Heartland Community Foundation raises $410,145 for Rooks, Ellis, & Trego

The Heartland Community Foundation (HCF) raised $410,145 for Rooks, Ellis, and Trego counties during its fifth-annual Twice As Nice campaign in February—surpassing its goal and earning all of the matching funds available from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation. 

Heartland raised nearly $185,145 from donors: including a 20 percent increase in Rooks County at $63,410, plus $62,000 in Ellis County and $59,735 in Trego County. The Hansen Foundation committed matching dollars up to $50,000 per county, plus a bonus $25,000 per county for the foundation’s administrative fund upon reaching the goal. Thanks to the generous community support, tenacious board members, and business partnerships, Heartland was able to capture all of the match dollars, which added an additional $225,000 to the total. 

Money raised will be invested into the foundation’s county grant endowment funds, which make funds available to award as grants to local nonprofits, charitable programs, and projects. The money raised in each county stays in that county. 

Because of the success of the annual Twice As Nice campaign and the commitment of matching funds from the Hansen Foundation, the county grant endowment funds have each passed the half-million mark in just five years. The current balance of those funds is: $572,728 (Ellis County), $541,956 (Rooks County), and $535,282 (Trego County). 

“We are so grateful to our community of supporters in Ellis, Rooks, and Trego counties," said Sarah Meitner, executive director of the Heartland Community Foundation. “We were unsure how the economic climate might impact giving, but the communities exceeded our expectations.”