ICF fills funding gap for Idaho

Federal grants - once a financial mainstay for schools, community improvement projects and arts organizations - have become as rare as non-partisan debate on Capitol Hill.

State funding? Forget about it. As federal largesse disappeared, state governments became too busy putting out budget fires to concentrate on anything but the bare necessities.

In the throe of these lean times, state and federal governments have come to look like a pair of down-on-their luck-dowagers wrangling over a nickel in the bottom of a purse.

Fortunately, cooler heads and smarter investments have prevailed on a different front. In states all over the U.S., more than 700 nonprofit, permanent endowment funds have filled the gaping hole left by a lack of previous government support.

In Idaho, this past week carried an announcement of how successful that kind of organization can be, as the Idaho Community Foundation released the names of nearly 60 community groups and arts organizations which, between them, were awarded a total of more than $600,000 in grants from the Gladys E. Langroise Advised Fund.

In North Idaho, Kinderhaven received a $20,000 grant, while the Festival at Sandpoint and the Boundary County branch of the University of Idaho Foundation were awarded $4,000 each from the Langroise Fund though the ICF.

Kootenai County nonprofits, including the Jacklin Arts and Cultural Center in Post Falls, have also been among the ICF grant recipients in recent years.

The JACC in 2010 benefitted from a $1,000 grant to hold a show during the Julyamsh pow wow featuring Native American artists.

"It's open to the public and we don't charge for the community to come see the fabulous art," said Susan Jacklin, JACC interim director. "The grant pays for the cost to set up and staff the show. It's a win for us, the community and the ICF."

Jacklin said ICF has a heart to not only serve the arts, but a variety of nonprofits in the community.

She recalled that ICF even held its grant ceremony luncheon at the JACC before the building was completely renovated.

"We had a bucket in the middle of the floor catching rain and it was difficult to hear anything, but because they wanted to support us, they had their luncheon there," Jacklin said.

Jacklin said the ICF seems to pride itself on helping many organizations with modest-sized grants rather than helping a few with large ones.

"They're a wonderful organization," Jacklin said.

North Idaho is well-represented on the ICF board of directors, with Doug Chadderdon and John Magnuson of Coeur d'Alene; Marc Wallace from Hayden; Tricia Swartling of Ketchum; Jean Elsaesser from Priest River; and the organization's newest director, Sandpoint attorney Bill Berg, helping to steer the group.

Berg, who founded the Panhandle Alliance for Education, is familiar with how the ICF operates through the nearly $2 million that PAFE currently has invested in the overall endowment fund. While he describes himself as being squarely in the learning mode at this point, Berg likes the way the organization manages and administers its funds.

"I'm impressed by the concept that it provides a way for people who have a particular passion to share their money and support that passion," he said. "When you have declining resources through taxes and so forth, these kinds of organizations are essential."

Berg serves on the ICF board's investment committee, which oversees an investment group that has managed to outpace the market while walking a tightrope that requires the management of an extremely safe portfolio. Because 5 percent of the ICF's endowment fund gets dispersed in the form of charitable donations each year, additional growth of about 3 percent is needed to fund operational expenses.

"To get your money properly protected and earn 8 percent on your investment is no mean trick," said Berg.

Still, the ICF has managed to realize that rate of return over time, leaving it with a fund that, this year, is approaching the largest asset level in the group's history.

"Even with a wrenching downturn, our total assets are approaching $75 million and the endowment itself is at about $57 million," said Bob Hoover, the former University of Idaho president who has been the organization's president and chief executive officer since mid-2009. "It's not just about distributing the dollars - it's about an organization with an investment strategy that works."

The ICF now has more than 400 funds under its umbrella, the majority of which are endowed funds that allow the donors to advise how the money will be distributed to specific causes, institutions or individual scholarships.

A pool of discretionary funds - such as the Greatest Need Fund - gives the ICF license to provide greater community support for a wide variety of needs, from a few hundred dollars for very small projects to several thousand in the case of larger-scale undertakings. Those dollars are distributed through the input of community advisory panels, comprised of members from throughout the state who are familiar with the groups involved and the grant requests they have made.

In the northern region, panel members include Donna Hutter and Jean Elsaesser from Bonner County, along with Wanda Quinn and Anna Rolphe of Kootenai County.

"Those requests include everything from radios for volunteer fire departments to health care facilities, recreational needs and education programs," Berg said.

Hoover's 13-year career as a college and university president gave him ample opportunity to make fundraising pitches. At the ICF, that ability to raise money and manage office staff is being put to good use, he said, though the pitch is inherently different. So, too, are the results.

"I've always had fun doing what I do and it's a joy to work with the ICF because you get to see the incredible work being done by these nonprofits," he said. "It's exhilarating to see what these hundreds of organizations accomplish across the state.

"When you see the impact a small amount of money - and in some cases, a large amount of money - can make, it's exciting," he added.

The fund established by the Boise philanthropist - who died in early 2000, just prior to her 100th birthday - also is a reflection of changing economic times. This year's $600,000 list of grant recipients was generous to the arts, but included a hefty share of schools and learning programs, libraries, health care groups, food banks and children's care organizations on the funding roster.

The ICF's discretionary funds have shifted in much the same direction, according to Hoover, who said increased need and a dearth of government funding has routed more grant dollars to schools, emergency response groups and social services in Idaho.

"With the cutbacks in state budgets and some very deep cuts in education, we've started to see applications for funding requests we hadn't seen in the past," he said. "I think it's a reflection on the kind of time in which we find ourselves."

Since 1988, the ICF has provided more than $48.9 million to Idaho communities, with recent annual grant totals averaging about $5 million. Endowed funds can be created with $25,000, with non-endowed funds starting at $5,000.

Press staff writer Brian Walker contributed to this report.