Celebrating 50 Years of Junior Achievement of Lincoln | Del's Story

Author: JA Lincoln
Community Involvement
Published: Thursday, 29 Jul 2021

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Image caption: Del Smith

Del & Brandon Smith - A Legacy of JA!

JA’s 50 years of impact! Only 25 years of an impart on me, my son and Lincoln’s youth through our economic education in the classroom and commitment to JA. What a difference JA has made in the lives of Lincoln youth, but even more so on lives of the volunteers who were fortunate to give of their time and money to help through financial support and classroom volunteering.

In 1995, I got asked by Ken Carlson to teach a JA basic economics curriculum in the classroom with Russ Uhing at Lincoln High School. I really got hooked! Russ let me teach from the JA Materials which were excellent. Where I really shined with the students was forming a student company and selling a product. We had some great results; setting up leadership in the company, marketing a product and ultimately great investment returns from the stock offering sold to classroom company students who became owners of a working company. My investment background really triggered interest in students.

From 1996-2000, I continued JA classroom teaching. Second graders were taught at an early age about consumer buying decisions. Differentiating “wants” from “needs” was something very applicable to my adult clients as well as my students as the clients tried to plan and invest for tomorrow while wanting every consumer item thrown at them by effective advertising and the “wants” of new innovative products.

I was given the JA Bronze Leadership award in 2001, and a Silver Leadership Award in 2004 for classroom volunteering and for helping develop a viable JA Lincoln Foundation.

I took my JA commitment to the next level when I bought a fishing trip at a JA auction. Great group of JA leaders and fly fishermen, who sponsored this trip every year and went fishing in Wyoming; those attending were Ken Carlson, Bud Olsson, Alan Hersch, Doug Curry, and Brian Robertson. We talked about the future of JA and how other non-profits were creating Foundations to assure there would be funding for JA which would be vital to help fund the future growth of the program. I was asked to re-draft new bylaws and set up some investment rules by creating an effective “Investment Policy Statement”. We had a very small endowment which was being managed by the Lincoln Community Foundation. One memorial gift from the Ballew Family for roughly $60,000 was our initial starting endowment. Later when Ken Carlson retired, a separate fund to gift scholarships was created from gifts to the Foundation made to honor Ken’s retirement. In 2006, total assets of the entire endowment fund were $61,443. My son Brandon Smith, an investment consultant, and I have managed the Foundation assets since 2010. Thanks to an aggressive Foundation Board, in 2012 a very successful matching gift challenge campaign to raise $400,000 really kick started the growth of JA Foundation assets. My email to the Foundation Board dated July 21, 2014, highlighted my/our vision of growth of Foundation assets: “ current account value $554, 848”. “Reiterate goal of $1,000,000 in assets by 2020”. Through active participation from donors through the years, year end appeals, Lincoln Community Foundation ‘Give to Lincoln Day’ gifts from JA donors, grants from other non-profits, and an effective marketing communication pieces, the Foundation newsletter, the $1,000,000 goal here in the 50th year of JA Lincoln has been reached! Much more financial literacy in Lincoln classrooms and in schools in surrounding communities lies ahead of us. So let’s work for the next million in growth of Foundation assets by 2030!

I am most proud of my son Brandon who has done an outstanding job managing Foundation investment assets since 2012. His additional JA work in the classroom and help with the JA Stock Market Challenge, JA fundraising events, JA Bowl-A-Thon, and the JA Dinner & Auction really makes me feel comfortable with the strong commitment from younger leaders who care about the JA message. The JA Lincoln Smith legacy continues…. For that I am extremely excited and grateful to have planted the JA seed in Brandon.