Page 7 - 2024 August Report

• VIA
Renee DiFlavio, VIA’s Senior Vice President, sent the following update and link to a video about their Pre- Vocational Summer Program for teens. The program is offered through VIA’s Workforce Development office.
On behalf of VIA-Visually Impaired Advancement, I extend our deepest gratitude for your generous support of our Pre-Vocational & Vocational Skills programs. Thanks to your contributions, this year’s program was a huge success, as it allowed the kids to broaden their knowledge of various types of jobs while also providing them with the skills and confidence needed to pursue the path to meaningful employment.
We are excited to share a video highlighting the incredible achievements of our summer program, showcasing the remarkable progress made by our participants.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZDi-viroXgUVBSXUa6Zs-XYxZ7bgog5P/view?usp=sharing
Your support is crucial in our mission to combat the 70% national unemployment rate for people who are blind. Together, we are making a significant impact, providing opportunities and fostering independence for those we serve. Thank you for being a vital partner in this journey.
Warm regards,
Renee
• Weingarten Children’s Center
Executive Director Bill Doyle sent WCC’s Year 3 update on JSF’s 2021 matching grant in support of Weingarten’s BabyTalk and Talk2Me programs. (See attached.)
CFO NOTES
Once again, the month of July was another good month in the market. Our net equity year-to-date increased by $2,553,004 for the month, which was again driven primarily by market gains during the month. After considering our overhead and grants expenses paid out year-to-date, we are up $14,861,170 for the year, which already exceeds our budgeted net revenues for 2024 by $8,584,848. According to Prime Buchholz, our investments have returned 8.3% through July 31st, which is tracking ahead of our annual policy goal of 7.5%. (Our policy is 5% plus 2.5% estimated inflation rate.)
For the first seven months, our expenses continued to track under budget for the year, despite our tax payments of $245,887, which are not included in our budgeted numbers. We will see the spread between our actual numbers and our budget tighten the second half of the year due to our remaining travel commitments, especially because of two Board/Grant Program Committee meetings and our Indigenous Entrepreneurship Scholarship meeting in October.
Our grant expenditures are slightly behind 2023 by approximately $183,000, which was expected when we prepared the 2024 budget. As you may recall, our budgeted grants for 2024 will be approximately $1,151,000 less than 2023. We will be making most of our budgeted grants in the remaining five months of the year, which is currently anticipated to be another $5,603,000.
Given the market volatility during the first two weeks of August, one only knows where we will end up at the end of this year. Let’s hope we finish strong!!!
Education / A Powerful force for change Page 5