Our News
Dear Foundation Donor,
As we approach the end of 2022, we are grateful for your generous support of the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas Foundation (the Foundation). The Foundation is a separate 501(C)3 organization established in 1996 to support the Dallas Y and its mission.
Thanks to your generosity and hundreds of other Y supporters, the corpus at the end of 2021 for the YMCA Foundation fund reached $36MM! While market volatility in 2022 has reduced our balance, we continue to manage and steward these funds so that they will be available for our children and their children in the generations that follow.
The annual distribution of funds from the Foundation is calculated based on the prior three-year average balance. In 2022, the Foundation distributed more than $1.3MM back to the organization.
Approximately two-thirds of the foundation funds are donor designated, benefiting branches, the RISE school, camping and programs such as college scholarship. In the Spring of 2022, the Y awarded 20 new four-year college scholarships to graduating seniors with a Y connection!
The other third of the annual distributions support community needs and provide underwriting for key association programs such as community health, water safety, and teen programming. Collectively the distributions help thousands of youths and families across the metropolitan area.
To grow the Foundation’s corpus, a matching gift opportunity of $2.5MM was issued to establish new named endowment funds through the original gift from MacKenzie Scott.
The $2.5MM gift along with the matching $2.5MM raised, increased the Foundation funds by $5MM. Through this matching fund effort, the Foundation established nearly 50 new named endowment funds!
The largest individual group to take advantage of this opportunity are donors to the Ashford RISE School. Through their endeavors an endowment for the school was created in the total amount of 2,825,000.
The Ashford RISE School of Dallas, located at the Moody Y in the Park Cities, provides a unique high caliber, inclusive personalized early education service to children age six months to six years, many of whom have learning and other life challenges. RISE delivers this caring, comprehensive education, intervention, and therapy to students during their most important and formative years.
In May, the Foundation hosted its first donor reception since the pandemic, offering an opportunity to meet with staff and other donors to learn about the impact of the funds distributed to the organization.
In addition to the newly created endowed funds, the Foundation also received legacy gifts from members who remembered the YMCA in their will. We received additional gifts to the Leslie Barker Endowment at Semones, and a legacy gift from the estate of Paul Taylor Greene, a long time T Boone Pickens supporter. The John and Jane Kiplinger Wilson Fund established in 2016 at Semones, received additional funds creating a total gift of $1.1MM. We are deeply appreciative to these donors who contributed to the more than 135-year history of the YMCA in Dallas and ensure its success for the future.
Finally, when donors make multiyear endowment pledges, distributions do not begin until the full amount of the funding threshold has been reached. In the interim, and until the full pledge has been received, the initial pledge is deposited an interest-bearing account until the minimum funding threshold is met.
Threshold funding must be reached by June 30 of any given year ahead of a one year waiting period before it is available for inclusion in the distribution calculation for the foundation. Once the pledge commitment is fully vested, a fund performance report can be provided to the donor on an annual basis. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Kathryn Allen, Foundation President at [email protected].
We are grateful for donors that journey alongside the Foundation to further our mission to put Christian values into practice through programs that build a healthy spirit, mind and body for all.
With gratitude, we wish you and yours a happy and safe holiday season!
Sincerely,
Chair
President/CEO
Foundation President