Please help!
The Montour Trail is being built and maintained by the Montour Trail Council, an all-volunteer, not-for-profit corporation. There are many ways you can help us:

• By becoming a member of the Montour Trail Council.
• By joining our email discussion group.
• By joining one of our local Friends of the Trail groups.
• By signing up as a volunteer.
• By making a monetary donation.

From time to time we call on volunteers to Volunteer with special events benefiting the trail, such as the Allegheny County Rib Cook-Off, the IKEA Christmas Tree sale, and the Half-Marathon. If you want to volunteer, join the email discussion group, or contact a member of one of the Friends Groups, or check your newsletter.

Membership fees in the Montour Trail Council help us out financially. The Council is registered as a 501(c)(3) organization, and membership fees and additional contributions are fully tax deductible.

The Montour Trail Council may also be designated as your United Way Contributor Choice option #3308. Those who donate through this workplace program receive full membership in the Montour Trail council.

What's the point of an Endowment Fund? Like many other organizations, we have two financial concerns: original construction and long-term maintenance. While federal, state and even local grants are often available during construction, they are far less likely for maintenance. Then, too, not all needed funds and equipment costs are covered by federal and municipal funds. Endowment funds are thus vital to the long-term care of the trail.

How is the money invested? MTC has contracted with The Pittsburgh Foundation to use its expertise in receiving and ultimately authorizing ultimate disbursements. It is an excellent local institution with some $700 million it stewards in client funds. The funds, once deposited, are conservatively invested in a pooled account among equity, balanced, and bond mutual funds (mostly the stellar American Funds Group) along with some cash or equivalents. Allocation is directed by brokerage firm, Pittsburgh-based, Hefren-Tillotson.

Of course, your gifts are are tax-deductible. To donate to the endowment fund, make your check payable to The Pittsburgh Foundation, with a note of "Montour Trail Endowment Fund" in the memo section of the check ("Montour Trail Fund" if you don't have enough room!). Send the check to:

The Pittsburgh Foundation
One PPG PPG
30th Floor
Pittsburgh PA 15222