May 28, 2009
Community Foundations Fare Relatively Well During Recession, Report Says
By Caroline Preston
Community foundations increased their giving in 2008, bucking the belt tightening that swept nearly all quarters of the philanthropic world, according to a new report by the Foundation Center.
More than 700 community foundations gave $4.6-billion last year, a 2.7 percent increase when adjusted for inflation. The increase outpaced the rate of growth reported by independent and corporate foundations and, for the first time on record, community foundations gave more money than corporate grant makers, the report said.
But with the country mired in the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, community foundations probably will not be able to maintain their level of generosity this year, according to the study. Nearly three-quarters of foundations surveyed said they anticipated giving less in 2009.
Still, community foundations are better positioned than some grant makers. A flurry of new donors and bequests, as well as strong increases in their asset values, have buoyed community foundations in recent years, according to the report.
What’s more, the sour economy may cause some philanthropists to scrap plans to set up separate, endowed institutions, which are expensive to operate, and instead create donor-advised funds with community foundations, the report said.
10% of Foundation Grants
The grant-making clout of community foundations exceeds their number, the study found. Community foundations accounted for 1 percent of the total number of grant makers in 2007, according to the report, but their giving made up 10 percent of all foundation grant dollars.
Like other types of foundations, they were more likely to support groups that help children and poor people than charities working in other fields.
Community foundations were more inclined, meanwhile, to provide general support than were other types of grant makers, the report said.
A free copy of the report can be downloaded from the Foundation Center’s Web site.
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PRAYER REQUEST
Dear Beloved Friend and Co-worker
Receive Warm greetings from africa in the mighty name of Jesus Christ!
We would love to share this with you as one family in Christ. Be blessed for your prayers and love and the good works you do in your Ministries and services.
We are a Ministry founded and established next to General Post Office in Bungoma, Kenya, East africa with more than 310 church branches in East and central africa with the name GOSPEL BELIEVERS FELLOWSHIP Ministries started the year 1968 and registered the year 1978.
The Lord has enabled us to have several projects that we run and sustain under our local Ministry and need your prayers.
- CHURCH PLANTING – ORPHANAGES/ NEEDY/ STREET KIDS/ WIDOWS PROGRAMMES – EDUCATION PROGRMS: PRIMARY SCHOOLS ESTABLISHMENT AND SPONSORSHIP – LIBRARY SERVICES MAJORLY WITH CHRISTIAN LITERATURE – SEMINARS, CONFERENCES, RALLIES, FORUMS ETC. – EVANGELISM WITH DOOR TO DOOR AND OPEN AIR CRUSADES – BOREHOLE WELL DRILLING AND DIGGING – MEDIA PROGRAMMES – BIBLE SCHOOL BUILDING PROJECT – COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTER – BIBLE PASTORAL CORRESPONDENCE TEACHING/ TRAINING PROGRAM – HIV/AIDS PROGRAMMES – HEALTH SERVICE PROGRAMMES – POVERTY ERADICATION PROGRAMMES – COMMUNITY SMALL SCALE PROJECTS – DEAF SCHOOL PROJECTS/ GIRLS EDUCATION – AGRICULTURAL PROJECTS – THE PEOPLE WHO WERE AFFECTED BY POST ELECTION VIOLENCE AND MT. ELGON MILITARY OPERATION AGAINST THE SLDF NEED BIBLES FOR THE WORD OF GOD. – AS FOR NOW, THE URGENT NEED IS FOR 10 MILLIONS OF PEOPLE FACED WITH FAMINE, PRAY WITH US FOR GOD TO MEET THE NEEDS OF THESE PEOPLE IN A COUNTRY OF 35 MILLIONS POPULATION.
All these activities need the Lord’s hand to sustain them and accomplish what the Lord Himself has purposed.
This is our prayers that He will make a way where there is no way to provide for Bible school project that needs to be completed; many of our church workers are not trained and the project will play a bigger role in training equiping the Lord’s people in this vast region.The Small Orphanage project in Bungoma that has already one house and 20 kids out of the many still out in the many branches we have in EAst Africa, christian Library literatures,Sunday school material, etc. need your prayers.
We would like to put this before you because your prayers and support are very important for the Lord’s work and to lift up Jesus in one way or another.
We were led to have you join us for the Lord’s will, plan, purpose and glory and would like also to extend our invitation for you into our Ministry as the Lord enables you to come and visit us in East africa to see what the Lord is doing.
We only have one hope in Jesus Christ, the savior of the world.
May the Lord bless you all for your concern, love, prayers and sacrifice.
In His Vineyard,
Rev. Robert and Irene Bushebi
GBF Ministries
Administrator.
P.O. BOX 766
BUNGOMA – 50200
KENYA, East Africa
EMAIL: bushebi@africaonline.co.ke or gbfministry@yahoo.com.
PHONE: +254735781802
— REV ROBERT BUSHEBI May 29, 09:49 AM #