How A Community Foundation Powers Northern Kentucky

Want proof that local generosity can move like a startup and deliver like a system? We sit down with Nancy Grayson, President and CEO of Horizon Community Foundation, to unpack how Northern Kentucky’s giving engine turns neighbor intent into real-world outcomes across Boone, Kenton, and Campbell counties.

Nancy explains what a community foundation actually does—public charity, fiduciary, matchmaker—and why that structure matters for people who want to help but need a reliable path. We walk through a powerful pandemic playbook: raising over $2 million, streamlining grants with light reporting, and coordinating a 30-plus pantry network so bulk buys stretched every dollar. When SNAP benefits paused, that same network delivered again, supporting 25,000 neighbors fast. The theme is speed with oversight: lean processes, data you can trust, and partners who quarterback logistics so nonprofits can focus on service.

Education takes center stage as we explore a four-year, $2 million pilot with Partners for Change focused on out-of-school time and family engagement in the river cities. Built on best practices, clear metrics, and fidelity to the model, the pilot is attracting new funding while giving small and large donors a way to back measurable student gains. We also zoom out with a data scan of roughly 300 core nonprofits, revealing where collaboration can reduce duplication and where fresh dollars can unlock impact.

If you’ve ever wanted to start a scholarship, seed a fund, or just make a modest gift that adds up, you’ll love the 410 Give Where You Live giving circle. Members contribute $410, attend short easy meetings, nominate a local nonprofit, hear real stories from neighbors, and vote from their phones. It’s speed philanthropy that’s already granted over $300,000 to 31 organizations—and it just merged with a larger annual grant track to balance quick wins with deeper focus areas.

Ready to turn intent into impact with people who care about your backyard? Join the 410 Give Where You Live, explore active funds, or start your own at www.horizoncfnky.org. If this conversation sparked ideas, subscribe, share with a neighbor, and leave a review to help more locals find us.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Mission Of The Show
• 1:19 What A Community Foundation Does
• 5:08 Trust, Governance, And Donor Access
• 6:37 How To Start Giving Or Launch A Fund
• 9:23 Fiduciary Role And The Easy Button
• 11:20 A Scholarship Story Made Real
• 13:21 Meet The Team And New HQ
• 16:43 Family Roots And Local Ties
• 17:47 Pandemic Lessons And Rapid Response
• 20:20 Food Pantry Network And Efficiency
• 23:00 Education Pilot And Data-Driven Impact
• 26:41 Mapping Northern Kentucky Nonprofits
• 28:23 Giving Circles: 410 And Give Where You Live
• 31:30 Why Speed Philanthropy Works
• 34:05 Culture Of Philanthropy And Growth
• 36:12 Join The Movement And How To Sign Up
• 38:30 Closing Thanks And Ways To Connect

Transcript

SPEAKER_03: 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Mike Murphy. Thank you, Charlie. Yes, I am Mike Murphy, host of the Good Neighbor Podcast. I talk to uh people here in Northern Kentucky that I think that you need to know. Oftentimes you know my guests, sometimes you don't. It's always a mixed bag. Um I talk to business owners, I talk to uh local nonprofits, I talk to movers and shakers. And so one of those movers and shakers um is uh somebody who's become a friend of mine over the past few years, Nancy Grayson. And Nancy is the president and CEO of the Horizon Community Foundation. And that name could mean a lot of things. And so uh I'm going to ask Nancy to uh first of all say hello to the audience and to explain what is Horizon Community Foundation. Welcome, Nancy.

SPEAKER_02: 1:00

Hi, everyone. This is such a treat for me, and as Mike said, we've we've become uh partners for good over the last few years, and really being able to share with you all the good work that's happening in northern Kentucky. This is going to be this is gonna be a fun, uh different type of a podcast for you. Looking forward to to sharing some stories. Um, but currently I have the great honor of serving as the president and CEO, as you mentioned, of Horizon Community Foundation of Northern Kentucky. Uh a community foundation is a public charity. Um, as you hear foundation, you probably think of grant making, and we certainly do that. Um, but community foundations have been around for over a hundred years. Uh there are 903 in the US at this point in time, and probably more are growing each year. It's a large group, um, but they're very focused on a specific geographic area. So when we were formed in 2017, uh, we did not have this kind of centralized hub of charitable giving in northern Kentucky, um, despite the fact that we're 400,000 people strong in Boone Kitten and Campbell County. So that is our area that we focus on. So as a public charity, as a community foundation, we are here to help uh create what we call common good for the commonwealth. So we partner with individuals, with families, with business owners, with nonprofit organizations to really help raise the quality of life for all of us here in northern Kentucky. And that's our mission. And uh we've had a lot of fun building it in the in the last eight years.

SPEAKER_03: 2:37

Well, it sounds like you've given that description uh many, many times in the past. You're you're well polished. You know, and and from from my perspective, you know, I've I've worked with you on certain projects. And um when people ask me about you and who you are and what you do, I say, well, I'm not a hundred percent sure. I just know that she keeps us all in line and she takes care of all the money.

SPEAKER_02: 3:06

It's it's a big uh job to be a fiduciary of public charitable dollars, I'll say that. And to your point, I I think um a community foundation is kind of a niche thing. So even uh when I was hired, it it I had had uh familiarity with other community foundations across the state of Kentucky and in our greater region, and they're doing great work. Um, but I think the nuance of how someone might engage with Horizon Community Foundation is really dependent on kind of one of our funds and our family. I'm an attorney, I don't want to get too into the weeds legally, but I think the easiest way for folks to consider uh what we might do is based on one of those funds, and we'll we'll some of those hopefully during this podcast. But if you think of how community might grow together in terms of what needs rise over and really to grow endowments for the community so that when we're long gone and our grandkids and great-grandkids are here, that there is this permanent resource for the charitable needs of northern Kentucky. So we are building that right now and really thinking of philanthropy, not just as folks who can pin big checks. Certainly we partner with those wonderful, generous philanthropists too. But how does someone who can put$100 into a shared fund that grows over time and is joined together with their neighbors' uh charitable dollars? How do you manage that? And so uh that's what I get to do on a daily basis with my incredible team of four of us. There are three other teams, and we've really been able to grow over time in large part because of our giving community. And we have an incredible board of 25 Council of Trustee members that are very trusted. It's a big board, but we wanted to make sure when we launched that folks said we trust this group. We know a handful of the people there, we've heard of their names, we know they care about northern Kentucky, and they have our best interest at heart. So it's not any one person's agenda or their own personal account. This is really for the community.

SPEAKER_03: 5:08

Yeah, it's a well-rounded group, but all those names, you know, when I when I searched that list, um, it's like a who's who, you know.

SPEAKER_02: 5:14

Um I have the best board in my opinion in the region, but I know there are other groups that would beg to differ and say that theirs is too. So there's a lot of really great people out there giving back.

SPEAKER_03: 5:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 5:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 5:24

And and so um I'll I'll be honest, when when when somebody goes to your website and they see all that you kind of are involved with, it can be intimidating. Yes. And I think of it as, you know, there's there's kind of a a level that uh is kind of high flying, and um really I'm more of the low-level community, grassroots type of person. You know, how can I roll up my sleeves and get involved uh in some charitable giving alongside my neighbors? And we'll we'll talk about that before we go. But I just like that um there's somebody out there who let's face it, we all have ideas, you know. We all think I would like to start a nonprofit, I would like to start a charity, whatever. And people call it different things, but they don't know what to do with that. Yeah, they don't know what the next step is. Do do I call an attorney? Do I call uh Horizon Community Foundation now that they're going to know about you? What is the next the next step? Um is that is there a simple answer there or no?

SPEAKER_02: 6:26

Uh well as an attorney I can say it depends, right? I I think you know, we our goal really is to be that charitable hub. So our hope would be that you would come to our website or give us uh www.horizoncfnky.org and and to just start kind of unpacking what's on the website. We really want to share our stories if you care about education, if you care about housing, if you care about the arts, parks, um, safety net services, healthcare. I mean, the the it runs the gamut, certainly, and that's why it can seem overwhelming. But I think that the biggest way to plug in is to think about what you care about, and then really to start looking at one of our 250 plus growing funds, which ones kind of fit into that space, and then to reach out to us and we can share more about are there nonprofits that are partnering with us in this way? Are there other groups that they might want to plug into? So being seen as that kind of trusted resource is really, really our goal. And then ideally to align funding, uh, whether it's partnering with donors who have dollars to put out in the community, or if it's with companies, or even partnering with nonprofits, how do we think through whatever issue it is that we're trying to address? And so it's real time, and at the same time, we often use data to think about what's coming in the future and trends, so that we can start thinking ahead of time on how we um can accelerate towards uh really some innovative solutions for our community.

SPEAKER_03: 7:57

Yeah, and you've got to have somebody who is the um legal arm that's controlling the money, keeping everything legal, yes, um, buttoned up and tight, um, so that there's no ifs, ands, or buts about what's happening to these funds that are being uh donated throughout the community. And that allows you know, people like me to then just focus on the mission part of it, the heart part of it.

SPEAKER_01: 8:22

Yes. And we want to be your easy button for giving. We want to be your easy button for giving.

SPEAKER_03: 8:29

Yeah, I like that, I like that. The easy button for giving. Yeah, and um so I think when people reach out to someone like you, and the the more I've learned about what Horizon Community Foundation does, the more you realize um it's uh it's easy to execute a vision or at least find people out there to to connect with that can make something like that happen. Case in point, uh a friend of mine that you know, um Lisa Ransom, um she she um joined with you uh to um to uh bring life to a scholarship fund um in memory of her husband, Travis, a firefighter here in northern Kentucky. And uh he passed away um from um a lung cancer. And you know, his story is um well documented uh around uh these parts, especially amongst the first responder community, a heck of a guy. And she wanted to um start this scholarship fund. And when she told me about it, I'm like, you know what? I don't know anyone that's ever done that, and I wouldn't know where to start, I wouldn't know where to begin. She told me she was working with you. I'm like, okay, that makes perfect sense.

SPEAKER_02: 9:41

Yeah, more people are out to us now that we've had you know eight years plus under our belt, and people are hearing about us more when they think about um if a loved one passes or if they're trying to launch, for instance, Campbell County, an education foundation, um, how do they partner? How do they kind of build something up? They don't have to think about the structure because we handle that. We're we're kind of that back office that that entity that makes sure that we're in good standing with the IRS, we're publicly audited. So this is really a community asset. But when you have someone like Lisa and her family or the Campbell County Schools, or even you know, a nonprofit or a church who says we want to do something a little bit more, but we don't have the bandwidth, not sure how to get something up and running. I get a lot of those calls or those emails. And so we sit down, um, just as we would with any donor, to think through what their goals are. And then my mind is how do we make it simple and how do we make sure that we're leveraging the community and allowing them to raise the dollars uh to meet where their goals are. So um again, kind of a concierge of sorts and and thinking through what the community needs and how we can count how we can support them.

SPEAKER_03: 10:55

Okay. Well, you mentioned in passing a few minutes ago your your wonderful staff. Um so I know we've got Aaron, Dawn, and Ashley.

SPEAKER_01: 11:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_03: 11:07

And anytime I have a question, I can reach out to one of them. I see them in passing, always a wave and a smile. And uh they're they're they're great people. Um so if if you would like to shout them out beyond um just saying thank you for being a wonderful staff. Yes, if if you can um just briefly let us know what what each of them does um at Horizon Community Foundation.

SPEAKER_02: 11:32

I'd love to do that. I, you know, honestly, we are where we are because of our team. Um, and we are lean and they are superhuman because they all wear multiple hats and a team of four managing a$70 million fund, you might imagine there's there's a lot going on each day. Aaron Slavin is our uh director of accounting and administration. He really serves as our financial backbone, making sure that we have timely statements. Anytime anyone has questions about kind of our operational aspects or anything financial related, um, including our board, he is the person who has that data and is able to share the information and provide that to uh the community or to our fund holders and partners. Uh Dawn Denham is our director of marketing and engagement. And she not only helps to uh tell our stories of impact and what's happening in the community, um, but she also serves as what um is known in the foundation world as a kind of a program director. So she liaises with a lot of our nonprofits to make sure we're well informed, that we know what their needs are and that uh they feel heard because uh we are not the experts in all of these various fields that I mentioned. Uh, we want to make sure that we're we're listening to those who have that expertise. And then Ashley Lubers is our newest team member. She um also was hired this last year. She is our communications and operations coordinator, and she does both sides. It's hard to find someone who's both left and right brain. So she helps Erin with a lot of the accounting and administrative piece, but on the other side, helps support Don with the website of social media. So we're often, you know, kind of overlapping in terms of what our work is, uh, in terms of what we have to do on a daily basis. It's a very tight-knit group. So I'm very lucky. They're very invested in the community, and I I really have such a great team. So it's it's a fun time to come together to work each day. Um, and we just moved, we're in the new 1 in KY Center down in Covington. So we share our office space with the Chamber, 1 in KY Alliance, and um our economic development group being so a lot of these different groups um have other people that they know too. So we're we're really kind of operating as like kind of a super uh regional growth operation uh for Northern Kentucky here at the 1 in KY Center.

SPEAKER_03: 13:57

Okay, well, very good. Um, and and I've not been there yet, so shame on me.

SPEAKER_02: 14:02

We'd love to have you come for a visit. It's very pretty. It's right next to the ascent. So for folks listening, if you're down in Covington and you see the beautiful blue and white building that uh Liebishkin designed years ago, he also designed a smaller building. Uh it almost looks like it's on its side and it's about four and uh beautiful state-of-the-art uh business space and and really a community space too.

SPEAKER_03: 14:26

Perfect. Well, while we're talking about other humans that you work with, um let's let's talk about humans that you live with. Yes, your your husband Trey. Yes, recovery and he's a good guy. And um I I see him um at some of our meetings, and um you know he's got a a pretty interesting background. We we really I'm not gonna bother going through all that, but um, I just want to make sure that um we talk about Trey because I see how he supports not just you, but he supports a lot of the local groups in the area. He does a lot for so many.

SPEAKER_01: 15:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_03: 15:07

Um and just just like we're shouting out you know your your team there, I want to shout out the spouse too, because um yeah, he he deserves uh he deserved that deserves the recognition.

SPEAKER_02: 15:20

Well, I guess he does. Yeah, no, I'm happy to brag on uh him and my family, quite frankly. Uh we live in Boone County off of Richwood Road and have lived there for wow, we've owned the house now for well over 20 years. So um it has been so much fun. We've been married for 25 years. So Trey is a northern Kentuckian, he has been here since birth. His family started here. I'm from Lexington, so just a little bit further south on the interstate. Uh, but he uh has been Secretary of State of Kentucky for two terms. Um Kentucky for three years, and uh he worked at Harvard and ran the Institute of Politics, which was an incredible three-year period for our family and our two daughters. Uh, love Boston. I love oysters too. But uh Harvard is as I mean, as you might expect, is is diverse and has a lot of world leaders. So he uh manages the government relations arm uh nationally for uh firm FBT Gibbons, which used to be Frost Brown Todd, but it just merged uh with another uh law firm uh founded in DC or in New York City. So he has a footprint from one coast to the other, but Kentucky's our home. Um, and so uh that's why we live here and work here and get back here. But he's on a bunch of boards and and really cares about our Commonwealth, but also Northern Kentucky and for us to be successful. So he's he's a lot of fun. So I always joke when you get one of us, you get both of us. Yeah, and then we have two daughters. Our oldest is now married, she's in uh med school at the University of Cincinnati, finishing up. She will be a doctor uh come April. And uh I I worry we might lose her to uh the East Coast. Her husband's in the Navy as a nuclear sub-officer. And uh they're impressive, they're they're doing just fine. And then uh our younger daughter, who is so talented and theatrical and sings and performs and just brilliant in the creative space, too, um, is finishing up an English degree at the University of Cincinnati, which is my law school alma mater. And so three of us uh went to UC in our family, and then we have a little dog, Oliver, who is Dachshund. So he's he's my four baby who's at home with us too.

SPEAKER_03: 17:34

Little shot. Trying to trying to survive in this snow with short little legs.

SPEAKER_01: 17:43

But they're a little low rider. Yes.

SPEAKER_03: 17:47

So going back to uh the business side of things, you had shared with me before um some some pretty impressive numbers in terms of food pantries that were supported when they needed help um here not too long ago. Do you want to just briefly talk a bit about that?

SPEAKER_02: 18:08

I would love to. And and if you'll indulge me, I want to back up a little bit to the pandemic because the lessons we learned from that time, things like yesterday and like a lifetime ago in so many ways, really informed what we are doing with the food pantries currently. Um, so when the pandemic hit, and we were only a few years old as an organization, and we all went sideways and you know, we're on our our Zoom screens or our Hollywood Square, so to speak, um, we really decided it was important that we show why we exist. And so we were able to raise dollars to support our neighbors in need through many nonprofit uh partners. And so we were able to raise$2 million, uh, over 2 million, and uh ended up uh being able to help 85,000 uh neighbors out of the 400,000, which is incredible. Wow for food and um eventually online learning before uh the local governments were able to provide more funding for digital learning, um housing and shelter. I mean, the things that we helped to supply, it just so incredible the ability for our nonprofits to come together when they were stressed, but to act quickly. We deployed funding very fast with uh task force. We did not have applications. We said, please just send us this type of information so that we can make a quick decision and get the money out uh to folks in need because it was real time. We were we were all triaging, and I know many of you listening were were helpers on the ground too, and and thank you for all that you've done as well. But as a result of that, um, there was a system of food pantries that we partnered with. And I have to give a shout out to Andy Brunsman and Be Concerned, um, which is located in Covington, but he works regionally and served as our quarterback to communicate with all the pantries uh to get good data to show that the money was being used as it was intended. We we try not to make reporting heavy for our nonprofit partners. They have a lot of work that they have to do often on, very lean staffing, um, but was able to kind of activate this system of um at the time over 30 nonprofit food pantry partners to have food resources for those in need during the pandemic. And so, as you mentioned, um, more recently in the fall, when the government shut down in the fall of 25 uh and the SNAP benefits were paused, uh, many of us in the philanthropic community across the US were talking about how do how do we help, how do we leverage what we have right now? So uh quickly are to launch a Northern Kentucky Food Support Fund, and we raised uh just in$270,000. And that money um is entirely deployed at this point, uh, and we have a long entail of what happens when the government shuts down and you are facing inflation and higher prices with food and other resources. So uh the money is still being deployed through the um into February, but we uh in the first two months alone helped uh 25,000 people just through those uh partnerships, and so through 29 uh different partners, food pantry and Andy, Andy Brunsman, uh the quarterback at be concerned, really helping us to have a system to be efficient, to maximize those dollars so that we didn't have uh surplus money being spent on food when we could really, you know, kind of buy in bulk and get some better pricing. He just he thinks in terms of efficiency and economies of scale. And so we've really been able to leverage that partnership and activate what we learned from the pandemic to deploy it again during this uh most recent need. So our nonprofit partners are really our heroes in the community, and it's just been such a a privilege to get to work shoulder to shoulder with them for Northern Kentucky.

SPEAKER_03: 21:58

Yeah, we could never uh name them all in this short amount of time but just uh you know shout out to everybody who was involved in that because they say n necessity is the mother of invention um and when something like that happens uh people come together in an amazing way and you know new processes are put in place and um the the brains get a little bigger because they're forced to and um so and then and and then um thusly uh the heart gets a little bigger too so thanks for being part of that well it wasn't it was an incredible incredible partnership as I said this was a team effort is there anything that we haven't spoken about yet uh just in terms of something uh you know associated with um all you do there at Horizon um that you're particularly proud of or amazed by or maybe something that just really stands out top of mind um that you just think oh my god I got to I'm so blessed to be a part of that. I know that that you feel that way about a lot of things.

SPEAKER_02: 23:02

I know it's like asking who's your favorite kid. That's that's hard to do. But I I do have I mean I have many stories to share feels like um each year has some challenges and then some really wonderful silver linings and it's happening. One thing I think impact focus and then I'll I'll mention something data related to tie back to our many nonprofits. I love data so I I hope I try not to get too geeky and in the weeds with uh you know kind of wonky data numbers uh but the story impact story partnering coming out of the and knowing that um well documented loss that happened during that time with our our students and as a parent whose uh you know two daughters are now in college and grad school it it was a tough time when they you know they were in high school at the time and and learning was a challenge even for them and so taking the opportunity to figure out um and to listen to educators in northern Kentucky and administrators uh we have 13 public school districts in our three counties alone it's very unusual for the state um to have that many in such a close proximity but that plus the uh private schools and even homeschooling trying to figure out what we could do to help coming out of the pandemic with education that by the way is the top um area of interest for our donors and for grant making uh since inception education is something that's wildly popular um and we heard from them loud and clear especially for elementary youth we were focused on the younger years they needed help uh with out of school time learning support so after school summer school when they're they're not in their traditional school day and then also family engagement whatever family might look like for that that student and uh we worked and spent a lot of time researching with national best practices uh state organizations and found out we have a wonderful partner in our own backyard uh with a group that used to be called Covington Partners and now it is called Partners for Change. We have a pilot a four-year pilot with them we're in year three where we raised uh$2 million for this pilot to be able to help students in the urban core in the river cities across multiple districts in that out of school time and family engagement learning. And so we're measuring it we're making sure there is fidelity in the model that Partners for Change is bringing to multiple districts that have not partnered with them before. And then also how to continue expanding it beyond this four-year pilot. So there are funders who are interested in continuing this work. We will have a community report but to really be able to do something that has actually attracted some state dollars to this particular pilot showing kind of how philanthropy can innovate and for folks who wanted to give in small amounts or large amounts this was a fund that was wide open but we raised the 2 million we were very successful and we should have a great report showing the success that we're seeing with that partnership. So to be able to do something that's a little more entrepreneurial like that I I love flexing that muscle for a young community foundation and to have so many partners who invested and many donors. So thank you to the community for for stepping up for our River City students. But we we have some good progress probably in another year and a half. And the other space really quickly with data um you know for us to have conversations in the community we can talk about things that we care about and that we're passionate about but how do we have just cold facts and take a look at like really where we are so we did a snapshot in partnership with an organization called Ignite Philanthropy. However many of those are member organizations civic clubs um booster clubs uh you know they may not truly act as like what you would you and I would think of as an agency or 501c3. So when we kind of separated all those out if you think of a bullseye and you keep getting more narrow we're really talking about 300 ish nonprofits in northern Kentucky that are doing that true it's it's still a large number for our size of a community but you can get your arms around that list. When you start looking at it you realize many of these groups are groups that we've supported through one of our funds and a giving circle even that we'll we'll talk about in a moment I know Mike that you're involved with too so how do we look at where funding streams are flowing where is their opportunity for growth do groups that partner together to fight child abuse to help people who are food insecure are they collaborating together and how do we really make those dollars stretch a little bit further so that data scan was very helpful. It's informed a lot of conversations in the community so we we like that role that's something um at least while I have the honor of sitting in this chair like I said I I like using data to make decisions so that's something that we'll continue you're you're an attorney but you're talking like an engineer with data points and numbers I am the daughter of an engineer so maybe that that's helpful too it's rubbed off on you.

SPEAKER_03: 28:18

Yep explains it that explains it. You touched on something that I'm involved in that I'll bring up from time to time in other podcasts and that is uh the Give Where You Live. So the 410 Give Where You Live there's kind of a you know change that has taken place recently do you want to speak to that a little bit and just kind of educate a bit on what what what the purpose of that that group is.

SPEAKER_02: 28:43

Yeah and I'd love for you to join in and provide your own color because Mike you've been a great advisory board member and just advocate and donor. So we're we're so grateful for all uh so uh what I'm getting ready to talk about is what's known as a giving circle and this is where um across the US uh different groups like this emerge over time where everyone puts the same amount of money in and they decide as a group where it goes. So this is a charitable group it is an effort it is a fund that we manage but it's really a social way for folks to really to give back with their neighbors and to make decisions on where that money goes. And so there's a process through which that decision is made. And uh when we launched we had uh two different groups that had different ideas about the giving circle so we actually had two separate groups which as you mentioned just merged we'll get there in a moment uh one was a more traditional giving circle called the 410 which is the first three digits of our zip code put$410 in and this was usually a fall kind of calendar each year where the group uh would pick a focus area it's very social and then if it's arts if it's education if it's um mental health or financial literacy they would pick that focus area and nonprofits were to opt in who have impacted northern Kentucky and they would apply for the funding from the group and then the group would review the applications and make the decision on where that money would go each year and we would announce it and have a big check and have a party at the end. That uh is a very traditional way for giving to operate and so we had that one group of folks who who wanted to start that giving circle. So we had that up and running for a number of years. And we had um another group Mueller Financial uh tipping my hat to our our partners Bob and Woody Mueller who brought this idea that um existed in other parts of the uh country really uh called Give Where You Live um ours was give where you live northern Kentucky and this is really speed philanthropy is the best way I can describe it. So without taking applications every member they would put in$400 for the year so it's a quarterly meeting$100 per quarter only an hour long meeting a social place restaurant a bar some convening area and uh they would come in and everyone nominates a nonprofit locally that they care about. They don't have to be employed by them they may not even serve on their board. They just might think it's a really great group we randomly select three I say select I'm using my hand to show pulling out of the hat we did that if you right recall early on but now we're we're very digital and so we do this. And then those three um names that are selected whoever nominated that nonprofit will stand up and just speak from their heart about why they think they're they're great and why they should be supported everyone votes with their phone and at the end of the hour all the money from that particular meeting goes to that nonprofit without even an application process. And in many cases the nonprofits did not even know that they were going to get that money. Some of them knew because they had representatives there. And I know you can speak to that but we decided between the two that there could be an ease in marketing this kind of opportunity for people to have a really easy way to enter and partner with Horizon and give back to the community. So we merged the two together and took uh the best of both in terms of nonprofits opting in with the 410 to apply in an area with a bigger grant and then also the speed giving concept for meetings where um some smaller grants could go out into the community quickly we just announced the merger and we're accepting folks to who want to join us. I I hope folks will but the merged entity uses both names so it's the four if where you live northern Kentucky and they can find that on our website too but it's it's a lot of fun. Still$410 that's the ask um every person who uh puts that money in gets to have a vote and it's it's social it's a fun group so our goal is to have over 100 members and to to keep growing the the group um as we move forward but Mike you've been such a critical part of it helping to promote it and I think so many new members have have come to us because of of you and your platform here and and with your uh publications so to hear your your thoughts now that you've been in in part of this group for a good number of years quite yeah I I think when you when you witness it for the first time well first of all before you even go to your first meeting when you hear the concept it's genius it's brilliant and so you think wow we need to get as many people on board as possible.

SPEAKER_03: 33:25

Yeah and then when you attend a meeting and you see how real and raw it is people coming together um you're you're doing a lot of the normal networking things but it's at a different level and you know when it's when it's around um charitable endeavors um your ears tend to kind of perk up a little more and everybody can relate to somebody else in the room on some level. And then when these names are called and somebody walks up to the front of the room they don't know that their name is about to be called so they're in the spotlight in the moment. It forces them to talk from the heart and um you get so many good what we call pitches um in that moment because people are just sort of boom the spotlight focuses on you and now you just have to talk about what you're passionate about. And it resonates with so so many people in the room no matter who is gifted monies uh from this group everybody feels like we're walking out a winner yes and we get to be part of something so special and if people say to themselves I would I love the concept of giving but I just want to make sure that it's actually going to what it's what I'm intending. And I want to make it simple and this is very simple and it's fun.

SPEAKER_02: 34:46

It is it's very social. And what I love about it is it's really amplifying your giving so you you could give$410 to any one of our amazing local nonprofits but knowing you're doing it with others and that that means you're having bigger impacts so you can think at a larger scale um it's it's pretty powerful I think um in fact two we've granted out 300,000 and have impacted 31 different nonprofits already just in these first several years. So I get excited when I think about um just the social connectivity and at our when I talk with our our board our council of trustees how do we create this culture of philanthropy? How do we inspire students families and and maybe anyone on the street who has the ability to feel really part of this community so that when we think about northern Kentucky we we're seen as this like bonded group I I love the idea that this is like a very active um low in terms of like your commitment uh each year we hope everyone comes back but we just want to meet folks where they are and make it fun and and allow folks to connect with other like minded people.

SPEAKER_03: 36:00

Yeah. So I I guess my parting shot would be if you are involved with a nonprofit directly or if you have a heart for a particular nonprofit and maybe you've heard of this group before maybe you haven't but now that we're talking about it you're like wow okay I get it a little bit better now.

SPEAKER_02: 36:17

I want to be involved in this that's who we're calling out to right now and um yeah we need more and more people involved because like you said a few minutes ago we're leveraging these gifts um as a group and making big impact yes um in a simple easy way and uh yes I've I've shed a few tears at these meetings sometimes you can't oh I know it's so touching and and even if you don't know a ton of nonprofits or very many um I know many members who come in just to learn about the good work that's happening. And so um there's a lot of opportunity and that's I think the the merge helps because it allows people to groups that they love and to nominate them. But then if if you just want nonprofits to opt in on a focus area we have that piece of it done too. So it'll be a year-round event um asking folks if you're interested to visit our website it's easy uh how to get involved the 410 give where you live is is actually on our homepage so you can click through it pretty quickly and uh sign up and we will have our first meeting so we're we're asking folks to consider um how to get involved and and just to sign up so that you can help make impact too.

SPEAKER_03: 37:33

So again the uh the web address is um horizon cf n k y dot org dot org yes yeah yes and uh that will trail you to a lot of information yes much of what we've talked about today some of which we just didn't have time to talk about but it's all there at the website and uh they can even see uh the smiling faces of your staff that works very hard uh on behalf of everyone in the community so I think that's really gonna wrap it up for this uh episode Nance thank you very much for joining us today thanks so much and thanks to everyone who's taking the time to listen to the great story of our community well I just want to make sure that everybody out there knows that all of this is accessible to them and uh it just begins with picking up the phone or going to the website you can even call me Mike Murphy I'll do my best to be an ambassador for Rise Community Foundation all right well that wraps it up for this episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast uh the good neighbor podcast um is called Good Neighbor Podcast because we want all of you to continue to be good to one another. So until next time everyone out there be good to your neighbor see you next time everybody so long bye bye