The Foraker Group

Imagine a Sunday morning in 1970s Alaska. Two small girls are dragging a folding table, two chairs, and a sticky jug of lemonade to a neighborhood street corner in Anchorage. Cups and determination in hand, they set up shop for a long day of selling their lemonade at 50 cents a cup. What could be simply any other Saturday in any town is nothing short of a lifetime memory and the setting for a lifetime commitment.

You see, I was one of those girls. And this was no ordinary lemonade stand. This one was set up to save dogs. Yep, with each purchase of one of those sticky Dixie cups of lemonade you received a handmade sticker with the words “Save Dogs” on it. And all that money? It went to the animal shelter – you guessed it – to save dogs. This was my first true memory of philanthropy. A word that means love of humankind, which I translate as the ability to show love to humankind.

I share this story with you because it is one of my first memories of understanding the power of money, and because it demonstrates what I know is true; we are all philanthropists. We might have a lot of money or a little. We might give a mile wide to many causes or a mile deep to just a few. We might be moved to action by giving to organizations and people impacted by tragedies like those in Squirrel Hill or through moments of celebration like online birthday campaigns.  And yes, philanthropy is more than money. The culture and subsistence life of Alaska Native peoples has shown brightly as a 10,000 year tradition of philanthropy and a lesson for all Alaskans to learn from in our state and around the world.

And because of all of our rich histories, many of us learned as children about the infinite wisdom and joy of giving back, even while some of us are learning its powerful force for good as adults. What I know now as an adult is that it all matters.

There is so much to say about the incredible work of Alaska’s nonprofits. Every day I see the power of amazing Alaskans doing incredible work in sometimes impossible situations – all in the name of improving their communities. I know you see this too. And philanthropy is essential to it all.

Philanthropy from foundations, corporations, and individuals has a powerful influence on program infrastructure, quality of life, education, our environment, and jobs across Alaska. Philanthropy is powerful in its own right and we know that it often leverages other investments, multiplying the impact in communities throughout Alaska.

Truly no matter how you travel throughout Alaska, every day Alaska’s nonprofits and all of us as volunteers, donors, stakeholders, and investors ensure Alaska’s quality of life, protect our health, and foster our economy today and well into the future. I invite you to look around and see the nonprofits that impact your life every day in Alaska. Not just where you work but where you play and give.

Recently, I had the pleasure of helping to mark the 70th anniversary of International Credit Union Day. At the event, Alaska USA Foundation donated $100,000 to the Financial Reality Foundation, a nonprofit that provides consumers of all ages an opportunity to learn about personal finance. While this wonderful philanthropic investment did not get a lot of fanfare, it was a powerful moment and an example of how philanthropy happens every day in this state whether we see it or not.

We have other bright spots that shine in our philanthropy landscape. Our most recent data shows that family foundations and Alaska Native education foundations are making great strides to serve Alaskans. Indeed, of the top 15 private philanthropy funds in Alaska, only two don’t fall into one of those two categories. Across Alaska we are investing in Alaskans.

Individual Americans and Alaskans are giving, too. In 2017, according to Giving USA $410.02 billion in charitable funds were given to the nonprofit sector across the country. As I also just noted for Alaska, family foundations are the fastest kind of private foundation in the country – in essence more than 85% of the philanthropy in this country is coming from individuals and families.

This data only tells some of the story. We know it does not capture contributions by individuals who do not itemize or those who give outside a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. It also does not talk about how the funds are distributed. These are conversations for another time, but please note how critically important it is to fully understand these issues.

We have remarkable programs in Alaska that promote individual philanthropy like Pick.Click.Give. which has made it possible for Alaskans to give a portion of their permanent fund dividend to causes they love. We have a generous corporate community, long standing and new foundations, thriving community foundations, strong United Ways, and you. At Foraker, we are also dedicated to growing philanthropy by working with your board, staff, and volunteers to strengthen your philanthropic culture. And we join with others like the Association of Fundraising Professionals to celebrate Alaska philanthropy each November with National Philanthropy Day. There is so much to celebrate.

Many of you can connect to philanthropy in other ways through your civic engagement, so I want to highlight ways we can all show “love of humankind.” In my work with nonprofits, we focus on finding the people who already care about each mission and the greater causes rather than spending time convincing people to care. We know Alaskans care about many issues and like you, each one of us rolls out of bed in the morning and decides how we will express that devotion. We have so many ways we can do that.

Perhaps your way is by volunteering your time in your neighborhood school, or by picking up trash on your street, or by placing a little library in your yard. Or maybe you prefer to donate to immediate needs in your community or swim up-stream and give to prevention and social change organizations. Maybe you want to or are serving on a nonprofit board, offering your guidance and wisdom, or you are serving as a mentor to a young Alaskan. I hope all of you are finding your civic engagement by exercising your right to vote. Each of these acts matters, and the ripple effect is limitless.

Philanthropy comes in so many forms. We can show up as individuals, as companies, and as foundations. We can give our time, our talent, and our treasure, and we can do it once or every day.

It might start with a lemonade stand or a profound gift. What I know for sure is that once you start, it is hard to stop. This habit has been shown to lengthen your lifespan and improve your happiness!

In this month of giving thanks and feeling gratitude, I thank you. Thank you for being part of the nonprofit sector. Thank you for your philanthropy – both what you have done and what you have yet to do.