By Richard Weinstein, President & COO
Ocean Reef Community Foundation
Coming up on a milestone high school reunion anniversary takes you back to a time where no one used each other’s actual name. It was, always, shortened, lengthened (think adding a “o” on the end like Steve-o), or adjusted to fit that one unfortunate moment that you wish to forget but no one will ever let you. All of these share something in common. They are nicknames.
I thought about this even more as I recently met someone named Nicholas, “Call me Nick.” Made sense to me until I started wondering whether “Nick” as a “Nickname” is where the idea of a nickname came from…. Turns out, it is not. “Nickname” comes from the old Middle English (old like in the 1300’s old) where “eke” meant “also” so “eke-Name” meant also-name. It was all the same way back then, with an abbreviated, shortened, endearing, and/or memorable (whether you wanted to be remembered for that donkey cart incident or not) name that you were called. Over time “An eke name” morphed into “a neke name,” and soon, “a nickname.” So that high school tradition has been going on for much longer that we could have imagined.
We are the Ocean Reef Community Foundation (ORCF). But often we are mistakenly called the “All Charities Gala.” Yes, All Charities Gala Weekend is ORCF’s only community-wide fundraising event, but All Charities is not a separate organization. It is just that All Charities is so well promoted and generates wonderful energy and excitement each season as the event approaches. That may be one reason that so many Members are more familiar with ORCF’s fundraising efforts than they might be with all of the charities ORCF supports and the services we offer to the Membership.
The Ocean Reef Community Foundation continues to grow and expand our offerings and capabilities. With well over $100 million in assets, we support Members’ philanthropic goals by providing Donor Advised Funds with no management fees. They include several investment options for accounts with a required minimum balance. Some that participate with a Donor Advised Fund find even greater value in the personalized advice for any local giving that can immediately impact the communities that surround Ocean Reef. We are currently managing over $60 Million for Members with our Donor Advised Funds.
We also support Members that would like to see their charitable endeavors carry on past the time they are with us at Ocean Reef. Through several options for planned giving we are seeing Members that have fallen in love with what makes Ocean Reef so special. They then work with our Community Foundation to ensure that the not-for-profit organizations at Ocean Reef and the charities in the nearby communities continue to benefit long into the future.
Shakespeare said it best (well, he probably said everything best) in Romeo and Juliet, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” He is right – it doesn’t matter so much what you call us because who we are as people doesn’t change. And who we are as a Community Foundation for Ocean Reef and the things we all care about don’t change either. So if you want to call us “All Charities” we are grateful for the recognition and welcome your support, involvement and participation.
Have a wonderful rest of the summer and we will see you this fall!
What’s In A Name?
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