2012 Record Year for Charitable Giving
Posted/updated on: February 18, 2013 at 10:45 am
TYLER — The Board of Directors of East Texas Communities Foundation (ETCF) is reporting the foundation ended 2012 with a record $53 million in charitable assets. 2012 marked the first year foundation assets surpassed the $50 million milestone. ETCF also reported surpassing another major milestone with record grants of over $5 million during 2012, which reflects the priority of donors and fund advisors to make significant distributions to support the important work of hundreds of charities serving numerous communities.
The Bullard Rotary Club established a new charitable fund at ETCF in 2012, one of 23 organizations and families that helped break another record for ETCF with the highest number of new charitable funds established in a single year. Bullard Rotary Club used their fund to collect over $130,000 in public contributions to support the construction of Bullard Kids Park, which opened in January. Certainly political uncertainty and tax concerns caused a significant amount of year-end personal financial planning, including the establishment of several charitable funds, but the vast majority of new funds were established much earlier in the year, said foundation president, Kyle Penney. We welcomed several new charitable funds which will benefit important nonprofits in our communities such as, the Louis and Peaches Owen Endowment for English as a Second Language (benefiting Literacy Council of Tyler), Camp Tyler Outdoor School Endowment Fund, Brownsboro ISD Education Foundation, Nacogdoches County United Way Endowment Fund, three new endowment funds set up by a donors estate to support East Texas Crisis Center, Azleway, and PATH, and many others.
