LINCOLN EAST ROTARY CLUB FOUNDATIONHave you ever wondered what the Lincoln East Rotary Club Foundation does with the money they receive? Does it use any of these funds to help in the community or around the world?
Gordon Bair, President of the LERC Foundation, and Wayne Casper, Treasurer of the LERC Foundation gave us an overview of what the LERC Foundation did in 2019.
The Lincoln East Rotary Club Foundation was established in 2003. A former member of the Club (Lincoln Northeast), Frank Williams, wanted to be able to give out scholarships to some worthy students. Thanks to Ozzie Gilbertson, who was able to contact a lawyer to help the club get a Foundation started, they were able to put Frank’s money into this Foundation to help with scholarships.
The current 2019-20 board members are as follows:
President – Gordon Bair
Secretary – Dean Douglas
Treasurer – Wayne Casper
Board Members – Ozzie Gilbertson, Deb Durre, Chris Klingenberg, Greg Schnasse, President-Elect Sue Schuerman, Duane Tappe, and Club President Dennis Duckworth
The Mission Statement for the LERC Foundation is to support educational and other charitable endeavors that promote Rotary ideals, primarily in and around Lincoln, and to create an endowment fund for the future benefit of the community. We might have to change this statement because we have been able to help support one of our members who heads up the Zambia project and the Foundation has helped in Uganda.
The Purpose of the Foundation is to serve as a tax-exempt conduit for charitable giving and community service projects for the Lincoln East Rotary Club members and others. To encourage and help underwrite innovative service projects to improve our community. The Foundation helps build an educational and charitable endowment for future projects and provides a structure for funding of long-range and ongoing projects. The Foundation also helps give out four $1,000 scholarships each year to four deserving students who want to attend a college or community college in Nebraska.
How can you help?
- Make a cash donation to the Lincoln East Rotary Club Foundation
- Set up an automatic monthly bank withdrawal to the Foundation
- Include the Foundation as a beneficiary on an existing insurance policy
- Amend your will or trust to include the Foundation
- Volunteer to help with fundraising activities of the Foundation
During the 2019 year the LERC Foundation had receipts of $36,573.28 and expenses of $36,851.74 which shows a difference of (-$278.46).
The money of the Foundation is invested in three different accounts. They are UBS, Edward Jones and Waddell-Reed. At the end of 2018 the total invested was $281,205 and at the end of 2019 it was $313,090. This has given us a gain of 11.4%. Only the interest is used to help support our projects.
This funding has helped Lincoln East to help with the following projects: Scholarships, Tree Planting Projects, Wheelchair Project, YMCA Camp, Zambia Project, Christian Record Eye Run, YMCA Swim Project, help with purchase of Cost of Freedom – Serving Hands, Lynette’s Angels, Peoples City Mission and Salvation Army. The LERC Foundation has help the club make a difference in our community, as well as, around the world.
Thank you to Wayne and Gordon for this informative presentation. Thanks to the Lincoln East Rotary Club members for their contributions to help make this Foundation a success. Remember Service Above Self.