Si Bank & Trust Foundation

SI BANK & TRUST FOUNDATION “Contributing to Support the Quality of Life in the Communities We Serve” Biennial Report Fiscal Years 2000 & 2001 SI BANK & TRUST F OUNDATION O FFICERS AND D IRECTORS “We are building the capacity of local organizations to better serve increasing numbers of people in our communities.” Officers Harry P. Doherty, Chairman and President Elizabeth Dubovsky, Executive Director Allan Weissglass, Vice President John R. Morris, Treasurer Patricia J. Smith, Secretary Directors Arthur Decker Alice Diamond Harry P. Doherty John G. Hall Denis P. Kelleher John R. Morris Allan Weissglass Staff Elizabeth Dubovsky, Executive Director Emily Godino, Secretary Mission & Objectives SI Bank & Trust Foundation (“Foundation”) seeks to help improve the quality of life in the communities served by SI Bank & Trust. Grants are made to eligible organizations in the areas of education, health, human services, arts and culture, community development and housing. Grants will be made only to organizations organized and operated exclusively for charitable or educational purposes. The purpose of the Foundation is to promote charitable and educational activities within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, including, but not limited to, the following: (a) Making awards, grants or other distributions to expand home ownership opportunities and provide access to affordable rental housing; (b) Supporting youth development programs to improve life options through education and work skills; (c) Supporting community organizations that contribute to the quality of life in the communities served by SI Bank & Trust. SI BANK & TRUST F OUNDATION - 1 “Commitment to the underserved and least advantaged is this foundation’s top priority and we are proud to be launching the Initiative for School Success.” Message of the Chairman and Executive Director Changed lives. At SI Bank & Trust Foundation we know that’s the bottom line result for our nonprofit organizations. With great respect, we’ve witnessed, supported and cheered hundreds of varied community groups in their efforts to improve human behavior, circumstances, health, hopes, competence or capacity. As SI Bank & Trust Foundation (formerly SISB Community Foundation) completed its fourth fiscal year, its role in helping organizations more effectively improve those results has come into clearer focus. Building the capacity of organizations to better effect increasing numbers of lives takes many forms. We have increasingly linked organizations to management/technical assistance and have supported strategic planning, program evaluation and improved fundraising programs through support for training and staffing. We have funded capital programs for equipment as well as new facility construction, renovation, restoration, repair and expansion. Our recognition of the need for multi-year funding and general operating support has not wavered even as we increasingly support programs of direct service and welcome innovative programs breaking ground in social change. SI Bank & Trust Foundation is a member of several networks of funders and is pleased to partner in funding collabora- tives to bring increased resources to benefit our communities. Frequently the initial lead funder of local groups, we are pleased that our foundation’s due diligence in review and selection of programs of value consistently leverages additional financial support for these programs. Commitment to the underserved and least advantaged is this foundation’s top priority and we are proud to be launching the Initiative for School Success. Our high impact grant will concentrate funding to improve the academic performance of a low income, low performing public school through the services of community-based organizations and staffing for intensive parent outreach and support. Helping our poorest children and youth succeed is paramount and we stand ready to support the replication of a school reform program that successfully engages, supports and helps parents contribute to school success. The following pages tell our story in the faces of changed lives, the comments of grantees, the lists of grants and organizations funded and, most clearly—the numbers. By June 30, 2001 Foundation assets totaled over $53 million. Our organizations-supported list now tops 400. Assets and annual giving has climbed and total giving is nearly $6.5 million. The foundation’s territory has grown as well, mirroring the growth of SI Bank & Trust, which funded this organization in 1997 to expand the bank’s long, extensive history of local community support. Our giving now extends beyond Staten Island and Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to include Bensonhurst, Brooklyn and the New Jersey counties of Ocean, Monmouth, Middlesex and Union. We continue to be gratified at what this Foundation has enabled, and excited about the possibilities. Our dedicated board continues to model philanthropic leadership in maintaining standards of giving apart from individual or special interests. Together, we will continue to listen. We will continue to care. And, most importantly, we will continue to help strengthen the capacity of our local organizations to improve the quality of our lives and of our communities. Harry P. Doherty Elizabeth Dubovsky Chairman & President Executive Director SI BANK & TRUST F OUNDATION - 3 “SI Bank & Trust Foundation is a partner in local development across all kinds of constituencies. An approachable institution, the Foundation can assess the problem presented, evaluate the organization’s approach to a solution and provide the support for solutions that impact our community’s future. For arts & cultural organizations with limited access to other sources this is an invaluable resource.” Laura Jean Watters, Executive Director, Council of Arts and Humanities of Staten Island “Since the Foundation began supporting ‘Dancing Over Walls’ two years ago, it has enriched the lives and futures of 62 gifted but economically disadvantaged children by giving them an opportunity to embrace riches in the performing arts they might never have found. The middle-class and affluent children with whom they studied also crossed their own walls of apprehen- sions about other children who are different. With dance as their common denominator, they’ve all begun quenching youth’s enormous thirst for breaching unknowns.” Ellen Tharp,Executive Director, Staten Island Ballet Theater “Demographics show that the number of elderly on Staten Island will grow rapidly and Meals on Wheels of Staten Island, Inc. with its new kitchen facility will be able to provide for increases in need for services.” Loretta McGinn, President, Meals on Wheels, Inc. “The grant to our Community Outreach Ministry for much needed repair work enabled us to continue our two soup kitchens, food pantry, Kids Café Youth Program, fresh vegetables and clothing distribution, nutrition and health workshops and our Seniors Care Program.” Mamie Daniels, Director, Community Outreach Ministry, Stapleton Union American Methodist Episcopal Church. “Your support has been instrumental in fulfilling our equipment needs at the Quintard Center (for developmentally disabled) on a number of different levels. Your investment in AVSP has not only enabled us to acquire needed technological equipment, it also served to inspire other foundations to help make our dream of a unique community resource center a reality.” Genevieve R. Benoit, Executive Director,A Very Special Place, Inc. “Caring for our autistic population is an extremely difficult and costly endeavor. It is our hope that with the newly appointed Director of Development we will be able to meet this challenge head on, and engage in a major fund raising campaign. Without this added income, our agency could not possibly continue to provide the extra services that have proven to be such a tremendous asset to our consumers, their parents and their extended families as well.” Ronnie DiGiacomo, Director of Community Relations, Eden II School “SI Bank & Trust’s support has helped make Christopher House available to the public. The grant has been important in pro- viding leverage for the Society in raising additional support for the project. As a result, the restoration is now to a point permitting use in historical presentations, as well as a living example of the restoration work at Historic Richmond Town.” John W. Guild, Executive Director, Historic Richmond Town “I will change the way I treat other people because of the lessons that I learned. I will respect other people more. I will help people more. I will not be mean to other people anymore.” Student, Prejudice Reduction Program, RSVP/SERVE SI BANK & TRUST F OUNDATION - 5 Application Guidelines Guidelines Grants are made to eligible organizations in the communities served by SI Bank & Trust. Funding areas include education; health and human services—especially youth development, housing; arts and culture; and community development. Applicants should contact the foundation office for timesaving application assistance by discussing potential requests with the Executive Director. Applicants will be advised as to the appropriateness of requests based on current foundation priorities. The Executive Director reviews all completed requests. Contacting board members to discuss requests is viewed negatively and is discouraged. The foundation funds capital requests, general operating requests, project requests and technical assistance. The maximum level grant awarded is $150,000 over three years.

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