“My clients were comforted to know that a responsible organization like the Door County Community Foundation is ensuring that their charitable gifts will be used as they intended. The Community Foundation’s leadership places extreme emphasis on honoring the intentions of donors. That made it easy for me to suggest the Community Foundation as a vehicle for giving back both for those that desired to give now as well as those desiring to give through one’s estate.”

Mark Jinkins
Attorney at Law
Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin

“I am continually amazed at the folks in Door County who rally to support those in need. My clients often say giving through the Door County Community Foundation helps them give back to those individuals and organizations that make this County such a wonderful place to live.”

Robert A. Ross
Attorney at Law
Ross Estate Planning

“Using the Door County Community Foundation can greatly simplify the charitable part of your estate. You designate your Fund at the Community Foundation as the beneficiary of whatever assets you want to donate to charity. Then the Community Foundation distributes those moneys pursuant to your instructions. And it all happens in your family’s name.”

Richard Hauser
Attorney at Law
Pinkert Law Firm, LLP

“Door County business and civic leaders launched the Buy Local initiative under the tag line, ‘spend it here, keep it here.’ But what’s often lost in buy local efforts in other communities is the recognition that the benefits of keeping our dollars in Door County aren’t limited to for-profit companies. We should Give Local too!”

Bret Bicoy
Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin

“Some say that gratitude is a natural human response to beauty. It is easy to see, then, why gratitude is such a strongly felt dimension of the spirit of Door County. We nurture that spirit of gratitude. Out of gratitude we give back.”

Tom Torinus
Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin

“By its very structure, the Foundation makes sure that each individual gift continues to give in a vital way, year after year into the future. Grants go to human needs, the arts, the environment, education and other charitable causes.”

Tom Torinus
Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin

“Evidence is mounting that the one thing community foundations can be the ‘best in world at’ is community leadership. The community foundation field has matured sufficiently that it is capable of rising to the challenge of making community leadership a field priority and core competency. In doing so, it may well change the face of philanthropy and fundamentally improve the quality of community and civic life.”

From the 2007 study,
Community Foundations
and Community Leadership

“Growing numbers of community foundations of all sizes are taking unprecedented leaps into this leadership breach, developing and using their knowledge, networks, reputation, ability to contribute and leverage resources, and growing political acumen to drive change in their communities. They recognize that their endowments afford them the luxury of the long view in a society with a short attention span. They are harnessing the collective influence and access of their increasingly diverse boards, donors, grantees, partners and staff to tackle persistent problems that defy simple solutions. They are becoming the nexus where the energy, talent, ideas and resources of those who care passionately about their communities converge to meet the leadership challenges of this new century. ”

From the 2008 publication,
Community Leadership
by Community Foundations

“We want to extend an invitation to people who have adopted Door County and been adopted by it. If they see some innovative solutions proposed to solve community problems, they may be moved to see their role in Door County in a different way.”

Dick & Annie Egan
Clark Lake, Wisconsin

“There is something in each of us that wants to be immortal. We want our gifts to keep giving after our own lives end. People give to capital fund drives for new buildings because they feel these gifts will endure beyond them. But even buildings and memorials have a life span that is limited. The Community Foundation’s life is unlimited, and the grants it will make every year will be alive, touching and sustaining the lives of people, organizations, the land and the water of Door County..”

Tom Torinus
Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin