Best Of
Florida Regional Training!
We are excited to announce Foundant is coming to St. Pete Beach, Florirda for a Regional Training November 18-19!
Register here to connect with your Foundant peers at our 2-day software training and networking event.
We hope to see you there!
Scholarship Thank You
We require the students to write their "thank you to the donors" on the follow-up form when they claim their scholarship. If they received more than one scholarship, they write one thank you. I attach the letter and email it to the donors/fund advisors. I'm curious on how others handle thank you letters. This is our second year with this procedure. We had one complaint this year as they felt it was not personal enough and because it was emailed. I believe this works quite well, we are not chasing down thank you notes/letters from students and holding up scholarship payments. I would love any feedback! Thank you!
Re: Washington D.C Regional Training
Do you have dates/locations of other regional trainings offered in 2024?
Bequest Scam Warning
Hello all,
We wanted to make everyone aware of this scam that was attempted on our Community Foundation. Please share this! We received an email (copied at the bottom of this post) from someone stating his mother, Julia Sadler, had recently passed away and indicated in her trust that she would like donations made to certain charities including ours. We had no record of his mother ever making a donation to the Wichita Falls Area Community Foundation. We googled her obituary and she did not live in or near Wichita Falls, which was also odd.
A few days later, we received a cashier's check via Fedex from Frank Financial in NYC for $191, 250 in memory of Julia Sadler. That same day we received another email from the son, John Heathman stating he had given instructions for the check to be sent and he wanted to discuss how we could memorialize his mother. He gave a phone number and stated he lived in Hong Kong. I contacted the cashier's check issuing bank to verify the check. There was a fraud marker and stop payment placed on the check. At this point, we contacted our local police department financial crimes unit. He said we were correct to suspect a scam.
On another organization's exchange I am on, yesterday I saw the same scam posted that happened to another nonprofit. The names were different, but the check amount and scenario were the exact same. This has apparently been attempted at multiple nonprofits and colleges across the country. The scam was that after the nonprofit deposits the check, the son would contact the organization stating that a junior accoutant had issued the check for the wrong amount. The amount should have been $100,000 and the organization would need to refund the balance.
From: The Julia Sadler Trust <jsadlertrust@outlook.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2024 11:00 AM
To: Leslie Schaffner <lschaffner@wfacf.org>
Subject: Giving
Hello,
My name is John Heathman. My mother, Julia Sadler In her will indicated that she would like to make donations from her trust to certain charities, including yours.
I am contacting you to notify you of her intentions as well as inquire about the best way to make a monetary donation from her trust. I would like to confirm where to mail a check for this donation to be utilized in a way that honors my late mother's wishes.
Could you please advise me on who I should coordinate this donation with at your charity? I'm also interested in learning about any commemorative giving programs you may offer to recognize my mother and her donation.
Please let me know the best contact information for who I should discuss these donations with.
Thank you for your guidance on this matter. I look forward to connecting further to fulfill my late mother's philanthropic plans.
Sincerely,
John Heathman
Low price CRM recommendations for a growing nonprofit
Hi yall,
We are a growing nonprofit, with now over 1,000 donor profiles in our current CRM.
From your experience, can you recommend a low cost or free CRM that integrates with payment systems, supports landing pages, quickbooks and syncs with email list software?
Thanks in advance.
UPDATE (4/23/2024)
Since this original post we migrated our CRM and email data to Givebutter. It's nice since the service is entirely free and so far has integrated well across our other softwares. It doesn't have Grant management and some other features, but it has been a nice cost saver for our growing nonprofit.
-René
How many Wisconsin-based foundations are in the GrantHub Pro database
The nonprofit I'm working for is considering different options, and we'd like to know how expansive GrantHub Pro's database of Wisconsin-based foundations is. Ideally, we'd find a software/platform that lists many so that our nonprofit can pitch them.
Thank you!
Re: Who is using Foundant in Indiana?
Hopefully you have all registered for the upcoming Indiana CSuite Hybrid Meet-up we are hosting on Thursday, October 19 at 3:00 - 4:30pm ET. If you didn't receive an invitation, please contact Emily Szewczyk at Foundant.
Receptionist/Administrative Assistant
About the Foundation
For almost 60 years, the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga has strengthened the community by transforming generosity into lasting change. It exists to connect donors’ passions and their values with purpose, so that they can have a meaningful impact on the community. The mission of the Community Foundation is to transform generosity into lasting change toward a more just and prosperous Chattanooga where all residents can reach their full potential. The Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga is a trusted community partner, serving at the intersection between ideas and action, needs and resources, donors, and non-profits. The Community Foundation currently has assets under management of more than $220M. The Foundation distributes over $20M a year in grants annually.
Position Summary
The Receptionist/Administrative Assistant is an energetic, team-oriented professional that will provide administrative support and create a welcoming environment for all who visit the Foundation. Reporting to the Chief of Staff, this position is the first point of contact for community members visiting or calling the Foundation and therefore is critical to achieving our mission to encourage giving and inspire action to improve lives in our region. The Receptionist/Administrative Assistant will be a conscientious detail-oriented individual who thrives on providing exemplary administrative support to ensure that operations run smoothly, and donors and constituents are treated with the greatest respect and care.
Key Responsibilities
• Create a welcoming environment for all people who visit the Foundation or contact the office via phone, email or through the website, by responding in a respectful manner and taking responsibility to ensure that each constituent’s needs are met.
• Maintain the Foundation entries, lobby, conference areas and meeting rooms including ensuring any trash or debris are picked up, plants are watered, tables and chairs are straightened, rooms are set up for meetings, and the area presents a welcome environment for all guests.
• Maintain the calendars for each of the Foundation meeting spaces to approve internal requests and assist with meeting set up.
• Maintain office and kitchen supplies for Foundation including monitoring stock, ordering and putting away all orders.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for organizations and individuals booking space at the Foundation including managing the room calendars, notifying staff, coordination with the partner using the space (application, technology, entry and exit, etc).
• Manage Foundation correspondence, including checking the main voicemail, responding to inquiries via website, monitoring the fax, and sorting and distributing daily mail.
• Assist in keeping organizational documents (policies, manuals, etc.) up to date on office shared drive; create fillable PDFs as needed.
• Provide information about the Foundation, such as location of departments or offices, employees within the organization, or services provided.
• Assist community members who may call or stop by the Foundation in finding other community resources.
• Assist other Foundation staff with various administrative tasks such as bulk printing, mail merging, mass mailers, binder set up for meeting books, etc.
• Ensure that the Foundation office runs smoothly through coordination with the VP, Finance & Administration and Executive Assistant as needed: trouble-shoot IT and other maintenance issues, facilitate relationships with repair and maintenance professionals.
Key Experience & Competencies
- 1+ Years in Customer Service or Office Administration
- High School Diploma or Equivalent
This is an inhouse position and does NOT allow remote.
Location Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States
Job Type Full Time
Salary and Benefits
Salary Range $31,200 - $34,200 (estimated annual)
Excellent benefits including paid medical, dental and life insurance; 403b and generous leave time.
Submit resume with cover letter. No phone calls or emails, please.
https://cfgc.hire.trakstar.com/jobs/fk0x4g3?source=
The Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga (CFGC) is committed to the perspective of all voices and encourages diversity of applicants and within our organization. CFGC is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Negative Spendable Balance after posting grants and scholarships
Hi everyone,
Our foundation has recently discovered that we are having some grants and scholarships post thru the system without flagging us that the spendable balance will go negative.
It is not consistent and we have tried various scenarios to reproduce the problem. We've reached out to support and it has been escalated to the engineers but just wondering if there are any other foundations out there with the same issue.
Thanks in advance for any feedback!
