Most importantly, we made it to 2019! It felt for a while like Orcas might just submerge, with the King tide and the heavy rain, but we managed to remain rock steady.

2018 was a banner year for philanthropy at OICF. We received $2,214,480 in donations from 877 individual donors. These donations went to funds under OICF management, grant proposals through the Give Orcas campaigns, and pass-through gifts for local organizations.

And the flow of giving through OICF was even stronger!

$2,353,236 in grants were distributed in 2018, of which $171,759 were distributions from endowment funds under management, $830,897 were distributions from temporarily restricted funds under management, and a whopping $1,351,079 were distributions from unrestricted funds–primarily Donor Advised Funds (OICF currently holds 41 donor advised funds). What a testament to the tremendous generosity of this community! I am deeply grateful to all of our donors.

The new federal tax law provides increased standard personal deductions, which may make it unproductive to itemize charitable deductions for those who have itemized in the past. You might be able to continue to itemize productively through the use of a Donor Advised Fund. OICF provides Donor Advised Funds with no administrative fee for our Cornerstone Donors…talk to us if you would like to learn more about this tool.

OICF continues to play a central strategic role in improving quality of life on Orcas Island—coordinating, catalyzing, communicating, building capacity, and most importantly, caring.

Here’s to the New Year!
Hilary