Mary Hargrave, executive director of the Guadalupe County United Way, says end-of-year giving can really make a difference for local charities. She says giving to the United Way, for example, can help to provide funding for dozens of non-profit groups in Seguin and Guadalupe County.
“Right now we are currently funding 41 agencies in Guadalupe County, and those agencies support education, they support domestic violence, they support disabled veterans, provide meals for the elderly, prescription aid, remodeling homes for people, and weatherizing homes for elderly people,” said Hargrave.
Hargrave says there are always worthy organizations looking for funding help. She says they are in the process of adding two organizations to their funding list. One of the organizations is a well-established non-profit group, while the other is a big new charitable operation that recently opened up here in Seguin.
“We just received our letters of intent to apply for funding for the 2020-2021 funding years. One of the (new) agencies is TruLigh 127, and that is a 501c3 organization. What they do is — actually a couple of days ago they just opened a foster home here in Seguin. It was dedicated last Sunday. It’s for children that have to be removed from their families for a period of time, and it’s an actual home and they are going to provide housing, clothing, (and) tutoring if they have to be kept out of school for a while. I actually saw the ad for them in your newspaper, and I called (KWED/Seguin Daily News News Director) Cindy (Aguirre-Herrera) and asked for the lady’s contact information, and I got in touch with her and sent her the the letter of intent, which is the first step in the funding process. So hopefully we will get that organization (funded),” said Hargrave.
The second organization being added is the Irma Lewis Seguin Outdoor Learning Center. The SOLC has been in operation for a number of years, and Hargrave says they are pleased to be working with it to provide some funding for its operation.
“What they are tring to do is to get kids to learn about the environment, learn about where they live, how to function in (nature), and to learn about trees and plants and gardening, and that kind of stuff like that. It’s a very worthwhile organization. So hopefully, we’ll also be able to get them funded. But again, we fund 41 agencies already and that pretty much takes up our entire budget through the year. Any kind of additional donation that we could get at the end of the year would help us be able to fund these two additional agencies that I’m hoping to add for our next funding program,” said Hargrave.
Jackie Gross, library services director for the city of Seguin, says the non-profit Seguin Public Library Foundation is also actively seeking end-of-year donations. Gross says the foundation exists to try to enhance the large number of programs and services that are already being offered at the Seguin Public Library.
“Those programs do have a cost associated with them, and the library’s regular operating budget many times can’t cover…all the needs that we have for programming, as well as the techonology. So the foundation throughout the years has given money back to the library, and allowed us to purchase some big ticket technology items, like an additional self-check machine, some of our maker-space, equipment that we use for Girls Who Code, and the teen programs — and then all the special programs like the Mid-Texas Symphony and some of our Summer Reading Club programs. All of those things come at a cost, and the foundation helps us to basically supplement our operating budget, so that we can continue to offer those types of things to the community. But it really is a special organization and that money goes into the endowment, and that actually helps future library needs as well,” said Gross.
Giving to the organization of your choice is typically made easy during this time of the year. Hargrave says United Way has an online portal that gives you a number of options to donate.
“You can go to our website, which www.guadalupeunitedway.org, and there is a how to give tab. They can click on that tab, and then there is a donate tab. They can do it either via direct payment from their checking account, or from their Pay Pal account, or they can use a debit or credit card. That goes through Pay Pal, and then Pay Pal forwards it to United Way. They can choose, also from that site, to make it a monthly contribution or just a one-time contribution,” said Hargrave.
There’s no online option for the library foundation, but Gross says all you need to do is write out the check and send it over to the library.
“They don’t really have an online way (to give). Just simply mail in checks, and they can mail it to the library (at 313 W. Nolte St.), and I make sure that the treasurer of the foundation gets all of those gifts. Like I said, it goes into an endowment and the interest is what comes back to the library. None of the endowment is spent. It’s all invested and then that interest helps fund some of our special needs,” said Gross.
End-of-year giving is not just about saving money in the new year, although that is often a factor to be considered. Taxpayers who itemize their deductions can write-off most of that charitable giving — so the savings can add up. But this is also an extension of the season of giving, that’s so much a part of the holiday season. Those looking to give can choose an organization, like the United Way or the library foundation, but there are also dozens of other great local charities that could also use your help right now, including the Guadalupe Regional Medical Foundation, the Seguin, Navarro and Marion education foundations, the Christian Cupboard, and Texas Lutheran University just to name a few. In order to receive the tax-benefits next year, the donations must be given no later than December 31.