For the Elsa Heisel Sule Foundation, the season of meaningful – and impactful – giving is year ‘round

By Vicki Prichard
NKyTribune reporter

Long after her death in 2010, the legacy of longtime Covington resident Elsa Heisel Sule is one that continues to make a difference in so many things that were meaningful to her throughout her life; community, the arts, education, and animal welfare are just a few of the many areas that have seen lives changed because of the Elsa Heisel Sule Foundation.

Throughout the year, the foundation invests in qualified nonprofit organizations that administer programs within Sule’s guidelines of interests in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana. Many of the recipients are those supported by Elsa during her lifetime, with grants for education, the arts, music, children’s programs and women’s welfare. The Covington Ladies Home, Circle Tail Dogs, Down Syndrome Association of Greater Cincinnati, Faith Community Pharmacy, Healthy Beginnings and Master Provisions are but a handful of organizations that have received foundation gifts since its inception.

A nurtured childhood results in a giving spirit

Born August 11, 1921, the only child of Elsa Marie Groll Heisel and Dr. Clifford Newell Heisel, Elsa’s home at 1910 Scott Street was known to be a nurturing environment, where embraced art, education, travel and a devotion to community were embraced.

Dr. Heisel earned both his undergraduate and medical degree from the University of Cincinnati. In 1917, he was called to active duty in the Army Medical Corps and was sent to France where he served during World War I. He returned to Covington in 1919, and set up his medical practice in a suite in the Coppin Building, where he shared office space, for some time, with attorney John Klette, Sr.

“The two of them started in the Coppin Buiding in the same office,” says Ruth V. Klette, granddaughter of John Klette, Sr., an attorney herself, and trustee and program officer of the Elsa Heisel Sule Foundation. Klette’s family were longtime friends of the Heisel’s and she considered Elsa her “Aunt Elsa.”

“As I understand it from my father, when Dr. Heisel took in another partner as a doctor he said to my grandfather, “Why don’t you go hang out with the lawyers down by the courthouse?” So my grandfather moved with a couple of other lawyers downtown to the lawyers building right across from the courthouse.”

A patron of the arts and a smart businessman, Dr. Heisel was a member of the Cincinnati Art Club and invested in residential and commercial properties throughout Covington. Elsa’s mother was equally active in her community and the arts, having grown up with an educated and working mother.

Elsa graduated from Holmes High School and, like her father, went on to attend and graduate from the University of Cincinnati, where she earned a degree in English. She also studied opera at the Conservatory of Music which was not yet affiliated with the university.

Before there was Mary Richards, there was Elsa

Long before Mary Tyler Moore’s character, Mary Richards, was breaking ground in the television newsroom, Elsa was the ‘real deal’ behind the scenes during Cincinnati’s distinguished television history. After graduating from UC, she landed a job at WSAI Radio which, at the time, was owned by WLW. It wasn’t long before she was the program director and scriptwriter for Ruth Lyons. When Lyons retired Elsa remained with Bob Braun, the show’s successor.

“I was really fascinated by the fact that she met so many interesting people,” says Klette. “She was really behind the scenes on engineering everything. She wrote everything – she wrote the commercials and the scripts.”

Klette’s family had long been friends with the Heisels. Her grandparents were business and social friends with Dr. and Mrs. Heisel, and her father, attorney John H. Klette, Jr., shared a lifetime friendship with Elsa. The two attended Covington’s Sixth District School, Holmes High and UC. When Elsa married Aladar Sule in 1958, the couple remained friends with Klette’s parents.

Both Elsa and Aladar were only children and had no children of their own. The two contributed generously to arts, children’s and neighborhood programs, and animal preservation causes. When Aladar died in 1990, Elsa immersed herself in charitable efforts.

In 2004, The Elsa Heisel Sule Foundation was established as a charitable trust and makes grants to private, nonprofit organizations and public agencies in the tri-state area.

Navigating the philanthropic landscape

Not long after Elsa died, the University of Cincinnati, Elsa’s beloved alma mater, contacted Klette about a donation. Scholarships seemed like the route to go.

The UC development officer asked Klette if the foundation would like to endow a scholarship so that Elsa’s name would live forever. But when she asked how an endowed scholarship worked, she realized there had to be a way to have more impact on a student.

“He said, “You give us $50,000, we invest it and then we spin off three to four percent a year to a student.” I said, “That’s $2,000 a year, that doesn’t really put much of a knock in a tuition bill, does it?”

Klette learned – and opted for – a spendable scholarship where the foundation would give $5000 directly to the student.

“I said, “More bang for your buck,” and he said, “but if it’s not endowed, people will forget her.” I said, “As long as we can keep it going, we’ll keep it going, because to do that keeps her memory alive more – being significant and knowing the kids. I want them to know where this money came from – who generated this money for you.”

So the foundation published a book that presents Elsa’s life, in narrative and image. The book chronicles family history, a culture of engagement and giving and, throughout, Elsa’s gracious and winning smile.

Klette says, with regard to scholarships, they aim for the B students as recipients.

“We figure the ‘A’ students have all the government money, and probably get the dean scholarships,” she says. “Then we try to gauge it to certain interests so it was in our criteria that they can be involved in music, not necessarily studying that instrument, but, if they are in band. They can have communication majors, radio and television, English, and art.

Currently, there are five $5,000 scholarships at UC, and a $25,000 scholarship at the medical college in memory of Elsa’s father, Dr. Heisel.

“We told UC to shoot for the B student in medical – somebody who needs it – and the criteria is they need to have graduated from a Greater Cincinnati – meaning Indiana too – high school,” says Klette. “We don’t care where they went to college, as long as they come back to Greater Cincinnati area to go to medical college from a Greater Cincinnati high school.”

Ideally, the scholarships enable the students to focus on his or her course of study as opposed to worrying about finances.

“The medical student has said that he’s been able to focus on his studies, doesn’t have to work extra jobs, and he’ll be able to give back to the community sooner,” says Kremer. “And, he’s number one in his class.”

“From a tax standpoint, I knew what a private foundation was, from an everyday standpoint of ‘how do you run this thing?’ I did not,” says Klette.

So she sought out a friend, Bruce Cohn of the Charles H. Dater Foundation, which provides funds specifically for children.

“Bruce has been operating this for about ten years, so I called him up and said, “How do I learn to do this?” says Klette.

“What I did in my life was always fun — it beat working for a living. I work because it’s fun, and everything should have humor.” Excerpt from “Love Elsa, Elsa Heisel Sule: A Life of Gifts.”[/caption]In the beginning, she would visit his office and he would explain the ‘how-tos.’ Per Cohn’s suggestion, Klette and Bridget Burcham Kremer, the foundation’s grants officer and program officer, joined the Association of Small Foundations and began attending their conferences which are called Exponent Philanthropy.

The conferences were informative. “When you go to the conference there are all of these vendors for all of these problem-solving things that you need,” says Klette.
The conferences are also a critical networking venue. Hearing that other foundations have similar criteria and practices is affirming.

The process of giving, and understanding the need

The act of giving comes with criteria. In order for gifts to have real impact, guidelines must be followed.

The process for a gift from the Elsa Heisel Sule Foundation begins with a letter of intent.

“That gives us an idea to see if we’re a match,” says Kremer. “First of all, are you a 501(c)3? What is your program? Is it in our focus of the arts, education and community – which is very broad.”

The Sule Foundation is geographically based, but Kremer says sometimes they will give further away if an organization is serving a population in the Greater Cincinnati area.

Among the recent recipients of Sule Foundation gifts is Circle Tail Dogs, located in Plainville, OH. The foundation recently bought a van for the organization.

The organization rescues dogs from shelters in Ohio and Kentucky and trains them to be service dogs. The dogs then alert owners for mobility assistance, hearing or diabetic detection. If the dog is not successful with its recipient then they are put up for adoption. It can cost the organization $12,000 to train a service dog.

“You think, okay, who would make a for-profit business out of training service dogs? Nobody would because you can’t make money at it,” says Klette. “The people who need the service dogs can’t necessarily pay $12,000 for a dog. You look at other things and say the services that are provided by nonprofits are essential to society, but government can’t, or won’t, do it, or it just doesn’t work, so you have to have nonprofits.”

And where do nonprofits get their money? Klette says that’s something they’re always looking at.

While one source is, of course, private foundations, they want to know how much federal funds a nonprofit receives as well as donations.

“A lot of times, when an organization is dependent upon federal funds that’s a red flag to us because if they lose it are they going to survive?” says Klette.

Klette says they look at the money that they grant through the Elsa Heisel Sule Foundation as an investment in an organization.

“So, it’s the same thing as buying stock – you say, “Do I want to invest in that company? What are they doing? Are they doing a good job?””

Klette says there’s more about the nonprofit management that she’s interested in learning.

“I want to learn more about nonprofit management. I want to know how they’re supposed to be managed – what they’re taught. I want to look into that,” she says.

Klette and Kremer are also interested in educating the next generation of philanthropists, and are engaging their high school and college-age children in the philanthropic culture.

The important distinction

And the distinction between charity and philanthropy?

Charity, Klette says, is check writing.

“Philanthropy is, say, I have $100,000 in my checking account and I’m going to check out your organization – I’m going to look at Guidestar, your 990, your website – and then I’m going to do a site visit and see what I think – does it fit with my goals and objectives? And I want you to tell me what you are doing and what do you need me to write a check for. I’m going to give you a $20,000 check, but I want to know what you are going to do with it,” says Klette.

Philanthropy, says Kremer, takes a lot more time than being a check-writer.

“We try to get metrics so as to give them measurements, outcome measurements, and they file an evaluation report after a project is over to tell us how many they serve in a population, what was their target, and what they achieved,” she says.

But, Klette points out, it goes beyond the number of people that are served – they want to know how the work of the nonprofit makes lives better; how the nonprofit goes about making improvements; and what measurements do they have in place that speak to the difference they’ve made.

“I think we realize the value of education we’ve got, and the different networking that we’ve done, so we’re trying to involve them so they learn more about philanthropy, that it’s not just giving money away; that there’s a method to make your impact larger,” says Kremer.