I sometimes joke that I’m SWIF’s staff driver. Most months I put on a ton of miles meeting with affiliate foundations and other groups across the region. This past year I’ve also spent a fair amount of time both personally and professionally traveling by air. While I do love to travel, all of the trips I’ve made pale in comparison to the to the big trip we’ve all just taken that brings us right back to where we started: The end of another fiscal year!
It was only 584 million miles ago (or one trip around the sun) that we were planning for the beginning of FY17 and now here it is almost in the rearview mirror. Here are a couple of things to make note of before we put this past year to bed:
- If you haven’t done so already, please send us an updated board roster. An updated roster helps us get timely information to all board members. It also ensures that only current board members have access to financial statements and other documents via the fund portal website.
- Keep a close eye on your mailboxes and get any last-minute gifts sent in to our office before July 6th. This will allow donors to get recognition in the next Looking Forward Giving Back publication. Any checks dated after June 30th or received after July 6th will go on the books in FY18.
This is also the time of year when we calculate the spendable portion of your endowment funds. A letter with your spendable amount will be posted to the fund portal in late June and these dollars are available to grant out beginning July 1st, 2017.
When I think of how far we’ve traveled in the last year, I marvel at how little I’ve heard, “Are we there yet?”, or “How many more miles?” (Only a couple hundred million!). I couldn’t ask for better traveling companions and I’m looking forward to another time around. Thank you for making the big trip with us and Happy New Year!
