Seguin Area Community Foundation shows you how to make it happen
(Seguin) – Did you know there is a vision in Seguin to giveaway millions of dollars each year to local charities and/or other important causes? That milestone is well on its way to being reached in the next few years and that’s all thanks to the ongoing efforts of The Seguin Area Community Foundation. The foundation is in the midst of creating more public awareness about what it does and how everyone in the end benefits.
Its board of directors recently invited community members to learn more during its latest round of grant presentations held at the Burnt Bean. The grants this round totaled $30,000.
Leading the event was President Wayne Windle. Windle says creating awareness and a complete understanding of how the organization operates is vital to the group’s ultimate success.
“We are funders. We raise money. We invest the money and then when the proceeds make money, we give it away to organizations that are here tonight and similar. So, you can start off and you say ‘well, how did you get this money?’ We got some of the money through wills and bequests. We’ve gotten money through simple donations. We’ve gotten money through fundraisers. We need this group and people in this organization to help spread the world, to help us continue to raise money the same way that we have. This is not rocket science. This is the way foundations across the country do it and so we are hopeful that you can spread the awareness and spread our cause,” said Windle.
Windle says over the past decade, a number of groups have benefited from the local organization. He says the best part of a community foundation is that the group can support any cause – non-profit or not.
“We have these goals and an event like this is proof that we are successful. This is an event where we raise money. We invested money and we are now giving it away. That is what community foundations are all about because a lot of times people wonder, ‘how is it different from another charity?’ It’s different because we give to charities. We help support them. We help them in difficult times so you say, ‘can you give an example?’ Well, we can probably give you over 30 examples,” said Windle.
Narrowing that list of examples, however, was the support shown to area fire departments. Windle says coming to their rescue is a perfect example of how a community foundation should serve.
“Specifically in recent history, the fire departments across the county were struggling with COVID and couldn’t raise money to help their volunteer fire departments continue to survive. We gave grants to all eight of those fire departments across the county. I’m not going to tell you about all the 30 recipients, but I can tell you this event is reflective that we are now successful, and we plan to really keep the momentum going,” said Windle.
Even to this day, the Seguin Area Community Foundation remains one of the city’s best kept secrets. That’s why Windle believes it’s important to uncover that secret and bring everyone on board.
“In the last few years, I think the number is $168,000 that we have given away. We are projected to give away about $220,000 by the end of the year. And you say, ‘well, okay, with 30,000 to 35,000 people, where should we be?’ It would be really realistic to get to $10 million. Can we get to $15 million? Yes, I think so. We are going to have growth, the population, the demographics but imagine, if we were five times bigger and we all of sudden are giving away a million dollars a year. Could you imagine the impact that we could make on the community? said Windle.
Not only does Windle believe in Seguin’s potential of reaching the $10 million milestone, but he is known for inheriting the family ambition of spearheading a community foundation.
“I grew up in a family that is dedicated to community service. My mother is currently in her 80s and is still working with the El Paso Community Foundation. She was their first president. It grew from the $10,000 grant to over $250 million. I’m not saying we are going to do that, but you know, the idea is there. If you looked at us and said, ‘well what is realistic for Seguin? What is a realistic size of a foundation based on our population, based on our demographics?’ We should be able to get to $10 million in a reasonable amount of time,” said Windle.
During this latest round of grants, four groups were each presented with a $7,500 check. Those groups included the Guadalupe Valley Family Violence Shelter, Habitat for Humanity, NAMI Guadalupe County and the South Texas Pregnancy Care Center.
During the recent awards dinner, special recognition was also extended to an individual who helped lay the framework for Seguin’s Community Foundation. Helping to explain this honor was Board Secretary Kathy Nossaman.
“We wouldn’t be here today and would not have this community foundation if it weren’t for the vision of a true visionary of Guadalupe County, not just for the Seguin Area Community Foundation but for a lot of other organization and so Wilfred Bartoskewitz is our founder. He and Betty put these ideas together. Actually, our founding date is 2014. But I met with Wilfred and Robert Raetzsch and Janice Woods Windle, Wayne’s mother, 10 years prior to that to talk about how we could have a community foundation of our own and it took about 10 years to get it going and now, we are nine years into what we are doing and are now at a point to where we feel we have reached a good level of success and Wilfred decided it was time for him to step back. So, our board at our last meeting in June had voted for Wilfred to be a Board Member Emeritus of our board and we’d like to bring him up and give him a little certificate,” said Nossaman.
Despite having the award in his hands, Bartoskewitz quickly gave credit to others. Bartoskewitz publicly recognized the work and leadership left behind by late board member Phil Seidenberger.
Also helping to cap off the presentation was Jack Baker who presented a check to the endowment account for the late Gene Vivroux. Baker presented a $90,000 check to the foundation. The money is said to have been in addition to the $1 million that Vivroux had already presented to the foundation last year.
Those wishing to learn more about creating a permanent legacy or providing a donation are asked to email seguinareacommunityfoundation@gmail.com. They may also call 830-305-8906.
