By Dan Davis
SIHO Insurance Services recently donated $20,000 to create a new fund at the Community Foundation of Jackson County that will benefit the community overall and Schneck Medical Center in particular.
The Columbus-based insurer created the SIHO Schneck Foundation Endowment with the $20,000 gift, which qualified for $10,000 in matching funds from the Community Foundation as part of its 25 Funds for 25 Years initiative.
“SIHO is proud to be associated with Schneck Medical Center,” SIHO President & CEO David Barker said. “As a company providing health benefits coverage and insurance products to the Jackson County area, we wanted to help our community hospital. We believe that this endowed fund made available through the Community Foundation of Jackson County will be able to assist several projects over the course of the next several years and possibly serve as a catalyst for positive improvements in the community.”
Among those projects Barker mentioned are the new Rehab Center and 4D CT Simulator at Schneck Medical Center. The projects were aided by an additional $30,000 gift from SIHO directly to the Schneck Foundation. The gifts will benefit the “Restore hope. Restore life” campaign for the hospital’s new Rehab Center and 4D CT Simulator at the Schneck Cancer Center.
The matching funds from the 25 Funds for 25 Years program were made available as the community foundation celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. The foundation was created in 1992 and since awarding its first grants in 1994 has approved grants and scholarships totaling more than $5 million.
Through the 25 Funds program, gifts to new endowed funds as well as existing endowed funds at the Community Foundation may earn matching dollars.
The decision to create the Schneck Foundation Endowment at the Community Foundation also continues SIHO’s long-time partnership with our organization. SIHO also has been a contributor to the Jane E. Meyer Nurse Practitioner Scholarship Fund and earlier created the SIHO Insurance Services Community Endowment in 2002. The SIHO Community Fund provides grant dollars for the Community Foundation’s annual Fall Grant cycle.
Donors and supporters may make donations to any of those funds — the SIHO Community Fund or the SIHO Schneck Foundation Endowment as well as the Meyer Scholarship Fund — to help them grow and increase their annual grants and therefore the impact on our community.
Relationships with donors such as SIHO are an important part of helping folks assist the community foundation while at the same time helping others in our community. SIHO’s story is a good example of those relationships at work, of how they will continue working to benefit the community for many years to come through endowed gifts.
If you’d like to learn more about the foundation and how you might help the community, call us at 812-523-4483. We can share information about how the 25 Funds initiative might be able to help you meet your philanthropic goals.
Dan Davis is president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Jackson County, 107 Community Drive, Seymour. For information about donating to the foundation, call 812-523-4483 or send an email to [email protected].