Today marks the first day of our Fiscal Year 2016, our new budget year. This doesn’t mean a whole lot to the outside world but for staff, it brings a flurry of activity—finalizing invoices, loan and grant payments, reconciling our books, preparing for our audit.
It may not be the most exciting part of our work, but it results in real dollars going out into our southwest Minnesota region. Just this past year, we made over $2.4 million in loans, awarded over $1 million in grants, and raised $3.3 million in gifts through our family of funds to support a variety of organizations, programs and projects. We’re grateful for the trust and confidence our donors, clients and partners place in us.
I want to give a special shout out to all of our Growing Home Circle donors. Thanks to many generous gifts, we raised $165,000 for our General Endowment through this annual campaign and met the goal we set before the leadership transition began last fall! It speaks highly of our work and organizational reputation, and we are so thankful to our donors who believe in SWIF’s mission.
Plus, these gifts are matched dollar-for-dollar by The McKnight Foundation, bumping that Growing Home Circle total to $330,000! Our General Endowment allows us to continue the great work we do throughout the region to support families, businesses and communities.
We’d love to have you help kick off July by being one of the first to make a gift in Fiscal Year 2016. You can make your gift to our General Endowment easily online through GiveMN.org. Or, check out the many other community, school, organization and family funds we manage and learn how you can give back in other ways to our region.