Episode Ten: Julie Carmichael – CFMC Board Chair, Community Champion, and Passionate Philanthropist

Transcription:

Kim Cole

Hi everyone, and thanks for joining me. Today’s guest is a true Morgan County treasure. She’s a Martinsville graduate, a Stanford graduate, a member of the Indiana Golf Hall of Fame, and has enjoyed a long, successful career as a healthcare professional before returning to Morgan County to work at the family business Martinsville Golf Club, which turns 100 years old this year. On top of all of this, she has been a long supporter of the Community Foundation Morgan County. serving as both past board chair and current board member and an active donor. I am pleased to welcome Julie Carmichael.

 

Julie Carmichael

Thanks, Kim. I’m glad to be here.

 

Kim Cole

Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to come talk with us. And we have a lot to cover, touching a little bit on each of those items in the intro, but let’s talk about how you first got involved and when you got involved with the Community Foundation.

 

Julie Carmichael

Well, it’s a great question. The Community Foundation is definitely near and dear to my heart. And I got involved simply because someone asked. They needed a new board member. I hadn’t moved back to Martinsville yet, but I was getting more involved with the family business. And I looked at the foundation and thought the work they’re doing is important to the success of our business and to the residents of our community. So the director at the time asked if I would join the board and I was eager to do it.

 

Kim Cole

Well, fantastic. I’m sure glad that he did that. And just tell us a little bit about some of the initiatives that you’re involved in now. I know you’re a member of 100 Women Who Care, and we’ve been trying to kind of revive and rejuvenate the foundation and tell us your thoughts on that.

 

Julie Carmichael

Well, I’m really excited about the direction the foundation is going. I think we’re focused more on creating a vibrant presence in the community and getting our fundraising activities moving. The foundation has long done great work. I’d been involved in the scholarship committee for many years and the grants that we give to local organizations. But there’s so much more we can take advantage of through Lilly Endowment and the support they give to community foundations. So starting the 100 Women group and joining that has been great. We’ve added you to the foundation, which was, I think, a great coup for us to have somebody with Morgan County roots running the foundation. So all of the things we’re doing are really designed to enhance our community, to lift people up, and to make Morgan County a place that people are healthy, safe, and can thrive. And so I love that we’re doing things we’re working on.

 

Kim Cole

Sure. And you mentioned Lilly Endowment. Of course, they come alongside us every few years with a new gift initiative. And we’re at gift eight now, which is any donation into our unrestricted grant making account is tripled by them. We are not quite to our goal. We’re getting closer, but I know that the golf course has provided a sponsorship and we’re out talking to all the other businesses and hope to generate interest and commitment to the goal there because our grant making is a big piece of what we do.

 

Julie Carmichael

Absolutely. Well, there are lots of ways to get involved. I tell anybody that asks, you don’t have to write huge checks. We have lots of opportunities to get involved, whether it’s the 100 women or the 100 men, which is a great initiative. I think corporate sponsorships; that’s something that you really brought to the foundation. We hadn’t done that before. And so, I was thrilled to be able to do that as our golf course. And then I think something that people might not think about all the time is planned giving. Or for example, I know recently we discussed, I have a life insurance policy, and I don’t necessarily need all of those proceeds to go to family members and others. And it was a great way that I could designate the foundation as a beneficiary and know that I’m going to leave a meaningful donation and allow the foundation to continue its work long after I’m not here anymore, which is a nice feeling. And so, I think people should really stop and think about maybe you have a life insurance policy or maybe you could write a small personal check. Maybe you’ve got a business that could be a corporate donor, or perhaps you could even help us with some kind of event. I know we’re going to talk about something we’re going to do at the golf course, but creative fundraising ideas are another way that people can get involved with our foundation.

 

Kim Cole

Yes. And we are so grateful of the life insurance gift that you made to us. And I do think that the average person doesn’t realize that they can designate us as a beneficiary for a portion or a policy.

 

Julie Carmichael

And how simple was it? We sat at the golf course and did it in about five minutes. I got online, logged into my policy, made the change, and it was done. And it was just fast and easy, and I feel really good about it.

 

Kim Cole

And we’re thrilled. And even though it is not today’s dollars, the Community Foundation, of course, is always looking for ways for long-term sustainability. So any donor, any viewer out there that is thinking, I can’t really do anything today, well, there’s always that option for tomorrow. But in addition, for any viewers who are wanting to support us in the capacity of golfers, we have an event, second Saturday of each month from now through October. So, tell us about that.

 

Julie Carmichael

Yeah, we just thought it might be kind of fun to engage people that come out to the golf course in the foundation. Not only will we raise some funds for the work we’re doing, I think we’ll really be able to increase awareness about what the foundation does. So, we’re going to run a Closest to the Pin event on the second Saturday in July, August, and September, and then hopefully have kind of a culminating Closest to the Pin event at our big Men’s Fall Invitational, which happens the first weekend in October. So, any golfers that come out can kind of enter and take a shot at winning the Closest to the Pin that day and sharing in the pot.

 

Kim Cole

Yeah, it’s going to be great fun. I’m going to be there, be there at the hole myself, and I know we’re going to have great fun. I’m so glad that you’re going to be able to get behind us and the golf course is going to get behind us in doing that. It’s going to be a lot of fun.

 

Julie Carmichael

Absolutely. And again, I think, as a board member of the foundation, I just encourage people to think about, again, what you can do personally, but if you have the capacity through your business or other organizations that you’re involved in to help us create awareness and also perhaps generate some fundraising activities, that would be great. Because I think the money that we raise through the Hole-in-One can be used for our matching, which is really important.

 

Kim Cole

Yes, the proceeds from that event will go towards our Gift 8 initiative, which if we can meet our fundraising goal, we will get a million dollars from Lilly Endowment. And our county really needs that. That goes directly into our unrestricted grantmaking account. And how this translates, this year our budget for grants is $73,000. If we get that match next year, we will double that. So, it’s significant. If everyone could consider coming out to support us, we’d appreciate it. And we appreciate you, Julie. Thanks for coming out.

 

Julie Carmichael

Thanks for having me, Kim.