection for the kids. See, kids, Seeds of Caring has books and worksheets so that kids understand why they're putting things in these bags and who the beneficiaries are going to be. And so those are very visceral, hands on educational ways to spread kindness and understand the role of philanthropy are those two national organizations. They're both local here.

[0:38:36] Carol: So we will include that information on our resources sheet. What great information for parents to have.

[0:38:42] Dan: With small kids and grandparents. My family participates in Seeds of Caring and they had an activation on International Grandparents Day and so that was sensory bags for the developmentally disabled community. And so kids got to play with glitter and slime but also wrote cards and did art so that it would just brighten the person's day and they learned more about a different part of our population.

[0:39:16] Brett: Yeah.

[0:39:16] Carol: Interesting. Oh my gosh, that's great information, Tan. Thank you. When I wrote that question, I wasn't really sure where I was going with it. But I'm excited now.

[0:39:27] Brett: You knew exactly. Come on, you're a broke.

[0:39:31] Carol: My Goddaughter has two little ones. I'm going to get them involved. Very cool. Our podcasts always go way too quickly. The time that we spend with our guests goes so fast. We really want to give you an opportunity for some words of wisdom to the listeners, suggestions and advice on how to utilize nonprofits for their own needs, but then also how to support nonprofits.

[0:40:05] Dan: Well, thank you for that opportunity and again, thanks for the invitation for the conversation today. I think no matter who the listener is, there's a nonprofit that they can connect with or could help them. That's the benefit of the sector, right? There's something for everyone. And so if somebody needs assistance or is having a hard time or is on a fixed income and inflation is having them make hard decisions. There are organizations and or programs either because of the zip code or the age of the recipient for them. And so if anybody that has any unfulfilled part of their life, I would say that there's a nonprofit that can help them. And one of the best front doors to start exploring what that looks like is to call two one one. And that's hands on is the organization. And that could be, again, the referral to a pantry. It could get somebody in the queue for eviction prevention dollars. So that's like the safety net. And so if anybody is having a hard time or even mental health resources and referrals, I would say that's probably a really good place to start. If somebody has surplus time on their hands and they want to give back and they know that they care about X, Y or Z, I'd encourage that they go to the columbusfoundation.org, to the giving store which can be searched by keyword. And so that keyword based on the last question, could be youth philanthropy or it could be grandparents or it could be intellectual disabilities.

[0:41:42] Dan: And more than 1200 nonprofits in the eleven county central Ohio region are listed in there. And so individuals could learn more about those organizations and perhaps that's how they could spend their discretionary time by connecting to those organizations. And that could be the gateway or the conduit to that. And if it's in that treasure component, the Columbus Foundation has a wide variety of vehicles to receive gifts to deploy for community purposes, and that can be current day giving transactions. It could be estate planning and really anything in between. So if somebody's in a position in life where there might be some surplus assets or they need to be thinking about what happens when they pass, the Columbus foundation can be a really good resource and again, a conduit and a gateway to ensure that their wishes, their intents, and their causes that they care about. And specific organizations can receive their generosity long after they're gone.

[0:42:41] Brett: Well, Dan, thanks for providing some incredible insights into the world of nonprofits, the value they bring to our community every day. Listeners, thanks for joining us. Don't forget to check out our show notes for contact information. We're going to have resources on our website as well at looking forward our way.com and then a direct link right to Columbus Foundation too. Just click a button, you'll go right there and find out everything. So we're looking forward to hearing your feedback on this in any of our podcast episodes.