Venice Yacht Club Charitable Foundation

Fellow members...

In this, my final column for the year, I thought I would recap the structure and purpose of your Foundation.

The Venice Yacht Club Charitable Foundation is a Donor Advised Fund at Gulf Coast Community Foundation. Gulf Coast provides the Charitable Foundation with administrative, accounting, tax and investment services. In addition, through this affiliation, all contributions made to your Foundation are tax deductible. Gulf Coast charges a small fee for these services which is basically covered by the interest earned on our balance. This arrangement saves the Venice Yacht Club Charitable Foundation considerable administrative cost. Most importantly for our members, all grant recommendations are made by the Yacht Club’s Foundation committee.

The purpose for establishing a Charitable Foundation is summarized in our mission statement: “The Venice Yacht Club Charitable Foundation supports and enhances the cumulative goodwill of the members of the Venice Yacht Club to serve the needs of our community.” We support youth boating, health and education, veterans and active military as well as local environmental organizations. All charities applying for grants are thoroughly “vetted” by the committee. Organizations receiving grants must have local impact and be of a size that assures our contributions make a real difference in our community.

Since our inception, we’ve provided grants to Venice Youth Boating, Habitat for Humanity, the local Boys and Girls Club, Venice High’s Rotary Futures Program and Operation Troop Support. Our most recent grants went to the Cancer Support Community and the Special Ops Warrior Foundation, all worthwhile organizations that service the Venice area. The members of the Venice Yacht Club can be proud of the community support their Foundation provides.

You should have recently received a donor card in the mail, kicking off our 2012 fundraising effort. Note that, this year, our members will be able to donate through their club account – just check the appropriate box on the card, fill in an amount and return. We have also arranged for secure credit card donations through the Gulf Coast Foundation website. Go to www.gulfcoastcf.org, click on the Give Now icon on the top right side of the screen and then select Venice Yacht Club Charitable Foundation from the drop down list.

Please consider joining us again this year and help demonstrate to the community that VYC is the place for “Good Times and Good Works.” Remember, we never stand taller than when we stoop down to help those who have fallen.

Anthony R Zumbano, Chairman Venice Yacht Club Charitable Foundation

Charting a course to a better community…