As you are well aware, the coronavirus is severely impacting virtually all of our local businesses and non-profit organizations. In light of this pandemic, The Greater Lynchburg Community Foundation (GLCF) wants everyone to know that we are still striving to carry out our mission to enhance the lives of Central Virginians. Together, we are positive that we will get through this challenging time. Please read on to see how we plan to handle things for the foreseeable future.
The GLCF staff are currently working in the office while observing distancing and recommended disinfection protocols, but we may begin working remotely if necessary. We will still be available by phone and e-mail. All group meetings have been canceled until further notice. We are diligently working remotely with our Youth Philanthropy students in order to complete our commitment of providing a $10,000 and $5,000 grant to two deserving non-profits.
The fund assets of the GLCF have been hit hard by the economic impact of the pandemic so far. However, due to our investment guidelines, which have always called for fairly conservative investing, we have not seen as precipitous a drop in our results as has the Dow Jones, for example.
We are acutely aware that many, if not all, of the nonprofits we help support are in dire need right now. Therefore, our board has decided to continue our normal practice of distributing 5% of our fund assets (as averaged over a 12-quarter span to help smooth out these bumps), rather than cut back at this critical time. We continue our work in evaluating the spring grant applications that have come in and expect to make our decisions regarding those according to our usual timetable. That timetable calls for the distribution committee to analyze all of the applications and to make its recommendations to our full board for ratification at its June meeting.
We continue to work toward awarding our first Century Fund grant and hope to still be able to announce a decision by the end of June, provided we can complete the process remotely and that events proceed as currently expected.
Most of all, we wish everyone good health and will put all of our energies into supporting each other now and as things evolve. Feel free to send an email with any questions or concerns you may have, or just to touch base. Now, more than ever, we need to be here for each other in any way we can.
Stay safe,