Ann Harbin works as the Senior Study Director at International Agriculture Research Inc. and has traveled around the world with her work, opening her eyes to many opportunities to give back. Ann and her husband Don are passionate about making education attainable and accessible. They choose to use their donor-advised fund to help support the education of students in Kansas …
Innovative Approaches to Postsecondary Education
At a recent Donor-to-Donor, Greater Kansas City Community Foundation donors gathered to hear from postsecondary education advocates who are working to help make postsecondary education more attainable for more students in the Kansas City metro area. Panelists represented organizations that are newly established and rely heavily on financial support from individual donors. Donors first heard from Dr. Beth Tankersley-Bankhead and …
Unexpected Encounters: An Exhibit of Generosity
Giving back to your community comes in many forms. Some donate their time by volunteering, while others give charitable assets to specific causes or organizations. This summer, visitors to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art experienced the generosity of donors through Unexpected Encounters, an exhibit highlighting works of art gifted to the museum by generous donors within the past nine years. …
Supporting Postsecondary Education Dreams with Gene Balloun
Many years ago, Gene Balloun and his wife Sheila became foster parents and entered the world of foster care and adoption. Gene, a lawyer by trade, often served as a wealth of knowledge about the legal aspects of adoption for other foster and adoptive parents. Gene began conducting pro bono public adoption cases through his employer, Kansas City-based firm Shook …
Engaging Employees In Corporate Giving
Corporate giving programs are common among businesses and organizations, and many want to ensure that the joy of charitable giving stretches across their company to every employee. Recently, the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation’s Corporate Giving Network hosted representatives from organizations across the Kansas City metro area to discuss how they can better engage their employees in charitable giving programs. …
Corporate Giving Success Story: Terracon
Terracon, a consulting engineering firm headquartered in Olathe, Kansas, has worked to make giving back part of the everyday company culture. In 2007, the Terracon Foundation was established as a corporate donor-advised fund at Greater Horizons, the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation’s national entity, and has evolved into an expansive corporate giving initiative. In just over a decade, the Terracon …
Tara Raghuveer on Evictions in Kansas City
For the past five years, Tara Raghuveer, Founder and Director of the Kansas City Eviction Project, has researched housing and evictions across the country, but more specifically in Kansas City. At a recent Donor-to-Donor, Greater Kansas City Community Foundation donors were invited to attend a presentation of Tara’s findings on the local housing and eviction crisis taking place in the …
Community Foundation Staff Becomes Visit KC VIP Certified
Staff members at the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation were recently certified to be official representatives for Kansas City through Visit KC‘s Visitor Influencer Program (VIP). Visit KC is an organization dedicated to increasing tourism to our hometown and marketing Kansas City as a travel destination for adventurers across the country and around the world. An unofficial requirement to work …
Our 2017 Annual Report is Now Available
Our 2017 Annual Report is now available. It was a record-breaking year for our donors who used their charitable funds to grant more than $400 million to their favorite charities. We opened more donor-advised funds than ever before, worked with professional advisors to manage their clients’ charitable assets, and helped companies of all sizes create or expand their corporate giving programs. …
Hispanic Development Fund Honors 2018 Scholars
The Greater Kansas City Hispanic Development Fund (HDF), a regional affiliate of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, recently celebrated 34 years of its scholarship program alongside over 300 HDF Scholars. The ceremony, held at Johnson County Community College’s Yardley Hall, awarded $619,905 to Hispanic high school and college students from the Kansas City metro area. In 1983, leaders of …