Community Foundations All Needs Fans Like the Rosenbachs

Kurt and Rose Rosenbach love their community.

Every nonprofit should be so lucky as to have advocates like accountant Kurt Rosenbach and his wife Rose. These long-time Norfolk, Virginia residents love their community and are ambassadors for the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. We thank them for being part of our community foundation family

For 20 years Kurt served on our board of directors. Although he left that position in 2006 he remains involved in many ways. He serves on our Audit and Finance Committee and comes with Rose to many community foundation events. Both the Rosenbachs are members of our Legacy Society for Hampton Roads, which celebrates people who have made arrangements for a future bequest.

Kurt, whose career was spent in retail, retired in 2009 as senior vice president of Hayne's Furniture in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He joined the Haynes team after serving as chairman of the board of Norfolk-based Rices Nachmans department store chain. Throughout his career he was always involved in community organizations including the Downtown Norfolk Council where he was its first board chair.

Until last year Kurt presided over the foundation at Ohef Sholom Temple in Norfolk. He also is active with the Tidewater Jewish Foundation.

For Kurt "the foundation world is so important. Without foundations and their financial support many organizations could not fulfill their missions."

It is particularly gratifying when professionals like Kurt, an accountant, become champions for endowment building through foundations.

(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. ) 

This Chesapeake Piano Would make E.K. Sloane Happy

Edward Knapp Sloane, best known as E.K., was a Norfolk, Virginia engineer who loved piano music but did not play the instrument. His bequest plans entrusted the Hampton Roads Community Foundation to forever buy pianos in his name. E.K. passes away in 1996

E.K. Sloane

and since then we have provided more than $3.2 million in grants to 60+ organizations -- all for pianos.

Below is an uplifting column that would warm E.K.'s heart. It is written by Toney L. McNair Jr., who heads the choral music department at Indian River Middle School in Chesapeake, which recently  received a Sloane piano. 

This is from the Chesapeake Clipper on March 1, 2015. The Clipper is a community section focused on Chesapeake Virginia that is part of The Virginian-Pilot newspaper.

PURSUIT OF A NEW PIANO HIT ALL RIGHT NOTES  

By  Toney L. McNair Jr. guest column  

     WITH LIMITED funding and resources available for education, teachers are often challenged with providing a quality educational environment to inspire their students. For example, 345 of the 760 students at Indian River Middle School are enrolled in chorus, band or orchestra. Our music program is part of the fabric that makes our school unique. 

   That is why, after our spring concert in May 2014, I decided our students needed a new piano. We had been rolling our old Korg piano back and forth from the chorus room to the auditorium for the past 15 or more years. It was barely holding on to its dolly and the keys were just screaming, “One more note, really?” 

   Our students deserved better, and it was time to put the kids first and not be limited by the resources we didn’t have. 

   After several conversations with my school’s principal, I was given the approval to look for a new piano. But there was a caveat: my students and I would have to raise the money ourselves with the hope of receiving matching funds from what was already a limited school budget. That would be a great feat because I typically used our fundraising efforts to purchase choir uniforms each year. To make the effort even more challenging, a new principal was assigned to our school at the end of June, just as I had vigorously begun my pursuit of a new instrument. 

   Thinking I had to start over getting approval to pursue my quest, I met with Principal Terre Werts. After greeting me, her next words were, “So, I understand that we need a new piano ... let’s make it happen!” Well, that was all I needed and wanted to hear.    

   As we continued to talk, we decided to seek advice from Chesapeake schools supervisor of music Craig Robertson. Not long after making contact with Mr. Robertson, he informed me of a funding source known as the E. K. Sloane Fund, which is managed by the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. 

   This organization, I was told, provides funds to school districts in need of pianos. Amazing! I could not believe what I was hearing. I reviewed the grant application, and my school’s administration enthusiastically encouraged me to submit it. 

  

 With my choral winter concert just a couple of months away, my hope was that we would receive grant approval in time for our performance. I wanted a more professional sounding instrument accompanying us. One week before our concert, we were awarded a grant for $9,687 from the Sloane Fund. Thanks to my school administration working feverishly with the grant source, the Piano  and Organ Warehouse and Thomas Brothers Moving Company, I was able to serenade our staff and students on our new baby grand Yamaha piano – all in time for our Winter Holiday Concert. We could hardly contain ourselves. 

   What started as a small idea became the talk of our community. Our kids deserve the best, and all of us have learned a very valuable lesson: determination can be the vehicle for reaching your destination. 

   This is truly what can happen when we work together. “Put Kids First!” 

   The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is southeastern Virginia’s largest grant and scholarship provider. Since its founding in 1950, the regional community foundation and its donors have provided nearly $200 million in grants and scholarships to improve life in southeastern Virginia. 

  Toney L. McNair Jr., D. Min., is department chair and choral music teacher at Indian River Middle School.     

(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. ) 

We are sad for the loss of loving mother, nurse and philanthropist Rita Paganelli Horvatic on February 11, 2015 in Virginia Beach. 

But we are glad to know the Hampton Roads Community Foundation brought her peace and happiness. In 2013  she entrusted us with forever awarding scholarships in the memory of her beloved son Tommy. 

Tommy passed away in 1986 at age 17 at the start of his senior year at Princess Anne High School in Virginia Beach. The Tommy Horvatic Memorial Scholarship Fund at the community foundation continues the work Rita and her late husband Tom started the year after Tommy passed away -- awarding scholarships in his name to students at his alma mater. We appreciate memorial gifts for Rita coming to Tommy's fund to help more students.

Here is a short 2013 video about Tommy that features his mom and sister. 

(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. ) 

Dan Palotta: Messenger of Change

The community conversation was robust yesterday evening and this morning in Norfolk,Virginia.

You could see the ideas swirling as nonprofit heads, funders and board members from southeastern Virginia listened to Massachusetts author/nonprofit activist/Ted talk veteran Dan Pallotta. He spoke on January 29 to about 300 people brought together by the +Academy for Nonprofit Excellence at TCC.

The next morning at a +VOLUNTEER Hampton Roads breakfast Pallotta hit the high points  for about 130 business, nonprofit and funding leaders who then launched into a mini table-by-table visioning process. Cathy Lewis, host of WHRV's HearSay program, helped keep the discussion and ideas flowing as people talked about better collaboration on issues, fewer nonprofit events, clear messaging and a pipeline of board members open to new ways of running nonprofits.

Pallotta's mantra is that the best for-profit business are judged primarily on their impact, which often stems from investments made in their operations, staffing and marketing. He maintains that the traditional standard for measuring nonprofits is having low overhead, which often leads to low impact. Pallotta maintains that nonprofits are rewarded for "not paying anyone, not marketing, not taking risks and not spending money." He wonders how much more effective nonprofits could be in curing cancer and ending poverty if they were allowed to operate like businesses.

Pallotta helped launched the nonprofit +Charity Defense Council to help donors and funders think about what would happen if nonprofits had more tools, funding and incentives. Could they change the world for the better?

You can get a feel for Dan's ideas by watching his 2013 Ted Talk that has already had more than 3.4 million views.

(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. ) 

 

Back to the Future for Norfolk Library

In 1959 the Hampton Roads Community Foundation (then The Norfolk Foundation) was a

Kirn Library in 2962 (Sargeant Memorial Collection)

9-year-old community foundation that primarily awarded scholarships.

But, with a new library being planned for downtown Norfolk, Virginia, the community foundation's board awarded its first major grant -- $100,206 grant to help build Kirn Memorial Library. This main library for the city opened in the early 1960s. Funding came from the new Munro Black Fund started from an estate gift from a lifelong Norfolk resident who always enjoyed libraries.

Slover Library (Hyunsoo Leo Kim/Virginian-Pilot)

Kirn Library served its community well until 2008 when it was demolished and plans started formulating for a new downtown library. In January 2015 the new Col Samuel L. Slover Library opened in downtown Norfolk as the most technologically advanced library in the country. 

Once again, the Munro Black Fund and many others administered by the Hampton Roads Community Foundation were on hand to help. More than $1 million in grants have been awarded to the Slover Library Foundation to help build and equip the new library.

The community foundation's support of the library will be ongoing through the Virginian-Pilot Fund it administers. This field-of-interest fund designed to support technology at the Slover Library so that it always keeps pace with community needs.

(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. ) 

 

Donor's Special Interest Grants Help Vulnerable Children

Norfolk car salesman Guy M. Winfrey was a hard worker whose challenging childhood gave him a passion for helping others. Guy dropped out of school at age 14 after his mother died so he could go to work to help support three younger sisters.

Guy Winfrey

Guy, a man who loved to read, sell cars and help others, passed away in 1996. Through the charitable bequest he left to the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, today he is giving hope to some of our region's most vulnerable children -- child-abuse victims, kids involved in court cases and those waiting in foster homes to be adopted.

Just last week the Sue Cook Winfrey Memorial Fund, established in 1997 through Guy's estate in memory of his first wife, provided $97,027 in grants for programs at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters Child Abuse Center, The Up Center and Voices for Kids CASA Program of Southeast Virginia.

 Click here to learn more about the Winfrey grants and other special-interest grants provided by donors' permanent field-of-interest funds.

We are grateful to generous donors like Guy Winfrey who have our region's best interests at heart and entrust us to do good works in their names forever.   



(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. ) 

Why Should Your Will Include a Contingency Beneficiary?

It's good that Virginia Beach attorney John Midgett of Midgett & Preti PC asked his client, the late Frederick G. Ward, a key question several years ago.

Frederick Ward

"If no one you have named is living, are there charities, causes or schools you would want to benefit?"

Ward was a retired Naval officer and widower living in a Virginia Beach, Virginia  retirement community. He thought carefully about that routine question his attorney always asks clients preparing wills, trusts or other estate plans.

Fred decided to include his community foundation as a contingent beneficiary should his daughter and grandson pre-decease him. Although it was unlikely it would come to fruition, he expressed a desire for a scholarship for Virginia Beach students with preferences for Princess Anne High School graduates or people studying English in college.

It's sad that a few months before Fred passed away in 2011 at age 92, his only child Sharon died. Her only son Roger had passed away before her in an accident.

Gertrude "Betty" Ward

Because of Fred's contingency plans, the Gertrude Ward Scholarship Fund at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation will be helping its first students attend college in the coming year. Gertrude, who was nicknamed Betty, had taught at Princess Anne High. Fred's idea was to use his estate to  honor his wife's memory and her years of teaching. Since no relative outlived him, Fred's wishes were carried out by his executor Mavis McKenley of AMG National Trust Bank in Virginia Beach.

What a gift it is that in finalizing Fred's estate Mavis found a wonderful World War II era scrapbook documenting his and his wife's lives. This special book of memories includes the photos of Fred and Betty you see above.

On December 1 we will begin taking applications for the new Ward Scholarship and the more than 70 other scholarship funds we administer at the community foundation. Each permanent fund was started by a generous donor like Fred Ward -- people interested in education and the promise it holds for people to lead better lives. Click here to learn more about Hampton Roads Community Foundation scholarships.


(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. )