By Richard Weinstein, President & COO
Ocean Reef Community Foundation
“So shall my lungs coin words till their decay” – Shakespeare
In this case, the word “coin” is used to express the idea of creating something. We also use that same idea in the expression “to coin a phrase.” The word “coin” starts off in Latin as “cuneus,” first meaning “corner,” but then, because of the shape of a corner, it grows to also mean “wedge shaped.”
The Greeks were already using silver to make drachmas while the Romans were making aes grave out of bronze. But because the differing values and metals made it difficult for trade, the Romans decided to follow the Greek example and use silver. Around 200-300 BCE, the Romans took a wedge-shaped cylinder (narrow on the bottom with the die and wide at the top for striking it) and started making denarii. Because this die was wedge-shaped, it was called a cuneus, and then shortened to coin. That name stuck and the metal they were creating into denarii took on the name of the die tool that created them as coins.
So that helps to explain why making up a new word or phrase is similar to creating a coin, something that before being struck with the die, didn’t exist yet. But where did the Romans make these first coins? The first place they decided to set up a formal location was on one of the seven sacred mountains of Rome, Juno Moneta. Juno was the wife of Jupiter and was known as the protectress of funds. After this first location was established, anywhere else the Romans made coins was named after this location, a “Moneta.” When they opened the first Moneta in Great Britain around 100 AD, the locals called it the Mynet which over time became Mint. So Coins were now made in the Mint. But hang on, we’re almost there…Moneta was Latin, which around 300 AD or so evolved to Moneie in French, which became Moneye around the 1300’s, followed a few hundred years later by Money.
And it is this…stuff… this money that is made in a mint that allows the Ocean Reef Community Foundation to make a difference. The various “funds” we maintain at ORCF each focus on a different opportunity. For example, the one you may be most familiar with is the Community Grants Fund. This is where the All Charities proceeds are held while the Grants Committee finalizes the charity recipients. Donor Advised Funds are each an individual fund held by the Foundation and distributed on the advice of the Ocean Reef Member that created the fund. DAFs support an amazing tax benefit while providing a wide range of flexibility for the donor. These include no specified time frame for distribution, potentially fully tax deductible in the year they are opened, and, for ORC Members, no management fees from ORCF to open or maintain your DAF.
On the other side of the Coin, we have funds to support specific causes (sometimes started by a Member with a specific passion, or by the Foundation when a need is recognized). In both cases supplemental donations can be supported by other Members as well, often from their own DAFs. Examples include areas of support such as childhood hunger relief, Ocean Reef Employee Emergency Fund, College of the Florida Keys “Building Bridges” Scholarship, and the Key Largo School Summer Recreation to name a few, so donations can be focused where there is the greatest need in the community.
By the way, the origin of the word “Fund” is the Latin “Fundus,” which originally referred to the ground or foundation. So this clearly holds for the Ocean Reef Community Foundation: these Funds are what our organization is built upon and enable the many ways we support the surrounding communities, while at the same time, they help to keep the not-for-profit organizations within Ocean Reef in “Mint” Condition.
