Nonprofit Resources

It often begins with a phone call, an email, or a conversation at a community event. A group of neighbors wants to improve a playground, passionate citizens want to start a new festival, or a growing initiative needs financial oversight to keep moving forward. Each fiscal sponsorship begins with a mission and can find its footing through partnership with the Winona Community Foundation. The Winona Community Foundation is proud to serve [...]

A Nonprofit Endowment Partner Case Study The following story is based on a real situation with the Winona Community Foundation. Names and certain details have been changed to maintain the privacy of those involved. When Bob, the executive director of a long‑established Winona nonprofit, received notice of a $100,000 bequest from a will, he felt both honored and cautious. The organization was on solid footing already, but he wanted to [...]

Demystifying Endowments & Building Financial Stability How Community Foundations Can Strengthen Nonprofits with Endowments Join us for virtual session designed to help nonprofit leaders understand the power of endowments. Endowments are more than just a savings tool; they’re a strategic way to ensure long-term sustainability and financial resilience for your organization. In this webinar, you’ll learn: What an endowment is and how it works How to create and grow endowed funds [...]

Beginning in tax year 2026, a new federal “universal charitable deduction” allows more people to receive a tax benefit for charitable giving, even if they take the standard deduction. Under this provision, individuals who do not itemize can deduct up to $1,000 in qualifying charitable cash donations, or $2,000 for married couples filing jointly, on their federal tax return. Previously, only taxpayers who itemized deductions could claim a charitable deduction, which excluded nearly 90% [...]

The summer months are typically slow, but if ever there were a summer to step up your fundraising efforts–especially efforts to grow your endowment or reserve funds–this would be the summer to do it. That’s because new research points to a lack of awareness that the percentage of Americans giving to charities has noticeably declined in recent years. Indeed, only one in three people is aware of this decline, according to the survey. This [...]

Charitably-inclined individuals and families have many options for organizing their charitable giving. The Winona Community Foundation works with a wide range of donors to help them establish a charitable giving plan to ensure that they can maximize their support of the causes they love. The Winona Community Foundation works with a donor to establish a fund that will best meet the donor’s needs and goals. Sometimes a donor establishes a designated fund to support [...]

While arguably the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank sent its biggest shockwaves through the startup and banking sectors, nonprofit organizations are not immune from the ramifications. Charitable organizations’ concerns range from specific worries that the bank’s successors will reduce or stop lending and support for affordable housing and community programming initiatives, to wide-ranging uneasiness throughout the broader nonprofit sector about the safety of money held in banking institutions across the country. Indeed, a [...]

Giving highly-appreciated assets to a public charity is a great way for your donors to support your mission. But time and again, we are reminded of the critical importance of following the IRS’s rules for documenting these gifts and securing the charitable deduction when those gifts take the form of highly-appreciated, non-marketable assets such as real estate, closely-held stock, and artwork, all of which are sometimes referred to as “alternative assets.” Many planned giving [...]

At the core of any fundraising program is the all-important factor of trust. Unfortunately, recent studies have shown that donor trust in nonprofit organizations may be waning. But that doesn’t mean your organization has to be part of this trend. Here are three suggestions for boosting donor trust in your organization’s ability to deliver on its mission over the long-term. Get donors involved now As you and your team encourage donors to include your [...]

Now that the year-end dust has settled after a busy first couple months of the new year, your organization’s attention may turn to getting serious about fundraising, and especially making sure your planned giving strategies are well underway. It is not unusual for planned giving conversations to start six months or more before a gift is inked. And, of course, the fourth quarter is when many of your donors want to wrap things up [...]