GREENFIELD — A club best known for its Santa’s Helpers holiday clothing program made a somewhat unusual choice — starting an endowment fund with its own money that will be used to meet community needs at another organization’s discretion.
Greenfield Sertoma — short for Service to Mankind — about six weeks ago began discussing the possibility of starting an unrestricted endowment through the Hancock County Community Foundation, said club President Bob Benefiel.
An unrestricted endowment allows the community foundation to use the funds from individuals, groups or clubs like Sertoma, and apply it for what community needs it sees fit, said foundation President Mary Gibble.
The club voted unanimously to take the leap now because of a $1 million grant provided to the local community foundation by Lilly Endowment Inc., known as Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow VII. It provides a match of $2 from Lilly Endowment for every $1 contributed. Sertoma, which annually makes thousands of dollars in gifts to area organizations, used $10,000 from its savings, mostly from the bingo games it helps run at Camp Sertoma in New Palestine, and received $20,000 through GIFT VII, for a total endowment of $30,000, Benefiel said.
“We couldn’t start a fund like that by ourselves. We don’t have that much money,” Benefiel said. “Our mindset was that we trust the foundation to use our money in the best way possible.”
He said the club has suggested its endowment go toward promoting communication skills, county youth or people with disabilities, but the decision is ultimately up to the foundation.
Sertoma supports a variety of community efforts, mostly focused on communication skills, hearing in particular, Benefiel said. The club helps people who are hard of hearing acquire hearing aids and last year provided equipment to Greenfield-Central schools for hearing exams.
The club in 2017 also provided $3,000 to the Hancock County Public Library for FM-transmitted hearing assistance units for people attending programs at the library’s main branch. Listeners have the option to use ear bud-style headphones or devices called neck loops, which work with certain types of hearing aids, Sertoma then-president-elect Dave Berard said in 2017.
About half of Sertoma’s annual budget of about $25,000 to $30,000 goes toward Santa’s Helpers, a program in which children referred by various agencies receive a set amount of money to go shopping for clothing and toys at Christmastime, Benefiel said. In 2018, some 144 children had more than $70 each to shop, he said.
Gibble said the county has been enthusiastic in taking advantage of the matching opportunity from Lilly Endowment.
Some $700,000 of the $1 million matching grant has been reserved to match unrestricted fund gifts, whether they’re contributions to existing funds or the creation of new funds, Gibble said. Seven new funds, including the Greenfield Sertoma Club Service to Mankind Community Development Fund, have been established since November through the GIFT VII matching opportunity, she said.
They are: the Kuker Family Community Development Fund in Honor of Jordan Kuker; the Rick and Susan Edwards Community Development Fund; the Dr. Donald and Kenene Weymouth Family Community Development Fund; the Norman and Anne Elsbury Community Development Fund in honor of Jerry and Erin Elsbury Lowder; the Norman and Anne Elsbury Community Development Fund in honor of Kathy Elsbury Hall; and the Norman and Anne Elsbury Community Development Fund in honor of Kenny and Lori Elsbury.
However, Sertoma is the only county service club to establish a community development fund, she said. Club members recognize it allows them to create a legacy in the community, she added.
“People who give in this way, we really feel honored at the trust donors place in the community foundation to make good choices on their behalf,” Gibble said. “Not only today but for the needs of tomorrow that we can’t begin to anticipate.”
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Sertoma, an acronym for "Service to Mankind," was founded in 1912 and has its headquarters in Kansas City, Mo. Its chief mission is to support hearing health and those who have suffered hearing loss. Greenfield Sertoma has undertaken a number of such initiatives. It has worked to provide hearing aids to people who can’t afford them and also has worked with Greenfield-Central schools and the Hancock County Public Library on hearing projects. Greenfield Sertoma is probably best known for its Santa’s Helpers program at Christmastime.
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