As I reflect on the passage of yet another year, I continue to be deeply grateful for the opportunity to work with great professional advisor partners like you. While it can be easy to focus solely on reporting on the numbers, behind those numbers are stories that you are shaping of important experiences and impact.

As a referring advisor, you should take pride in knowing this past year included a great mix of opportunities for influence—from connecting a donor to a local food rescue in need of a refrigerated truck, to connecting children with opportunities to make the holidays bright for others, to seeing donors support a pilot robotics program for at-risk youth and a first of its kind digital library.

One thing continues to hold true for 2015 as it has in the past—our communities continue to be motivated by the opportunity to do more. In 2015 alone:

  • Our donors made more grants than ever before, with a 55% increase in the value of those grants.
  • Our family of donors grew by 12%—with nearly 35% younger than 50—demonstrating our commitment in continuing to build a pipeline for philanthropy in Omaha.
  • More than $100 million was placed into accounts for future charitable use by our family of donors, and 28 new legacy plans for estate giving were created.
  • The Omaha-Council Bluffs area set a new bar for giving days with the amazing success of our third Omaha Gives!
  • Raising nearly $9 million from 20,600 people—with 46% of donors making first-time gifts totaling over $880,000 for nonprofits.
  • We continued to invest in strengthening local nonprofit enterprises—with our program serving 10 nonprofits annually reporting an average increase in capacity of 31%, with our grants from the Fund for Omaha, and through Omaha Gives!, where 71% of nonprofits reported increased capacity to raise money and reach new donors.
  • The Community Foundations of Southwest Iowa continued to grow tremendous endowed resources for the future of those communities that will live beyond us all—with 8 of our 9 counties making their full match for 2015.
  • We gained 39 new referring advisors in our network, expanding our referral base to nearly 250 active advisors.

With all of this momentum, we are eager and energized to get to work this year.  I truly appreciate your professional confidence and trust in the value of our services for your clients. I look forward to all of the inspiring things we can work together to accomplish in 2016.

Sincerely,

Sara A. Boyd, President and CEO