NAILBA Perspectives Spring 2020 | Page 50

NAILBA CHARITABLE FOUNDATION It’s that time again! So, what’s this about grants, charities and NAILBA? Well, the NAILBA Charitable Foundation was created in 2002 as the philanthropic arm of the organization. Officially, the Foundation engages in activities which are exclusively charitable, scientific, literary, educational or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals. Doing this heartfelt work, the Foundation encourages the brokerage industry to support the community it serves. By funding grants to community charitable organizations, it is our community outreach to improve the quality of life for those who are in need. This is a clear demonstration to the community that we are a caring, concerned body of professionals. In 2008, the Foundation, honoring its founder, Colonel J William Felton, III, created the Felton Award. This award is the largest grant given each year and that charity is featured at NAILBA’s annual meeting. Apply for a grant Robin Landers, CLU, owns Landers-Stein, originally founded in 1959 by Bernie Landers and Marty Stein. A Chartered Life Underwriter, she has served as president of the Miami SFSP (CLU) and NAIFA-Miami and is currently President of the NAILBA Charitable Foundation. Robin can be reached at [email protected]. *501(c)(3) public charity whose principal activity is the direct provision of substantial nonsectarian charitable services for children and those in need 50 Perspectives Q2 2020 The Grant application is online (www.NAILBAcharitablefoundation.org). As a member, affiliate member or business partner of NAILBA, you can download the grant application and send it to a favorite local nonprofit* that has a specific program that needs funding. Once the Nonprofit completes the application, it should be sent with your letter of support to the NAILBA Foundation. The application must have a current letter of support in order to qualify. The applications will be reviewed by staff for eligibility. The text of the cover letter remains with the application, but the sponsor’s identity is hidden, so that no one on the grant review committee knows which of you helped the charity apply. The grant review committee members vary, year to year, being selected by the committee chair — the current Treasurer of the NAILBA Board of Directors. Each grant committee member receives the application packets by email and reviews the dozens of submissions. Then, individually, they rank those. Those rankings are sent back to NAILBA staff for compilation. The committee subsequently gathers for face-to-face deliberations — you can imagine there are many high scores for programs in communities across the country, helping those who need it most. We can’t (yet) fund all the grantees for all the money needed for all the programs. That means the grant review committee must come to agreement on which grants to fund and for how much. The charity will be sent a letter to agree to the terms of engagement and will subsequently receive their check. We will also notify you, the sponsor, of the selection so that you can: • Schedule a presentation of the check • Submit an article to the charity’s local newspaper with a press release • Have pictures made for future promotion for the local newspaper or the charity’s newsletter and website