Kimm Harris is a long-time supporter of Trees Forever, having started her volunteering work alongside Founder Shannon Ramsay in the early years of the organization. Over the years, Kimm has served on the Trees Forever board, helped with plantings and events, supported the organization financially, and joined the Trees Forever Legacy Society.
Kimm is an associate professor at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business and serves as Director of Undergraduate Studies in Entrepreneurship. She encourages her students to consider the role businesses can play in the communities they serve. She lives this principle by sharing her commitment to giving and volunteering with her grandchildren.
After decades of support for Trees Forever spanning several decades, Kimm shared with us her reflections on philanthropy, her experience with Trees Forever, and her vision for future generations.
Why do you think it’s important to support the community and organizations like Trees Forever?
I think sometimes it’s easy to forget how important community is until something happens where you need community. We go about our daily lives interacting with others, but when you really need people and services, that’s when you realize how important having a community really is. When you need a place to remember, like the Trees Forever Memorial Grove in Marion, Iowa or people to support you, that is when you realize how important having a community is.
We also need to protect our environment. That’s becoming more of a concern. We want to make sure that nature is here in abundance for everybody. I definitely want that for my grandchildren. I always appreciated being out in nature when I was growing up and it was a regular part of life. Now we need to actively think about getting the grandkids out in nature if that’s not something that they’re already attracted to. If we don’t actively take care of all of this, it’s in jeopardy.
You’ve talked about your grandkids and one of the important things that you are looking at is building the next generation of philanthropists. How and why are you getting your grandchildren engaged in philanthropy?
The why is community. Meeting one another and protecting what we care about. To make sure that the young people understand that many of the things they enjoy are not supported by means other than philanthropy. And I found there’s different ways you do it depending on their age.
When they got to certain age, I started giving them an envelope of money at Christmas that they are to contribute to the organizations of their choice. I list some ideas, and Trees Forever is on there, but they can pick what they’re most interested in. It’s been fun to watch those decisions. There was this time with my granddaughter when wanted to put all of it to her school. And I thought, well I should be contributing to their schools too! So I got to explain to her that her choice made me want to contribute as well. She got to see that her decision had an impact on me.
One of my grandchildren loves the theater, so we go to Theatre Cedar Rapids all the time. I point out to him my name in the program for being a donor and explained that it is there because I’m contributing money. I’m doing that to show that these are all the people that are contributing to these positive things in the community. If we didn’t have the contributions, we might not have these organizations that we enjoy.
Why do you think that Trees Forever is a good organization to introduce to your grandchildren?
You are also part of our legacy society. What made you choose planned giving as an avenue of support?
It’s been here a long time. It’s well run. It fulfills its mission. It will allow them to have opportunities to be in nature. You never know what they’re going to want to do with their future, their career. But trees and natural spaces will always be important in their lives and well-being.
How does the Planned Giving and Legacy Society tie into bringing the next generation into giving?
In order to have Trees Forever as an organization we need to support it. If we don’t have the funds and the support, it’s going to be hard to have people engage with Trees Forever. I want to introduce them to the Memorial Grove that I had a major role in. I’m glad that I’ll be able to bring them out and just share what Trees Forever has done and that this is always a place that you could come and be with nature.
When I was on the Board of Directors, I first started learning about this, and I made the realization if I have these retirement funds, it’s pretty easy for me to indicate a percentage that could go to the nonprofits that I want to support. Trees Forever was the first one that I did have on that list. I was a board member and I need to model what I was asking other people to do. It was easy to do. It’s a very small percentage that makes a big difference for the organization to continue to be successful.
What advice would you give others who want to get their children and grandchildren involved in philanthropy?
I think there’s probably many people that have already done that, and they have their own ways. My one granddaughter and I do volunteering projects together.
I think it’s important that they understand that it is volunteer work, you know, because sometimes it’s so fun! You want it to be fun, but also to acknowledge that we’re volunteering our time and it’s a positive thing.
What is your favorite part of philanthropic work or what brings you the most joy about it?
It’s the people. Being connected with people who have a passion about certain missions or goals, like-mindedness. But even if you don’t have that, you get to meet somebody new. I think it’s the relationships that I develop through philanthropic work. That, and being able to see that it does impact the people you love and you care about. I enjoy seeing them have access to and enjoy the organizations and missions I support.