Giving in Kansas City

While our hometown baseball team isn’t exactly wowing crowds these days, last week in the Northland a group of heavy hitters hit a grand slam with nearly 400 civic and business leaders, community volunteers, and donors at the Northland Community Foundation’s 15th Annual Celebration Breakfast.

Most of us who live or have lived in or around Kansas City understand what a wonderful metropolitan area it is, even if those on the coasts scoff at the notion that we’re more than just “flyover country.” Just last month, Overland Park native and Saturday Night Live star Jason Sudeikis appeared on The Late Show, and David

Collectively known as the Charity Cases, some of the staff members at the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation (and its non-regional brand, Greater Horizons) recently took charitable giving to a whole new level in a dodgeball tournament.

One resolution that most Kansas Citians don’t need to make for 2012 is to start giving charitably. A Kansas City Star editorial published earlier this month showed 2011 to be one of the most generous years for charitable giving. Debbie Wilkerson, chief operating officer at the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation and Greater Horizons, was quoted in the editorial:

“The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation ranked first in total giving among 737 grant-making community foundations in 2009, a new report says.”
According to an article in yesterday’s Kansas City Star, this was one of Kansas City’s business highs in 2011. We couldn’t agree more!
 

After today there are just four shopping days left before Christmas, and the clock seems to be ticking faster and faster as the holiday season progresses. Fortunately there’s still time to purchase Giving Cards from the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation and Greater Horizons.

This time of year is known as the busy season at the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation and its non-regional brand, Greater Horizons. But busy isn’t a bad thing, especially when you’re in the business of charitable giving, and for many of us, this is our favorite time of year.

In 2004, the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, with the support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Hall Family Foundation, pulled together a blue ribbon task force of nationally recognized higher education experts.

If you’ve been in or around Kansas City lately, you probably know that the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts opened last weekend to rave reviews. The exterior and interior are breathtaking, and the acoustics are world class.

Charitable giving isn’t something new. I was reminded of that when I was traveling in France this summer. We were in Beaune and toured a beautiful museum dating from the Middle Ages. It had been built specifically to be a hospital for the poor.