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Park City Community Foundation and Board of Realtors present new Giving Guide

The Park City Community Foundation and the Park City Board of Realtors have found a way to show their love to local nonprofits and part-time residents.

The two organizations have collaborated on the Giving Guide, a new program and publication that is designed to connect the nonprofits with these homeowners.

"We want to give our part-time residents the opportunity to contribute to or volunteer for these nonprofits," said Katie Wright, executive director of the Park City Community Foundation. "The part-time homeowners love the town but since they are not here full-time, they may not know the nonprofits that make this community a wonderful place."

On Tuesday, the Park City Board of Realtors donated $25,000 to the Park City Community Foundation to help with publication and distribution of the guide.

Realtor Sara Werbelow said the Park City Board of Realtors have wanted to find different ways the realty community could support the nonprofits that serve the greater Park City area, including Summit and Wasatch counties.

"The realtors in our community are very generous as individuals financially and with their time and commitment they give to our many nonprofits and many, including the brokerage firms, contribute funds from each closing to one or more of these organizations," Werbelow said. "Over the summer, we had a discussion of the desire for our realtor community to band together and create a fundraiser or philanthropic effort that made sense to us."

The Park City Board of Realtors worked in tandem with the Philanthropic Foundation to research and advocate initiatives and efforts in the community to support nonprofits, according to Werbelow.

"We spoke to a variety of nonprofits in town to get a sense of where our contributions would be most meaningful," she said.

The research led them to Wright, who was also thinking about a way to get part-time residents involved with the nonprofits.

A year ago in July, Tom Raffa, a part-time resident who owns a home in Promontory, contacted Wright with an idea.

"He lives in the greater Washington, D.C., area and is very involved with a project there called the Catalogue for Philanthropy," Wright said. "In D.C., there are a lot of nonprofits doing good work and there are many residents who live outside the city who wanted to contribute to these nonprofits."

Throughout the past 15 years, the Catalogue for Philanthropy has served as a tool to connect these potential donors to these causes.

"Tom and his wife Kathie noticed the same sort of thing here in Park City," Wright said.

"Those of us who come to Park City as part-time residents love to ask a local when we want to know the best places to dine, fish, ski, hike, see a good show," Raffa said in a statement. "When we see a need in the community we have come to love, we only want to be assured that our efforts will have a positive impact."

So, the Park City Community Foundation decided to do something similar to the Catalogue for Philanthropy.

"It made perfect sense the Park City Board of Realtors would collaborate as a founding sponsor," Wright said.

The main reason is because realtors are often the initial community contacts of new homeowners in the area, according to Werbelow.

"We, the realtors, live in this community and are not just doing a service of selling homes," she said. "We have a vested interest in supporting the community and seeing it thrive."

The inaugural Giving Guide showcases 35 nonprofit organizations, according to Wright.

"Since this is a pilot program, we wanted to keep it small and manageable to make sure it works," she said.

All the selected nonprofits have three things in common.

  • They have proven governance and are financially sound.
  • They have established ongoing programs that support and impact the greater Park City area.
  • They all have a broad appeal.

    "Within the guide, there are beautiful photos, information and contact for each of these organizations, so donors can contact them directly," Wright said. "Donors can also just come to us and tell us where they want their donations to go and we’ll do the work for them."

    In addition, the donors can tell the Park City Community Foundation what type of service they want their money to benefit.

    "If someone likes environmental, arts and culture or something different, they let us know and we will grant their donations to existing programs that support those interests," Wright said.

    The $25,000 donation from the Park City Board of Realtors will help produce and distribute the publication.

    "With the Raffas’ support, the support of the Park City Medical Center and, of course, the founding supporter, the Park City Board of Realtors, we are able to put the Giving Guide together," Wright said.

    The Park City Community Foundation plans to distribute many of the guides by mail.

    "We are going to send out 5,000 copies to our part-time residents and also ship it to people who have shown support by giving in our other programs such as Live PC Give PC and the Women’s Giving Fund," Wright said.

    In addition, realtors will also give out the guide, she said.

    "The plan is about a month after a person, family or couple closes on a new home, the real estate agent and the Community Foundation will send them a Giving Guide with a letter that will welcome them into the community," Wright said.

    "We are excited and honored to partner with the Park City Community Foundation on this," Werbelow said. "They are so sophisticated in how they drive the betterment of the nonprofit community. We think the guide is a different vehicle to bring about this result over time."

    For more information about the Giving Guide, visit http://www.parkcitycf.org.

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