All it takes is a Dollar a Day

By pooling their money through the Lamar Gives 365 program, people are engaged in giving to their community and recommending how their donated dollars are awarded.

Members donate $365 annually — the equivalent of a dollar a day. Half of the money iawarded in grants, and the other half is put into an endowment fund for Barnesville-Lamar County.

“When we first heard the idea for the program, we were blown away and wanted to jump right on it,” says Charles Glass, Former Chair of BLCF. Glass and other BLCF Board Members promoted Lamar Gives 365 throughout Lamar County.

“The Foundation Board did a lot of planning and preparation but as members signed on they took on the work of the Grants Committee,” says Glass. BLCF Board Members knew that volunteer participation was critical to the success of the program. They encouraged members to serve on a committee. “We wanted members to feel like they owned this,” said Glass. At the Grant Finalist Event, grant applicants made two-minute presentations to the membership about their proposed project. Members used voting devices so they could vote on each of the grant applicants. That evening, the members collectively awarded $25,000 to ten organizations. After the grants were made, members went on site visits to the recipient organizations so they could see their dollars at work. In addition to the inaugural grants that were made, the members helped build an endowment of nearly $60,000 that will support Lamar County in perpetuity.

BLCF Board Members — most of them middle aged, established leaders — were thrilled with the success of this new program. They succeeded in involving young people in philanthropy. One of those is Brandy Tuttle, who came to Barnesville a few years ago and chaired the Grants Committee of Lamar Gives 365 during its first year.

Encouraged by the groundswell of community response in the first year of Lamar Gives 365, this program has continued to grow each year since its inception.