Foundation: Community in mind for grants

An endowment fund established by Glenn H. Korff within the Hebron Community Foundation will become active this year.
Korff set the $1 million gift up before he died in 2013. The Kenneth and Glenn Korff Endowment is meant to inspire others and draw them in to collectively use their “time, talent and treasure” for improving their community, Ken Korff said, according to the Nebraska Community Foundation.
The NCF manages the endowment, which has created a new path for the Hebron foundation as well as some restructuring.
“We now have the ability to grant funds,” foundation chairperson, Christy Farnstrom said, naming off several organizations that could benefit and schools, too.
Farnstrom mentioned the walking trail or improving downtown with something as simple as planters to make a community more inviting.
A grant application will go live on the Hebron foundation’s website this week and is currently posted to its Facebook page.
Farnstrom said the gift from the Korffs places the foundation into a position where it can grant money on an annual basis and above what the foundation is already doing.
“It’s really given us an opportunity to do more things in the community,” she said.    
As grant applications trickle in, an advisory board will decide awards.
Farnstrom said grants, depending on what they’re for, can be awarded from funds that were earmarked for specific projects.
As it begins to determine awards, the board will have to detail those projects to the Nebraska Community Foundation in order to receive funds from the endowment.
Along with restructuring, the group has begun to set itself apart by developing a logo and mission statement.
For the logo, the foundation solicited the talents of Thayer Central high school students in one of Stephanie Lanik’s classes.
Up and coming junior, Selena Ramires from Hubbell, produced the chosen design, which the foundation will use in its literature and as a header on its grant applications.
“We are trying to brand it,” Farnstrom said.  
She said the foundation was also provided photos by the high school’s media department to use in promotional materials.
Those materials will most likely include the foundation’s new mission statement that uses three words to convey its message, “Partner, Create and Build.”
The foundation is planning to formally introduce a new brochure at the alumni banquet this weekend.
“A fun part of being a part of this group is being able to grant money and seeing it used in the community,” Farnstrom said.
The foundation has 17 accounts under its umbrella such as, the Titan Beef Boosters, and library and scholarship funds.
The Hebron Community Foundation has a double role – it also raises funds to keep perpetuating community projects.
Some people prefer to designate their gifts, Farnstrom said, but there is a general fund as well.
A survey by the Nebraska Community Foundation revealed more than half of young people raised in Thayer County prefer to work and raise their families close to home.
More than 40 percent would like to own their business.
Those statistics tie into the vast amount of wealth that will be transferred over the next 50 years.
The Nebraska Community Foundation estimates the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in history will take place across the nation during the next 50 years.
From 2010 to 2020, approximately $207 million was transferred in Thayer County.
From 2010 to 2060, that number will climb to $1.64 billion.
The Hebron Community Foundation hopes to build from some of the transfer by establishing lasting funds for the betterment of the community.
The foundation is a derivative of the Hebron Public Schools Foundation, formed in 1993. The transition came in 2001 as the foundation became an affiiliation with the Nebraska Community Foundation.
The affilliation has helped the Hebron foundation reduce adminstrative costs adn gain access to financial and legal services, training and education and more.