The Lake Minnetonka Garden Club will celebrate its 100-year Anniversary in 2027.  Over that time, the Club has built a legacy of supporting education in horticulture, conservation, and botany by granting annual scholarships and fostering, cultivating, funding and leading community projects in the Lake Minnetonka area, region and State of Minnesota.  This is consistent with the Garden Club of America’s mission to garden, create and advocate.

The Lake Minnetonka Garden Club Centennial Endowment Fund is being established to ensure long term and consistent funding of scholarship and community projects.  It will enable current and future Club leadership to make significant and meaningful investments on behalf of the community, region or state in accordance with the Club’s mission and vision.  The campaign goal is to raise $500 thousand by the 2027 annual meeting with a long term goal of $1 million.  The Endowment Fund will be managed by a third-party professional investment service and oversight provided by the LMGC Executive Committee of the board. Major gifts, matched gifts (corporate or personal), planned giving and annual giving are all components of the fundraising portfolio.

The Lake Minnetonka Garden Club has a rich history of leading the way in the community on educational and civic projects.  Major gift fundraising has been core to much of this work.  One example is the foresight and stewardship by the club to plan, purchase and establish the gift of land which today is home to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.  More recent efforts include success with the LMGC Bee Fund that funded the pollinator gardens at the Tashjian Bee and Pollinator Center at the Arboretum.  In addition, our garden club has provided more than a dozen scholarships to students to continue their studies in horticulture, conservation, and botany.

Through your generosity, The Lake Minnetonka Garden Club will be able to fund students, educational programs and civic projects that align with the Club’s mission and values.  As a community of multigenerational women committed and engaged in horticulture, conservation, garden history and design, civic projects, and service – we – YOU – can make a difference on behalf of future generations in our community and our country.

The purpose of The Lake Minnetonka Garden Club is to stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening and horticulture . . . to restore, improve and protect the quality of the environment . . . and to share the advantages of association by means of educational meetings and civic projects.

Forever – Committed to the Mission – Centennial Endowment 2027.

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The Lake Minnetonka Garden Club has a rich history of leading the way within the community on behalf of educational and civic projects.  Since establishing the LMGC Horticulture Scholarship Fund in 2011 more than $25,000 has been awarded to 14 Minnesota college students.  More information on LMGC contributions and scholarships can be found in the Club’s Yearbook and on our website.

• 2022 – Amelia Hayden, University of Minnesota, Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture Education
• 2021 – James Miller, Gustavus Adolphus College, Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Geography
• 2020 – Sarah Anderson, Gustavus Adolphus College, double major in Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Minnesota, Master’s student studying Horticulture with a focus on sustainability and ecology.
• 2019 – Adam Kostanecki, University of Minnesota College of biological Sciences, Bachelor of Science in Plant and Microbial Biology
• 2019 – Kate Sammons, University of Minnesota, PhD in Plant and Microbial Biology
• 2018 – Emily Swanson, University of Minnesota, Graduate Student in Food Sciences
• 2017 – Erin Moseman, MN State University, Mankato, Graduate Student in Biology, Madison Taylor, University of Minnesota, Agricultural Communications
• 2016 – Mya D. Kesler, University of Minnesota and Andrew Papke-Larson, University of Minnesota
• 2015 – Laura Hayes, University of Minnesota
• 2014 – Laura Hayes, University of Minnesota
• 2013 – Shannon Sawyer, University of Minnesota
• 2012 – Korbin Paul, University of Minnesota
• 2011 – Alex Hill, University of Minnesota and Mathew Kessler, University of Minnesota

• 1933 – Save the Lake Minnetonka Lotus Beds
• 1938-47 – Nature Studies for Lake Minnetonka area schools and conservation scholarships to Minneapolis Public Schools
• 1958 – Purchased and donated 160 acres to establish the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum
• 1972-95 – Camp Courage Fragrance Gardens
• 1972-92 – Fresh Water Biological Center
• 1979 – Purchased and donated Regal Prairie – 80 acres of Prairie Marsh to the Nature Conservancy
• 1982 – Established the Knot Garden at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum
• 1985 – Lake Harriet Rock Garden
• 1987 – Purchased and donated a portion of Townsend Woods near Fairbault, MN, to the Nature Conservancy
• 1988 – Adopted the Minnesota Trout Lily for preservation through the Center for Plant Conservation
• 1990 – Wayzata Depot Garden project (ongoing)
• 1991 – Center for Hardy Landscaping Plants project
• 1995-97 – Harriet Tubman Garden project
• 1995-97 – Yanachaga National Parks Peruvian Rain Forest project
• 1998 – Ferndale Marsh Purple Loosestrife Beetle Release project
• 2001-2007 – Gray’s Bay Causeway and Dam project
• 2015 – Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Pollinator Gardens at the Tashjian Bee and Pollinator Center project
• 2019 – Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Flowers for Pollinators Second Grade Curriculum project

Introduction
Many nonprofit organizations recognize the need to create long-term financial support of their mission.  Endowment funds provide this vehicle to build funds for general purpose or a special goal or project.  Once a fund is established, it is available for supporters to make outright gifts.  A fund grows through prudent stewardship and investments typically in a large, fully diversified pool of investments, providing perpetual income to support the organization’s mission. Typically, the minimum to create an endowment fund is $25,000. Here are a few basic questions and answers as to how and why The Lake Minnetonka Garden Club would create an endowment fund.

Why create an endowment fund for our garden club?  The Lake Minnetonka Garden Club will be marking its 100^th Anniversary in 2027, a significant achievement for a volunteer organization.  In reviewing the Club’s Yearbook’s section on historical highlights, Club Contributions and Awards, it is very apparent as to the impact the LMGC has made on our community since its founding in 1927. Establishing an endowment fund commits the organization to thinking long-term and building assets for its future giving sustainability.  In establishing a Centennial Endowment Fund the LMGC recognizes the Club’s past stewardship and looks to the future by creating long-term funding to support the organization’s mission.

Are gifts made to the LMGC Centennial Endowment Fund tax-deductible?  Yes, The LMGC is a 501(c) (3) organization.  The LMGC was incorporated October 1968 as a Non-Profit Corporation Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 317A.

How are the endowment fund’s assets invested?  Typically, an endowment fund’s assets are invested in large, fully diversified institutional investments with advisement from a professional fund manager.  The LMGC will establish an Investment Policy in partnership with its invesment advisors.

How much can an organization draw from a fund each year?  Organizations typically request a percentage of the endowment fund value as a grant distribution once a year.  A five-percent rate is a typical recommendation.  LMGC can determine this each year.

How long does an endowment fund last? The endowment fund offers support to the organization on a permanent basis.

Who decides how grant distributions are used?  The LMGC determines the purpose of the endowment fund and requests grant distributions for charitable purposes to support the Club’s mission.  The endowment fund will have oversight by the LMGC Grants & Contributions Committee, chaired by the LMGC Vice President.  The LMGC Scholarship Committee will recommend the scholarship candidate(s).

Must grant distributions be made each year?  The LMGC Grants & Contributions Committee and the LMGC Board have the option to skip grant distributions in any given year.  The fund will most likely not have any distributions until 2027, allowing the principal to grow.

How can individuals make gifts to the endowment fund? Gifts can come in the form of cash (checks), non-cash assets (stock, IRAs) or planned, future gifts (wills).  The initial fund period will be four years (2023-2027).  A list of donors will be made public however, individuals can give anonymously.  Please refer to the LMGC Centennial Endowment Fund Pledge Form.

How does giving to the LMGC Centennial Endowment Fund differ from gifts made to GCA?  The Lake Minnetonka Garden Club Centennial Endowment Fund seeks to raise funds for projects that are most important to our members which have historically been local. In marking its 100^th anniversary, The Garden Club of America established a five-year “Second Century Campaign” which concluded in 2019.  The funds raised, $11.3 million, support GCA national interests, projects, and scholarships.  The LMGC contributed to this fund as well as many of our members.  The LMGC Centennial Endowment Fund is totally separate from the GCA Second Century Campaign and will adhere to our Club’s mission.

Do you have a question about the Centennial Endowment Fund that was not answered in this document?   Please feel free to contact a member of the LMGC Centennial Endowment Fund Ad-hoc Committee:

Bobbie Dressen, Co-chair
Betsy Massie, Co-chair
Kate Bryant, Club President
Margene Fox
Mimi Keating
Mitzi Magid
Pam Ulvestad