VERO BEACH — To help ensure their organization’s mission in perpetuity, the Board of Directors of the Mental Health Association in Indian River County has established an endowment fund at the Indian River Community Foundation.
“Our Board is pleased to have the opportunity to partner with the Mental Health Association to strengthen the mental health sector,” said Kerry Bartlett, Executive Director of the Indian River Community Foundation. “This new endowment fund is a testimony to the MHA’s commitment to finding long-term solutions for some of our community’s most challenging health care issues.”
The Mental Health Association endowment fund is intended to support financial stability and future growth, said the organization’s chairman Ken Felten.
The agency will receive annual distributions from the fund based on a spending agreement with the Indian River Community Foundation. This will play a critical role in helping the Mental Health Association withstand fluctuations in the changing health care landscape.
“Our Board has strategically focused for the past two years on finding ways to diversify funding so we aren’t relying too heavily on any one source,” Felten said. “An endowed fund was a logical next step to give our donors, who believe so strongly in our mission, the opportunity to make a lasting philanthropic investment to support mental health in our community for many years to come.”
The Mental Health Association’s mission is to provide immediate access with no barriers to mental health care. Felten said the Board envisions a community where all people who struggle with mental illness have an opportunity to improve their quality of life.
The Indian River Community Foundation will be responsible for managing the investment on the Mental Health Association’s behalf and distributing funds annually to the organization based on an approved spending policy.
“The partnership allows the Mental Health Association Board and staff to focus on building relationships with donors who may want to contribute to the fund,” Bartlett said, “while the Community Foundation uses its expertise to invest and manage the funds.”
The Mental Health Association will also have access to other planned giving advice and services, as well as being included in the broader family of donors and funds connected with the Indian River Community Foundation. The Mental Health Association is the third nonprofit to establish an agency endowment, joining Childcare Resources of Indian River County and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Indian River, St. Lucie and Okeechobee Counties, which both established funds in the past year.
The Indian River Community Foundation began operating in 2008 with a mission to build a stronger community through donor driven philanthropy. It has since grown to hold over $25 million in assets held in more than 100 unique charitable funds. The foundation works with individual philanthropists, local advisors and community organizations to develop results-oriented strategies to achieve charitable goals. For more information contact Indian River Community Foundation Executive Director, Kerry Bartlett, at (772) 492-1407 or visit www.ircommunityfoundation.com.