At one time, the Community Foundation of Brazos Valley was Bryan College Station’s best kept secret, according to the nonprofit’s president and CEO Patricia Gerling. But in recent years, it has flourished, providing local individuals, families, businesses, and nonprofit organizations with the resources necessary to improve quality of life through community giving. “We are the best tool and resource that a nonprofit can have,” says Gerling. Many nonprofits don’t have development expertise, she says. “If someone came to them and wanted to give them stock or an IRA distribution, we can help facilitate that, partnering with the nonprofit to provide them with additional donations and endowments.”
However, for many years, the foundation was underutilized by the local community. “I took up the shepherd’s crook, and I decided to make a difference,” Gerling says. “I really believe passionately that the Community Foundation can be far more than it was.” Gerling gave up a 35-year administrative career at Texas A&M University to join the foundation as president in 2014. “It has been a blessing every day since,” she says. She leveraged her nonprofit experience as a former board member of the Prenatal Clinic, United Way of the Brazos Valley, the Bryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce, the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra, Friends Association of the Symphony Orchestra, and the Arts Council of the Brazos Valley. She has led the foundation to increase its charitable endowment from $3.2 million in 2014 to over $10 million to date. Additionally, under her leadership, the Community Foundation established one of its most well-known area-wide fundraising projects: Brazos Valley Gives.
Making an impact
“The foundation, two years ago, recognized there are many important causes and charitable organizations within the Brazos Valley,” Gerling explains. “Through Brazos Valley Gives, we were able to partner with them and allow them to use a common, online giving platform.” The Community Foundation powers the annual day of giving, “but it belongs to our community,” she says. “Anyone can come and be a part of Brazos Valley Gives; we just provide the fuel, energy, and organizational stamina.”
From left: Fallon Appleton (KBTX), Julie Porter (Brazos Valley Gives), Molly Watson (Brazos Valley Gives), and Patricia Gerling hold a check with the total fundraised during the 2020 Brazos Valley Gives.
During its first year, The Community Foundation raised $363,000 — a total of over 1,800 donations for 103 nonprofits. But the 2020 fundraiser blew the previous year out of the water. “Our goal was 125 participants; we had 136 — including organizations from Brazos, Washington, Grimes, Madison, Burleson, and Robertson counties,” Gerling says. “Our financial goal was $375,000, and we were overwhelmed with over $800,000 in donations.”
Gerling credits much of this success, ironically, to the ongoing pandemic. “COVID-19 has fueled the energy behind social giving,” she explains. “People recognize the power and the needs within their community and want to give back.” The format of Brazos Valley Gives also allowed for worry-free philanthropy in a time of social distancing. “A day of giving is virtual — that’s what it has been from the very beginning,” Gerling says. “All of this was done through the energy of social marketing and social media.”
Patricia Gerling presents a community grant check to representatives of Scotty’s House, a non-profit child advocacy center.
Brazos Valley Gives indirectly ties into the Community Foundation’s mission to celebrate philanthropy and encourages “giving where you live,” Gerling says. However, the foundation’s mission stretches beyond this. Its vision is to establish donor-advised funds (where the donor recommends how the money should be spent) and charitable endowments that will fund important causes, Gerling says. This is accomplished through the generosity of charitably minded individuals, businesses, and nonprofits. With over 100 endowments, the Community Foundation makes sure donations are received for local nonprofits’ annual needs and planned giving needs far into the future. “Endowments are forever funds that provide resources into the future to ensure the sustainability of nonprofits and community needs,” Gerling says.
The Community Foundation also distributes grants annually. “To date, we have invested more than $3 million in grants to local causes,” Gerling says. “We’re building an endowment portfolio that belongs to the community, but at the same time, we are sincerely committed to ensuring that proceeds from these endowments go back to benefit important community and life needs.”
Tribute Luncheon
All Tribute Luncheon honorees from 2015 to 2019, in attendance at the 2019 Tribute Luncheon Celebration of Philanthropy.
The Community Foundation began hosting a Tribute Luncheon in 2005 as an annual celebration of philanthropy, “lifting up and celebrating community philanthropy by identifying and honoring individuals who share their time, talents, and resources with the community,” Gerling says. The 2020 luncheon was put on pause due to the pandemic, so this year, the Tribute Luncheon will celebrate the honorees chosen previously: Timothy N. Bryan, Denise Fries, and Sue M. Lee. These honorees were selected by the foundation’s Board of Trustees for the time, talents, and funds they have donated, each sharing a different passion for the community. “Tim Bryan is part of the family for which the City of Bryan is named, and his family has roots and a legacy of giving going back generations,” Gerling explains. “Sue Lee is very much involved in the arts — she is a part of the social fabric of our community — and Denise has been focused on helping children and youth.”
This year’s Tribute Luncheon will be similar to past events. It will feature videos of interviews with community members that tell the story of how each honoree has demonstrated servant leadership and humility, Gerling says. “You will find that some … are more anonymous in their giving, and you many times don’t know their impact behind the scenes,” she explains. “While the Tribute Luncheon is a significant part of our annual fundraising for our administrative operations, we wanted to make sure that we were really sincere in celebrating the three individuals honored this year.”
The staff at the Community Foundation hopes this luncheon will serve as a reminder of how important philanthropic giving is to the Brazos Valley, Gerling says. “If anything, COVID-19 has been a little bit of a wake-up call that we really need to ensure we have a stable community of nonprofit organizations,” she adds.
“We live here, we work here, we play here, we pray here, and we should want to give here,” Gerling says. “We’re invested in the future of the Brazos Valley … literally.”
For more information, contact Patricia Gerling at president@cfbv.org or (979) 589-4305.
