Charitable Giving: Maximize Your Local Impact

Most of us do it.

We all sit at our desks at the end of the year and make contributions to our favorite nonprofits. But, what if we were more strategic? More purposeful? What if some of our collective dollars weren’t just directed to one or several charities, but funded problem-solving regional initiatives like youth unemployment, or urban blight? Or problems we have yet to envision?

Well, wonder no more. Get to know the St. Louis Community Foundation. It is a century-old public trust dedicated to improving the St. Louis area by bringing donors, funders, civic and community leaders, and nonprofits to the table to discuss regional challenges, identify potential solutions, and transform plans into actions. Recent examples include:

• Invest STL: Formed in 2016, with the Community Foundation as lead investor, Invest STL is spurring investment and development in two underserved St. Louis area neighborhoods – Dutchtown South and the West End, north of Delmar.

How? By strategically empowering neighborhood leaders and leveraging philanthropy dollars to help funnel investment and technical assistance to the targeted neighborhoods. The desired outcome? A healthy and thriving neighborhood community with the businesses and the services necessary to serve current and future residents.

• St. Louis Youth Jobs: Formed in 2013, as partnership between the Incarnate Word Foundation, City of St. Louis and the St. Louis Community Foundation  to address chronic youth unemployment and job training, the program has provided services to nearly 3,200 young people to date. This summer, the organization plans to get jobs for 1,000 youth and offers job training and education services that help to prepare young people for steady employment and careers. Given its success, STL Youth Jobs will spin off from the Community Foundation and become a stand-alone nonprofit.

In addition to these – and other – transformational community initiatives, the Community Foundation works with individual donors to develop and implement charitable giving strategies that support the nonprofits and causes they care for — today and in the future.

Using a variety of tools – from locally-managed donor advised and field of interest funds to foundation management services – the St. Louis Community Foundation applies its knowledge of the local nonprofit community to offer personalized philanthropy advice that meet the needs and interests of individual donors.

Not surprisingly, many of the Foundation’s donors are also endowing St. Louis by contributing to the community-building efforts outlined above.

In 2018, the Foundation and its donors contributed more than $90 million to support nonprofits in St. Louis and around the world, with more than 85 percent of the funds staying stay right here in St. Louis.

Browse stlgives.org to learn more about the St. Louis Community Foundation and its personalized approach to philanthropy. Imagine the legacy you and your family can build – for you and for St. Louis using the services of the St. Louis Community Foundation.