MATCH UPDATE: Black Empowerment Fund
February 23, 2021
 | By Jamie Schloegel, Chief Executive Officer |
Establishing donors Sam and Jean Skemp announce the creation of the Black Empowerment Fund, with local educator and activist Shaundel Spivey
Exciting match update for the Black Empowerment Fund
When we announced in October that Sam and Jean Skemp made a $50,000 gift to establish the new Black Empowerment Fund, we could never had imagined the incredible community response.
The news of the Black Empowerment Fund inspired two $25,000 matching challenges. After the first, from LCF, was met within a month, the fund had a $100,000 balance. Then, we received a call from an anonymous donor who offered a second $25,000 matching challenge.
Meeting the second match would mean the fund would have a $150,000 endowed balance, with an estimated $7,000 available for annual grantmaking.
Pastor Anna-Lisa Hunter of Bridges Church in La Crosse presents a check for the Black Empowerment Fund to LCF Executive Director Jamie Schloegel
Giving together to meet the match
Gifts from all over our region came in to support the Black Empowerment Fund. A local church group from Bridges Church raised funds from their congregation to contribute toward the match (see pic).
How the Black Empowerment Fund’s matching challenge was met
In early 2021, a man came into our offices to ask about the Black Empowerment Fund. He brought with him a folder full of newspaper clippings from stories printed throughout the year about different racial equity-building projects LCF had funded.
He asked how much was needed to meet the match. At that time, we were still about $3,500 away from the goal. To our sheer astonishment, the man opened his checkbook and wrote a check on the spot to get us over the amount needed. The match was met!
Plan for the Black Empowerment Fund
The fund has a current balance of $164,078 and is set to annually distribute at least $7,500 of grants, forever. The fund has it’s own advisory committee comprised of seven local individuals who include Black as part of their identity. They review any requests that are submitted through our quarterly competitive grant program that fit the criteria for the fund, and decide if and how much to award. The intent of the Black Empowerment Fund is to support projects and programming that work to build racial equity in the Coulee Region.
We’ll be announcing next week the first grant award made from the Black Empowerment Fund, so stay tuned!
Black Empowerment Fund Advisory Committee:
Darrell Ferguson
Danielle Person
Kish Hudson
Walftsy Pierre
Meke Aneke
Jerry Sample
Shantae Sheard