May 22, 2025 • 23 mins
Matt reflects on his journey with the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation, sharing insights from his time as Board Chair and the innovative initiatives that have positioned the foundation for future success.
• Joined GMCF after moving to Manhattan in 2005, serving first on the grants committee before joining the Executive Board
• Spearheaded an innovative childcare solution that functions as a business incubator for childcare entrepreneurs
• Led the foundation through a strategic planning process that established three pillars for future growth
• Shared the legacy of Jack Goldstein and how his donation of company stock has helped grow foundation assets to $412 billion
• Expanded the affiliate program to 20 communities, representing about $60 million in assets
• Envisions the foundation evolving from a conduit for charitable giving to a proactive community problem-solver
• Advocates for growing unrestricted assets to address unforeseen future community challenges
• Celebrates the foundation's status as the largest in Kansas and 87th largest in the United States
Learn more about the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation at mcfks.org. Subscribe to Philanthropy Today on Apple, Spotify, Amazon or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Philanthropy Today.
Our goal is to inspire givingby educating listeners on ways
to give and how to connect withcharitable causes.
My name is Dave Lewis.
I'm your host of PhilanthropyToday.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Thank you for joining the show we're here today again
with one of our past chairs ofthe Greater Manhattan Community
Foundation Executive Committee.
One of our past chairs of theGreater Manhattan Community
Foundation Executive Committee,but not only as a past chair.
Matt served two, three yearterms prior to this term, and so
he has a lot of experience withthe Greater Manhattan Community
Foundation.
So welcome Matt.
How are you doing today?
I'm great, vern.
(00:36):
How are you Good?
So you've been involved withthe community foundation for a
long time.
Obviously the history and thebuilding and the relationship
with the Goldstein familypartners I should say the Steel
and Pipe Supply Company and allthe trust that we've had.
So how did you get involved inthat process?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Well, so I moved back to Manhattan in 2005 and came
to work for Steel and Pipe and,as you mentioned, steel and Pipe
been very involved with thecommunity and that was one of
the attractions to me to comeback, and I'm not sure if it was
in 2005, but shortly thereafterI got engaged with the
community foundation as atrustee and served on the grants
(01:18):
committee, which was a greatway for me to get introduced to
what the community foundationdoes, and I served on that for
several years, and then FiscalSponsorship Committee as well,
and then had the opportunity, asyou mentioned, to come on the
Executive Board.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Well, you've been a great member of the Board many
ways.
You're also somebody that'svery eager to be involved in the
community You've served as theChairman of the Chamber of
Commerce Board, or the chairmanof the Chamber of Commerce Board
or the president of the Chamberof Commerce Board and you're
attuned to things that arehappening around here.
So it's great for us to haveyour knowledge, as well as your
leadership, around here, and weappreciate that and, as a part
(01:58):
of that, the connections.
One of the issues that came upin the community was child care,
and that was big on our platethe year you were the board
chairman.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
So yeah, yeah, it absolutely was.
You know, I in some ways I guessI kind of instigated the
challenge to myself, but youknow, that came about the
chamber and through myinvolvement in the chamber I'd
done a business needs assessmentand we were already working on
a couple of the top prioritiesthat came out of that.
(02:29):
But the one we weren't workingon as a community was childcare.
And of course everybody knewthat was a challenge in the
community for both families andbusinesses, and so I kind of
took it upon myself to juststart asking around and get some
people engaged and hey, let'ssee if we can get together and
find a solution.
And we're very fortunate.
(02:50):
Obviously, I got teamed up withthe Community Foundation in
that process and we found someindividuals that really knew a
lot about child care and hadsome great ideas and just able
to take that and provide theresources and the commitment to
get the idea into reality.
And it's pretty neat.
So if you haven't seen italready, you can drive down and
(03:12):
buy a Via Christi there and seethe modern looking building next
to the non-modern hospital.
But I'm really excited about it.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Well, let's take that a little longer, a little
further out there.
So the issue of child care cameup in the community.
You're serving and had servedwith the chamber board president
.
You're now the president of theGreater Manhattan Community
Foundation.
What made sense for the GreaterManhattan Community Foundation
to get involved in that project?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Yeah, I'd say, you know, beyond it just being a
community need, the real impetusfor that was there were some
federal grants that were grantedthrough the state but that
became available and we neededan organization to be the
applicant for these grants.
And you know, looking throughit and learning a little bit
(04:04):
more about it, it just madesense that the community
foundation was the right partythat was available at the time
because there were some timecrunches related to it to make
the application for these grants, and so we were successful in
getting some money for thispurpose and not having to go to
local people and, you know,certainly there's a lot of local
(04:25):
support for it today, but atthe time we're gonna be able to
build this facility and twothirds of the money required to
build it is coming from thesefederal grants.
So that's really what drove it.
And then again, just acommunity need.
The community foundation reallyfits in terms of trying to help
(04:45):
solve some of these communityproblems and bringing multiple
parties together.
So, um, but yeah, now, uh, I,you know, I think the, the board
, uh, the community foundation,um, you know, took a little bit
of time to get comfortable withit because it was the first time
the community foundation reallystepped out and put their name
on a grant and so required a fewextra things on the community
(05:07):
foundation's part.
But I really think it's notonly the first step in us
hopefully getting a longer termsolution for child care, but
maybe the first step in thecommunity foundation being able
to fill that role in the futurewhen it's appropriate.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
so, since this recording is kind of
memorializing and there will bea future we don't know what that
future exists We'll be talkingabout it at some point in time.
But this is truly kind of aone-of-a-kind facility.
I mean, this hasn't been triedbefore.
What's unique about it?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Well, I'll tell you the thing I really liked about
the idea, which, again, wasn't acommunity foundation idea and
wasn't my idea, but it's notjust providing more slots for
child care, it's providing amechanism that helps continually
to grow those slots, so itreally fit the chamber from a
standpoint of I kind of think ofit as a small business
(05:57):
development.
So what we really need in termsof solving this problem is to
create more entrepreneurs andmore businesses in this
community that are focused onchildcare, and that's what this
does.
I mean you talk about businessincubators, and we quickly
learned that the term incubatorwith childcare wasn't
necessarily the most appropriatecombination.
But that's really what it is,and so I'm excited about.
(06:21):
Not only can it hopefully solveor not solve, but remedy some
of the challenges we have withthe child care needs, but also
start new businesses in town,and you know that's pretty
exciting aspect of it.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Well, I would agree.
I mean, this is the idea forour listeners.
It's really going to be eightindividual business units or
individuals that are learning tobe child care professionals
that will, once they they feelconfident, will be able to move
out into their own space,whether it be a home or a center
itself, and new people willcome in and go through that
(06:55):
training process again.
So, instead of taking care of80, 90 kids at one time for a
long time, we're hopefully goingto be multiplying that 80, 90
every year for several years sothat so the process is taken
care of.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
So, yep, that's the idea.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Well, and that's the beauty of having you on the
board, because you brought thatbusiness perspective to a basic
community need in child care andyou've kind of married them
together.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
So yeah, it's pretty exciting and again, I hope, I'm
confident that we'll have thecommitment from the community to
make it successful.
But you know, it's just we'vealready my understanding is
we've already got a list ofpeople that are interested in
moving in and starting theirbusiness.
So it's really a cool conceptand to my knowledge it's really
(07:43):
one of the first of the kind inthe country, and so I think it's
also a model that we can show.
Success here can be replicatedacross the country and, for sure
, across the state.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Indeed.
So let's move to another one ofyour initiatives, maybe not
started by you, but certainlyled and a lot of teeth put into
it, and that's our efforts ofstrategic planning for the
Community Foundation.
So tell us how that went foryour years.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Yeah, so I guess one aspect I have, or trait, is I
like to solve things and get getcompletion on things Right.
Um, so maybe it's impatience, Idon't know, but um so, uh, as
you mentioned, this started, uh,before my time but uh, you know
, I took it upon myself.
I really wanted to.
I knew there was a need anddesire because of the amount of
time that we've spent as a, as afoundation, talking about it.
(08:35):
Um so I wanted to make surethat I could at least create a
deliverable for Beth when shetook over and get us on the
right path.
And, um, it was a interestingprocess.
I will say that one of the biglearnings I took away from it
was there are a lot of people,so we went and got some
resources from outside partiesto help.
And there are a lot of people,so we went and got some
(08:55):
resources from outside partiesto help, and there are a lot of
people that help with nonprofits.
And so when you think of thecommunity foundation, people
sometimes instantly think it's anonprofit.
Well, your comment aboutbusiness and my experience with
business, I think what we foundis those people that are working
in the nonprofit world reallycan't relate to what we do.
We are really more of abusiness at the community
foundation than a true nonprofit, and so we went through a few
(09:19):
trials of finding somebody, butwe're successful and thank you
to you for an acquaintance youhad to bring somebody in to help
kind of provide some ideas andperspective on a national basis.
This EAC consultants, you know,works with a lot of people, um,
but I'm really excited aboutwhat we developed and um, we
(09:40):
took a lot of therecommendations, but there were
several that really didn't fitour community, and so we did a
great job, I feel like, oflistening to these outside
parties and looking at bestpractices but also reflecting on
we have a unique community inmanhattan and making sure it
fits that, because ultimatelyour success is driven by the
success of our community.
(10:01):
And so we, you know I rolled outthe, the three pillars at the
annual meeting and we have a lotof work to do.
So I'd say we're kind of beyondthe visioning.
So I think we've successful ingetting the board to have a and
staff to have an understandingof our vision, and now it's
really trying to get the more ofthe tactical details in place,
(10:24):
and so I'm I've committed toBeth to help continue that, as
I'm past chair this year and shecan focus on you know her chair
role, so yeah, so Beth Smollerwill be the chair for our 25-26
year and she will bring hertalents to this process too.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
And yeah, we're to that point now of going now one
more layer down and settingthose goals and how we actually
evaluate those goals, if andwhen achieved at that point in
time.
So exciting times, and I'vealways enjoyed these kinds of
things in a leadership rolebecause I think it brings your
team together.
It gives you an opportunity,not only at the board and the
(11:01):
staff, but even board stafftogether, to kind of talk and
visioning, because we are thecommunity's foundation and so
we're here to serve thecommunity.
And that's where the boardprovides such a unique
perspective and our trusteegroups is to get input from them
.
And not everybody's on the samepage, we understand that, but
it's certainly the ultimate goalis all to make Manhattan in our
(11:22):
area a better place for sure.
So what is it meant to serve asthe chair of the Greater
Manhattan Community Foundationto you?
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Well, it's been an honor for sure foundation to you
.
Well, it's been an honor forsure, I mean what this
foundation does and the impactit has in the community.
It's quite an honor to have theopportunity to lead the board.
Great individuals, I mean thecommitment from the volunteers,
I mean the trustees, and theboard are all volunteers and um,
um has been rewarding.
(11:57):
Um, you know, and again I thinkI feel like I wanted to try to
help, um, you know, get afoundation and kind of set the
next chapter for the communityfoundation, and the strategic
plan is part of that.
I mean, I, you know people askwhy are we doing it?
Um, I think every organizationat some point it's necessary to
kind of revisit what you know,what you're focused on, and the
(12:19):
growth and the change in theposition in this community of
the community foundation overthe last five to 10 years has
been phenomenal and we reallyneeded to make a shift.
And so I feel good about thefact that we've.
Again, there's a lot of workleft to do, but I guess, coming
out of my term, I think we havea path forward and we have a
(12:41):
vision.
And your comment about noteverybody agreeing Everybody, I
think got a little somethingthrough this process and
everybody gave up a littlesomething through this process.
So from that, I think thatreally shows that it's probably
the right thing.
So, yeah, we're excited aboutthat, but I would say that's
been my most proud moment ofserving as chair is to help the
(13:06):
organization and others.
Of serving as chair is to helpthe organization and others.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Well, we ended the 2024 year with an asset base of
$412 billion, and a lot of thatis obviously supported by the
Goldstein stock that we own, theJack Goldstein left.
I mean that's been asignificant growth, of which
you've been certainly a part ofthat.
And take a step back a littlebit there and even bring a
(13:34):
little perspective of maybeJack's motivation just to
donating that stock and howwe've been able to use that for
the university and community asa whole.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
So yeah, yeah.
So I mean Jack was anincredibly generous man and in
maybe more ways or differentways than most people reflect.
I mean the building that we'rein, for example, here at Colony
Square, this was built as amatch for the community being
(14:07):
able to get money for the mallfor our grant, the community
being able to get money for themall for our grant.
So there had to be privateinvestment to go along with the
public investment in the mall,and that's an example of not
just giving money but buildingan ability to grow the community
, and I think that's always whatJack's done.
I mean, he certainly has givenmoney too, but was really more
(14:28):
interested in that, you know,continuing his entrepreneurial
spirit of helping others developand build.
And so then you know, in termsof why Jack wanted to do that,
one of the simple is that hedidn't have any children to pass
the business along to, wantedto see steel and pipe continue.
That was, I mean, he had spenthis blood, sweat and tears
(14:51):
making the company what it wasafter his father passed away, um
, and he wanted to make sure hislegacy continued on, and so, as
part of that, um, he wanted tohad to gift a major portion of
the ownership of the company, uh, to charity Um, and so he's.
He's done that with the goldsign foundation, um,
interestingly enough, obviouslyhe was doing that, so there
(15:17):
wasn't a tax.
He died in the one year.
There wasn't any estate tax,but he didn't know that at the
time, obviously, and so it'sjust been.
I think one of the things aboutcoming to work at Steel and Pipe
is you get to work hard and seethe reward, and the employees
are wonderful people.
We have great, great team.
But then, in terms ofmanagement, one of the ancillary
benefits is being able to seethe impact in the community that
(15:39):
Jack left us the opportunity tohave, and it's a lot of fun to
work hard and to see success asa business.
And then it's a lot of fun togive money away.
So I think we've got a lot offun to give money away.
So, um, you know, I think we'vegot a pretty unique place to
work.
Um and uh want to continue that, so I want to pass that along,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
I've.
I knew Jack uh uh for a fewyears, uh, as when I moved back
to Manhattan and uh certainlygot to know him well and his
generosity and his desire tojust give him.
This community has had lots ofJacks, certainly not at Jack's
level that we know today, butwe've been blessed from that
standpoint and I think thatconfidence and really decision
(16:22):
to start a supportingorganization back then has
spurred us now to have fivesupporting organizations and
individuals in this communitydoing things similar and so
excited about that.
The other growth that we hadduring your period of time is we
saw our 20th affiliate join theorganization and that has been
(16:42):
substantial growth.
Those 20 affiliates compriseabout 60 of our 400 million in
the asset group, and so whatwould you say about the
affiliate program?
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Yeah, so it's been interesting.
I think it's also a little bitunique, especially for a
foundation of our size, but Ithink it's a testament to what
people think or feel about whatwe're doing as a community
foundation.
I mean several of those, as youknow.
I mean you.
You really lead the discussionswith them but, um, they come to
us because they feel likethey're not getting the service
(17:15):
or the attention that theydeserve from uh, or want and
need from other foundations,many of which are larger than us
and um, so I think it's it'sjust a market related, um
example of the how good of a jobwe're doing as a foundation.
And then, from our benefitperspective, it provides some
(17:36):
additional revenues to, you know, spread out the overhead cost.
I mean, as we've grown as anorganization, you know you have
to continue to add resources tobe able to support that.
That program has given us somefunds to maybe get a little
ahead of you know and stretchourselves in terms of bringing
on people.
(17:56):
And then now we've got theexecutive director program for
those affiliate programs and Ithink we're getting, you know,
it's kind of seems like we'regetting ready.
Again, I've talked abouttransitioning with the community
foundation.
We're kind of getting ready tokick the birds out of the nest,
and so that's exciting from afoundation perspective to help
other communities grow acommunity foundation so that
(18:19):
they can continue to invest intheir communities.
So it's a pretty neat program.
It's done multiple things forus and it's evolving just like
the Greater Manhattan CommunityFoundation.
And it's evolving just like theGreater Manhattan.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Community Foundation.
So we've spent all this timetalking about the past and now
put on your crystal ball andwhat's?
Speaker 3 (18:42):
the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation look like
10, 20 years from now.
So I think the way I woulddescribe and I know you don't
talk about past, but just kindof how I'm thinking I would
describe that the CommunityFoundation has been there and
been successful in being aconduit for donors to impact
(19:03):
areas that they have an interestin and so collect money, hold
it for them, invest it and thenare able to give it away.
In the future and we've alreadyseen a little bit of this I
think that the communityfoundation is going to more and
more fill that role of beingreached out to, to help be the
problem solver or identify thesolution, so not just a conduit
but being able to, um, beingable to solve those problems.
Again, the child care was kindof an area that we've seen where
(19:26):
it was a very complicated,complex issue that everybody
knew was a problem but nobodyreally could formulate a
potential solution.
And so, being that organization, you know we've stepped up
recently in the nursingchallenges we've had in the
community and so I think moreand more we're going to be seen
as that.
(19:46):
And so what I would like to seeand I know you and I've had some
conversations about this, andthis may be kind of getting out
a little ahead of the strategy,but I think the community
foundation should strive to growits unrestricted assets,
because the challenges today aregoing to be very different than
the challenges in the future,and I think this community
(20:07):
foundation needs to have thefinancial resources to be able
to respond to those in a timelymanner.
And so I think that's going tobe I think that'll probably
evolve to what this foundationis is that we're able to not
only bring the people togetherand create the idea, but have
(20:27):
some resources to be able todeploy to solve some of the
community's greater problems.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
So we found out early in your year that we're the
largest community foundation inKansas, the 87th largest in the
United States and the ninthfastest growing community
foundation seventh largest inthe United States and the ninth
fastest growing communityfoundation.
How do you feel about leadingan organization like that and
(20:53):
how you see the future for this?
Speaker 3 (21:00):
I mean I feel good.
I mean, obviously it's not methat drives that right, it's all
of the individuals that thesuccess of the foundation kind
of you know success breedssuccess, right I mean, and so
having people having theconfidence in the organization.
But kind of you know successbreeds success, right I mean, um
, and so having people havingthe confidence in the
organization.
But you know, I feel good.
Again, I I feel like the thingsI helped try to do, um, during
my tenure as chair was to reallyhelp create a foundation for
the foundation.
(21:20):
You know, I guess you know thatyou gotta, you gotta, make sure
you have a solid foundation inthe house when you build it, and
I think that that was really alot of my focus is trying to
make sure that we arereinforcing that and growing it.
And again, I'm excited aboutwhat this organization can do.
I see a lot of the youngerpeople that are getting involved
(21:41):
through the Young TrusteesProgram and some of them getting
on our executive committee.
A lot of the younger peoplethat are getting involved
through the Young TrusteesProgram and some of them getting
on our executive committee.
You know, when I started itseemed like I was the young guy
and you know it was just a bunchof real wise individuals that
were involved and it's reallyevolved to be more.
It's more of a community'sfoundation today than it was
when I got involved and that'sexciting and so I think the
(22:04):
future is bright.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Well, matt, it's only bright because of your
leadership.
I want to say personally thankyou for your services, not only
a board member for several years, but as chair last year the
visioning process you bring alot to the table and you throw a
lot of things out there.
That challenges people'sthoughts and I think that's
(22:26):
awesome and the CommunityFoundation will be better for it
in the future.
So thank you and good luck.
Hopefully you're here for many,many more years supporting our
causes.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Oh, absolutely Thank you.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
So we appreciated Matt's year as chair of the
Greater Manhattan CommunityFoundation and it's great to
again show this to our audienceto memorialize his year as chair
of the Greater ManhattanCommunity Foundation.
And it's great to again showthis to our audience to
memorialize his year as chair,and we look forward to sharing
next year's chair with you atthe completion of the 2526 year.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Thank you for joining us for Philanthropy Today an
inside look at the GreaterManhattan Community Foundation.
You can always learn more aboutthe GMCF at our website,
mcfksorg.
We also invite you to subscribeto Philanthropy Today on Apple,
spotify, amazon or wherever youget your podcasts.
I'm Dave Lewis.
(23:15):
I'm proud to host PhilanthropyToday.
It's hosted and produced in theAd Astra Cast Studios in
downtown Manhattan, kansas.
Welcome to Philanthropy Today.
Our goal is to inspire givingby educating listeners on ways
to give and how to connect withcharitable causes.
My name is Dave Lewis.
I'm your host of PhilanthropyToday.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Thank you for joining the show we're here today again
with one of our past chairs ofthe Greater Manhattan Community
Foundation Executive Committee.
One of our past chairs of theGreater Manhattan Community
Foundation Executive Committee,but not only as a past chair.
Matt served two, three yearterms prior to this term, and so
he has a lot of experience withthe Greater Manhattan Community
Foundation.
So welcome Matt.
How are you doing today?
I'm great, vern.
(00:36):
How are you Good?
So you've been involved withthe community foundation for a
long time.
Obviously the history and thebuilding and the relationship
with the Goldstein familypartners I should say the Steel
and Pipe Supply Company and allthe trust that we've had.
So how did you get involved inthat process?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Well, so I moved back to Manhattan in 2005 and came
to work for Steel and Pipe and,as you mentioned, steel and Pipe
been very involved with thecommunity and that was one of
the attractions to me to comeback, and I'm not sure if it was
in 2005, but shortly thereafterI got engaged with the
community foundation as atrustee and served on the grants
(01:18):
committee, which was a greatway for me to get introduced to
what the community foundationdoes, and I served on that for
several years, and then FiscalSponsorship Committee as well,
and then had the opportunity, asyou mentioned, to come on the
Executive Board.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Well, you've been a great member of the Board many
ways.
You're also somebody that'svery eager to be involved in the
community You've served as theChairman of the Chamber of
Commerce Board, or the chairmanof the Chamber of Commerce Board
or the president of the Chamberof Commerce Board and you're
attuned to things that arehappening around here.
So it's great for us to haveyour knowledge, as well as your
leadership, around here, and weappreciate that and, as a part
(01:58):
of that, the connections.
One of the issues that came upin the community was child care,
and that was big on our platethe year you were the board
chairman.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
So yeah, yeah, it absolutely was.
You know, I in some ways I guessI kind of instigated the
challenge to myself, but youknow, that came about the
chamber and through myinvolvement in the chamber I'd
done a business needs assessmentand we were already working on
a couple of the top prioritiesthat came out of that.
(02:29):
But the one we weren't workingon as a community was childcare.
And of course everybody knewthat was a challenge in the
community for both families andbusinesses, and so I kind of
took it upon myself to juststart asking around and get some
people engaged and hey, let'ssee if we can get together and
find a solution.
And we're very fortunate.
(02:50):
Obviously, I got teamed up withthe Community Foundation in
that process and we found someindividuals that really knew a
lot about child care and hadsome great ideas and just able
to take that and provide theresources and the commitment to
get the idea into reality.
And it's pretty neat.
So if you haven't seen italready, you can drive down and
(03:12):
buy a Via Christi there and seethe modern looking building next
to the non-modern hospital.
But I'm really excited about it.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Well, let's take that a little longer, a little
further out there.
So the issue of child care cameup in the community.
You're serving and had servedwith the chamber board president
.
You're now the president of theGreater Manhattan Community
Foundation.
What made sense for the GreaterManhattan Community Foundation
to get involved in that project?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Yeah, I'd say, you know, beyond it just being a
community need, the real impetusfor that was there were some
federal grants that were grantedthrough the state but that
became available and we neededan organization to be the
applicant for these grants.
And you know, looking throughit and learning a little bit
(04:04):
more about it, it just madesense that the community
foundation was the right partythat was available at the time
because there were some timecrunches related to it to make
the application for these grants, and so we were successful in
getting some money for thispurpose and not having to go to
local people and, you know,certainly there's a lot of local
(04:25):
support for it today, but atthe time we're gonna be able to
build this facility and twothirds of the money required to
build it is coming from thesefederal grants.
So that's really what drove it.
And then again, just acommunity need.
The community foundation reallyfits in terms of trying to help
(04:45):
solve some of these communityproblems and bringing multiple
parties together.
So, um, but yeah, now, uh, I,you know, I think the, the board
, uh, the community foundation,um, you know, took a little bit
of time to get comfortable withit because it was the first time
the community foundation reallystepped out and put their name
on a grant and so required a fewextra things on the community
(05:07):
foundation's part.
But I really think it's notonly the first step in us
hopefully getting a longer termsolution for child care, but
maybe the first step in thecommunity foundation being able
to fill that role in the futurewhen it's appropriate.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
so, since this recording is kind of
memorializing and there will bea future we don't know what that
future exists We'll be talkingabout it at some point in time.
But this is truly kind of aone-of-a-kind facility.
I mean, this hasn't been triedbefore.
What's unique about it?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Well, I'll tell you the thing I really liked about
the idea, which, again, wasn't acommunity foundation idea and
wasn't my idea, but it's notjust providing more slots for
child care, it's providing amechanism that helps continually
to grow those slots, so itreally fit the chamber from a
standpoint of I kind of think ofit as a small business
(05:57):
development.
So what we really need in termsof solving this problem is to
create more entrepreneurs andmore businesses in this
community that are focused onchildcare, and that's what this
does.
I mean you talk about businessincubators, and we quickly
learned that the term incubatorwith childcare wasn't
necessarily the most appropriatecombination.
But that's really what it is,and so I'm excited about.
(06:21):
Not only can it hopefully solveor not solve, but remedy some
of the challenges we have withthe child care needs, but also
start new businesses in town,and you know that's pretty
exciting aspect of it.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Well, I would agree.
I mean, this is the idea forour listeners.
It's really going to be eightindividual business units or
individuals that are learning tobe child care professionals
that will, once they they feelconfident, will be able to move
out into their own space,whether it be a home or a center
itself, and new people willcome in and go through that
(06:55):
training process again.
So, instead of taking care of80, 90 kids at one time for a
long time, we're hopefully goingto be multiplying that 80, 90
every year for several years sothat so the process is taken
care of.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
So, yep, that's the idea.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Well, and that's the beauty of having you on the
board, because you brought thatbusiness perspective to a basic
community need in child care andyou've kind of married them
together.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
So yeah, it's pretty exciting and again, I hope, I'm
confident that we'll have thecommitment from the community to
make it successful.
But you know, it's just we'vealready my understanding is
we've already got a list ofpeople that are interested in
moving in and starting theirbusiness.
So it's really a cool conceptand to my knowledge it's really
(07:43):
one of the first of the kind inthe country, and so I think it's
also a model that we can show.
Success here can be replicatedacross the country and, for sure
, across the state.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Indeed.
So let's move to another one ofyour initiatives, maybe not
started by you, but certainlyled and a lot of teeth put into
it, and that's our efforts ofstrategic planning for the
Community Foundation.
So tell us how that went foryour years.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Yeah, so I guess one aspect I have, or trait, is I
like to solve things and get getcompletion on things Right.
Um, so maybe it's impatience, Idon't know, but um so, uh, as
you mentioned, this started, uh,before my time but uh, you know
, I took it upon myself.
I really wanted to.
I knew there was a need anddesire because of the amount of
time that we've spent as a, as afoundation, talking about it.
(08:35):
Um so I wanted to make surethat I could at least create a
deliverable for Beth when shetook over and get us on the
right path.
And, um, it was a interestingprocess.
I will say that one of the biglearnings I took away from it
was there are a lot of people,so we went and got some
resources from outside partiesto help.
And there are a lot of people,so we went and got some
(08:55):
resources from outside partiesto help, and there are a lot of
people that help with nonprofits.
And so when you think of thecommunity foundation, people
sometimes instantly think it's anonprofit.
Well, your comment aboutbusiness and my experience with
business, I think what we foundis those people that are working
in the nonprofit world reallycan't relate to what we do.
We are really more of abusiness at the community
foundation than a true nonprofit, and so we went through a few
(09:19):
trials of finding somebody, butwe're successful and thank you
to you for an acquaintance youhad to bring somebody in to help
kind of provide some ideas andperspective on a national basis.
This EAC consultants, you know,works with a lot of people, um,
but I'm really excited aboutwhat we developed and um, we
(09:40):
took a lot of therecommendations, but there were
several that really didn't fitour community, and so we did a
great job, I feel like, oflistening to these outside
parties and looking at bestpractices but also reflecting on
we have a unique community inmanhattan and making sure it
fits that, because ultimatelyour success is driven by the
success of our community.
(10:01):
And so we, you know I rolled outthe, the three pillars at the
annual meeting and we have a lotof work to do.
So I'd say we're kind of beyondthe visioning.
So I think we've successful ingetting the board to have a and
staff to have an understandingof our vision, and now it's
really trying to get the more ofthe tactical details in place,
(10:24):
and so I'm I've committed toBeth to help continue that, as
I'm past chair this year and shecan focus on you know her chair
role, so yeah, so Beth Smollerwill be the chair for our 25-26
year and she will bring hertalents to this process too.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
And yeah, we're to that point now of going now one
more layer down and settingthose goals and how we actually
evaluate those goals, if andwhen achieved at that point in
time.
So exciting times, and I'vealways enjoyed these kinds of
things in a leadership rolebecause I think it brings your
team together.
It gives you an opportunity,not only at the board and the
(11:01):
staff, but even board stafftogether, to kind of talk and
visioning, because we are thecommunity's foundation and so
we're here to serve thecommunity.
And that's where the boardprovides such a unique
perspective and our trusteegroups is to get input from them
.
And not everybody's on the samepage, we understand that, but
it's certainly the ultimate goalis all to make Manhattan in our
(11:22):
area a better place for sure.
So what is it meant to serve asthe chair of the Greater
Manhattan Community Foundationto you?
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Well, it's been an honor for sure foundation to you
.
Well, it's been an honor forsure, I mean what this
foundation does and the impactit has in the community.
It's quite an honor to have theopportunity to lead the board.
Great individuals, I mean thecommitment from the volunteers,
I mean the trustees, and theboard are all volunteers and um,
um has been rewarding.
(11:57):
Um, you know, and again I thinkI feel like I wanted to try to
help, um, you know, get afoundation and kind of set the
next chapter for the communityfoundation, and the strategic
plan is part of that.
I mean, I, you know people askwhy are we doing it?
Um, I think every organizationat some point it's necessary to
kind of revisit what you know,what you're focused on, and the
(12:19):
growth and the change in theposition in this community of
the community foundation overthe last five to 10 years has
been phenomenal and we reallyneeded to make a shift.
And so I feel good about thefact that we've.
Again, there's a lot of workleft to do, but I guess, coming
out of my term, I think we havea path forward and we have a
(12:41):
vision.
And your comment about noteverybody agreeing Everybody, I
think got a little somethingthrough this process and
everybody gave up a littlesomething through this process.
So from that, I think thatreally shows that it's probably
the right thing.
So, yeah, we're excited aboutthat, but I would say that's
been my most proud moment ofserving as chair is to help the
(13:06):
organization and others.
Of serving as chair is to helpthe organization and others.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Well, we ended the 2024 year with an asset base of
$412 billion, and a lot of thatis obviously supported by the
Goldstein stock that we own, theJack Goldstein left.
I mean that's been asignificant growth, of which
you've been certainly a part ofthat.
And take a step back a littlebit there and even bring a
(13:34):
little perspective of maybeJack's motivation just to
donating that stock and howwe've been able to use that for
the university and community asa whole.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
So yeah, yeah.
So I mean Jack was anincredibly generous man and in
maybe more ways or differentways than most people reflect.
I mean the building that we'rein, for example, here at Colony
Square, this was built as amatch for the community being
(14:07):
able to get money for the mallfor our grant, the community
being able to get money for themall for our grant.
So there had to be privateinvestment to go along with the
public investment in the mall,and that's an example of not
just giving money but buildingan ability to grow the community
, and I think that's always whatJack's done.
I mean, he certainly has givenmoney too, but was really more
(14:28):
interested in that, you know,continuing his entrepreneurial
spirit of helping others developand build.
And so then you know, in termsof why Jack wanted to do that,
one of the simple is that hedidn't have any children to pass
the business along to, wantedto see steel and pipe continue.
That was, I mean, he had spenthis blood, sweat and tears
(14:51):
making the company what it wasafter his father passed away, um
, and he wanted to make sure hislegacy continued on, and so, as
part of that, um, he wanted tohad to gift a major portion of
the ownership of the company, uh, to charity Um, and so he's.
He's done that with the goldsign foundation, um,
interestingly enough, obviouslyhe was doing that, so there
(15:17):
wasn't a tax.
He died in the one year.
There wasn't any estate tax,but he didn't know that at the
time, obviously, and so it'sjust been.
I think one of the things aboutcoming to work at Steel and Pipe
is you get to work hard and seethe reward, and the employees
are wonderful people.
We have great, great team.
But then, in terms ofmanagement, one of the ancillary
benefits is being able to seethe impact in the community that
(15:39):
Jack left us the opportunity tohave, and it's a lot of fun to
work hard and to see success asa business.
And then it's a lot of fun togive money away.
So I think we've got a lot offun to give money away.
So, um, you know, I think we'vegot a pretty unique place to
work.
Um and uh want to continue that, so I want to pass that along,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
I've.
I knew Jack uh uh for a fewyears, uh, as when I moved back
to Manhattan and uh certainlygot to know him well and his
generosity and his desire tojust give him.
This community has had lots ofJacks, certainly not at Jack's
level that we know today, butwe've been blessed from that
standpoint and I think thatconfidence and really decision
(16:22):
to start a supportingorganization back then has
spurred us now to have fivesupporting organizations and
individuals in this communitydoing things similar and so
excited about that.
The other growth that we hadduring your period of time is we
saw our 20th affiliate join theorganization and that has been
(16:42):
substantial growth.
Those 20 affiliates compriseabout 60 of our 400 million in
the asset group, and so whatwould you say about the
affiliate program?
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Yeah, so it's been interesting.
I think it's also a little bitunique, especially for a
foundation of our size, but Ithink it's a testament to what
people think or feel about whatwe're doing as a community
foundation.
I mean several of those, as youknow.
I mean you.
You really lead the discussionswith them but, um, they come to
us because they feel likethey're not getting the service
(17:15):
or the attention that theydeserve from uh, or want and
need from other foundations,many of which are larger than us
and um, so I think it's it'sjust a market related, um
example of the how good of a jobwe're doing as a foundation.
And then, from our benefitperspective, it provides some
(17:36):
additional revenues to, you know, spread out the overhead cost.
I mean, as we've grown as anorganization, you know you have
to continue to add resources tobe able to support that.
That program has given us somefunds to maybe get a little
ahead of you know and stretchourselves in terms of bringing
on people.
(17:56):
And then now we've got theexecutive director program for
those affiliate programs and Ithink we're getting, you know,
it's kind of seems like we'regetting ready.
Again, I've talked abouttransitioning with the community
foundation.
We're kind of getting ready tokick the birds out of the nest,
and so that's exciting from afoundation perspective to help
other communities grow acommunity foundation so that
(18:19):
they can continue to invest intheir communities.
So it's a pretty neat program.
It's done multiple things forus and it's evolving just like
the Greater Manhattan CommunityFoundation.
And it's evolving just like theGreater Manhattan.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Community Foundation.
So we've spent all this timetalking about the past and now
put on your crystal ball andwhat's?
Speaker 3 (18:42):
the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation look like
10, 20 years from now.
So I think the way I woulddescribe and I know you don't
talk about past, but just kindof how I'm thinking I would
describe that the CommunityFoundation has been there and
been successful in being aconduit for donors to impact
(19:03):
areas that they have an interestin and so collect money, hold
it for them, invest it and thenare able to give it away.
In the future and we've alreadyseen a little bit of this I
think that the communityfoundation is going to more and
more fill that role of beingreached out to, to help be the
problem solver or identify thesolution, so not just a conduit
but being able to, um, beingable to solve those problems.
Again, the child care was kindof an area that we've seen where
(19:26):
it was a very complicated,complex issue that everybody
knew was a problem but nobodyreally could formulate a
potential solution.
And so, being that organization, you know we've stepped up
recently in the nursingchallenges we've had in the
community and so I think moreand more we're going to be seen
as that.
(19:46):
And so what I would like to seeand I know you and I've had some
conversations about this, andthis may be kind of getting out
a little ahead of the strategy,but I think the community
foundation should strive to growits unrestricted assets,
because the challenges today aregoing to be very different than
the challenges in the future,and I think this community
(20:07):
foundation needs to have thefinancial resources to be able
to respond to those in a timelymanner.
And so I think that's going tobe I think that'll probably
evolve to what this foundationis is that we're able to not
only bring the people togetherand create the idea, but have
(20:27):
some resources to be able todeploy to solve some of the
community's greater problems.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
So we found out early in your year that we're the
largest community foundation inKansas, the 87th largest in the
United States and the ninthfastest growing community
foundation seventh largest inthe United States and the ninth
fastest growing communityfoundation.
How do you feel about leadingan organization like that and
(20:53):
how you see the future for this?
Speaker 3 (21:00):
I mean I feel good.
I mean, obviously it's not methat drives that right, it's all
of the individuals that thesuccess of the foundation kind
of you know success breedssuccess, right I mean, and so
having people having theconfidence in the organization.
But kind of you know successbreeds success, right I mean, um
, and so having people havingthe confidence in the
organization.
But you know, I feel good.
Again, I I feel like the thingsI helped try to do, um, during
my tenure as chair was to reallyhelp create a foundation for
the foundation.
(21:20):
You know, I guess you know thatyou gotta, you gotta, make sure
you have a solid foundation inthe house when you build it, and
I think that that was really alot of my focus is trying to
make sure that we arereinforcing that and growing it.
And again, I'm excited aboutwhat this organization can do.
I see a lot of the youngerpeople that are getting involved
(21:41):
through the Young TrusteesProgram and some of them getting
on our executive committee.
A lot of the younger peoplethat are getting involved
through the Young TrusteesProgram and some of them getting
on our executive committee.
You know, when I started itseemed like I was the young guy
and you know it was just a bunchof real wise individuals that
were involved and it's reallyevolved to be more.
It's more of a community'sfoundation today than it was
when I got involved and that'sexciting and so I think the
(22:04):
future is bright.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Well, matt, it's only bright because of your
leadership.
I want to say personally thankyou for your services, not only
a board member for several years, but as chair last year the
visioning process you bring alot to the table and you throw a
lot of things out there.
That challenges people'sthoughts and I think that's
(22:26):
awesome and the CommunityFoundation will be better for it
in the future.
So thank you and good luck.
Hopefully you're here for many,many more years supporting our
causes.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Oh, absolutely Thank you.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
So we appreciated Matt's year as chair of the
Greater Manhattan CommunityFoundation and it's great to
again show this to our audienceto memorialize his year as chair
of the Greater ManhattanCommunity Foundation.
And it's great to again showthis to our audience to
memorialize his year as chair,and we look forward to sharing
next year's chair with you atthe completion of the 2526 year.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Thank you for joining us for Philanthropy Today an
inside look at the GreaterManhattan Community Foundation.
You can always learn more aboutthe GMCF at our website,
mcfksorg.
We also invite you to subscribeto Philanthropy Today on Apple,
spotify, amazon or wherever youget your podcasts.
I'm Dave Lewis.
(23:15):
I'm proud to host PhilanthropyToday.
It's hosted and produced in theAd Astra Cast Studios in
downtown Manhattan, kansas.
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