Springdale, AR— Northwest Arkansas Community Foundation (NWACF) Board of Directors approved a new agency endowment match program at their most recent board meeting on August 18. The new program is a result of a $250,000 grant from their supporting organization, CommunityCare Foundation. Agencies will receive a $1:10 match for a gift of $100,000 ($10,000) to establish or add to an existing fund. A maximum of $500,000 can be matched. A previous endowment match program initiated in 2002 raised more than $2.3 million dollars for NWACF.

"The Community Foundation is so pleased and honored to be able to offer this again to the nonprofit community in northwest Arkansas. We can now reach out to even more nonprofit organizations who care about the long-term financial health of their respective organizations," said Jim von Gremp, NWACF Chairman.

Nonprofits must file a letter of intent by October 14 to NWACF. Matching funds will not be available until an organization has deposited funds with NWACF. Deadline for receipt of such funds is December 30, 2005. NWACF has also stated that application for the funds does not guarantee that funds will be available.

Suzanne Ward encouraged nonprofits to participate in this program for more than just the obvious ten percent return on their decision to create or add to an endowment fund with NWACF.

"Far more than the opportunity to have your endowment managed by the same group of managers who are also responsible for both NWACF and CommunityCare Foundation, there are other benefits. We do promote all our agency endowment funds through a variety of our publications and offer free consultation on fundraising and planned giving. It is truly a win/win proposition," explained Ward.

For more information on the endowment match program, contact NWACF office at 479.361.4624.