The Community Endowment Challenge will provide challenge grants to fund endowments within the Lubbock Area Foundation for participating organizations. Participating organizations will receive a contribution to their endowment equal to 50% of the amount they raise in new endowment funds. Participating organizations will also receive funding for operating support equivalent to 4% of the asset value of the endowment as though the endowment were already producing income during the first year.

Example:

Endowment Goal:               $100,000

Matching Grant:                      50,000

Operating Support:                   6,000

Benefit to Organization:  $156,000

As the Community Endowment Challenge is intended to generate new endowment money, an organization may not use its own existing endowment or reserves for the program with the exception of the $10,000 initial contribution. Pledges must be payable directly to the Lubbock Area Foundation as they are received.

Eligible Organizations
Any nonprofit organization within the fifteen counties of the South Plains region, with the exception of churches and hospitals, which meets the following criteria is eligible to submit an application:

1. Designation as a 501(c)(3) organization;

2. Continuous operation for a minimum of 3 years;

3. A successful fundraising track record;

At least $10,000 must be contributed toward the intended endowment goal at the time the application is submitted. The remaining funds may be made from an organization’s existing funds.  The remaining funds must be contributed by third party donors to the endowment within 12 months of acceptance into the program

Eligible Contributions

• Cash
• Marketable Assets

All gifts must be received by the Lubbock Area Foundation, Inc. within 12 months of the agencies acceptance into the program. To qualify for the matching grant, an organization must have raised the entire endowment goal. In the event the required amount of is not raised, the challenge grant will not be awarded but all funds contributed will remain within the Lubbock Area Foundation in the organization’s designated endowment.

The organization, with support from Lubbock Area Foundation, is responsible for contacting and collecting all pledged cash and other assets.

Endowment Distributions

The intent of this program is to create permanent endowment that will grow and serve the organization’s needs forever. Thus, the corpus will be considered a perpetual fund within the Lubbock Area Foundation. Funds may be added to the organization’s endowment at the Lubbock Area Foundation at any time through memorial gifts, or the organization’s own fundraisers, or reserve funds. The Lubbock Area Foundation will invest the corpus along with its other funds to produce a reasonable mix of income and capital appreciation. Distributions will be paid to the designated organization and fees assessed annually according to the Foundation spending policy rate that is in effect at the time.

Application Process

1. Cover Letter - briefly describes the grant request and is signed by Board Chair

2. Organizational Information (limit 3 pages)

• brief history
• services provided and persons served
• list of Board of Directors; and
• name and phone number of contact person

3. Fundraising Information – (limit 2 pages)

strategy for raising funds necessary to fulfill the Challenge
information on how your present endowment (if any) was acquired and current value
plans for future growth of the Challenge endowment
4. Financial Information - provide administrative budget for past 3 years. Explain how any operating deficits were covered.

5. Most recent audit

6. Current organizational budget

Congratulations to the following agencies who have successfully completed the Community Endowment Challenge:

	City of Lubbock Animal Services