2013 Annual Report
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2013 ANNUAL REPORT Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut Our mission is to transform our region into a more vital, caring community. 2 Message from President & Board Chair 5 Faces of Giving of a more vital Art & Ceil Costa David Garbo, Jr. caring community Lisa Thomasco & Darrell Fox 9 Partners in Caring Higher Edge Norwich Youth & Family Services Windham Area Interfaith Ministry 14 Your Generosity at Work 2013 Grants with those who are Donor Advised Grants Donor Advised Funds Field of Interest Funds shaping our region Designated Funds Unrestricted Funds Scholarship Fund Agency Endowments Future Funds & Sustainability Funds 24 People Who Care 2013 Donors andDream... have a Gifts-in-kind and Tributes 33 Applying for CFECT Funding lasting impact 34 Thinking About a Fund 36 Financial Report 37 Professional Advisors, Board & Staff Connect... Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut 68 Federal Street, New London, CT 06320 (860) 442-3572 • [email protected] • www.cfect.org Build... he Community Foundation of TEastern Connecticut stewards $57 million in assets representing 430 charitable funds established by generous people throughout the region. This generosity has allowed the Community Foundation to award more than $33 million in grants and scholarships to students since its inception in 1983. The Community Foundation offers donors a complete toolkit for philanthropic giving, expert assistance in learning more about the causes they care about, and the opportunity to join others with similar interests to learn and give together. For the community at large, the Community Foundation offers a permanent, growing source of grant funding, as well as a common meeting ground and leadership on important issues in eastern Connecticut. Join us as together, we continue to make eastern Connecticut a great place to live. Visit us online at www.cfect.org or call us at (860) 442-3572 and toll-free at (877) 442-3572. Letter from the President Dear friends, I joined you as the President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut in September 2013. Even though I had lived in Eastern Connecticut for fourteen years, I was new to the work of our Community Foundation. You greeted me with warmth and took the time to share your thoughts about the region’s strengths and challenges, for which I am so grateful. I have learned a lot during my first year as we met or walked, biked or paddled together in different parts of our region. What struck me was not the differences, but the similarities that bind this glorious region together. From the waterways and hills of Putnam and Killingly to the coastal communities of New London and Stonington, we are blessed with beautiful nature and with residents who are engaged in promoting social justice and initiatives to improve our quality of life. This is the story of our region. We care about each other, we are philanthropic, and we want to have long term impact. We are now at a critical juncture. This region has suffered greatly from the economic downturn and many people have lost their jobs. Poverty impacts communities deeply and has ramifications across generations. Non-profit and philanthropic leaders understand this issue only too well. Our nonprofits have been a stabilizing force in many people’s lives by providing technical skills’ trainings, co- curricular programs for youth, shelters for girls and women needing protection, and food and medical care to those in need. Those who have generously supported these non-profits through their strategic giving through the Community Foundation have stepped up in times of need and I applaud them for recognizing that we are all part of the same human fabric and that a community will not survive if those who are financially secure don’t help the most vulnerable. This is a valuable partnership that is often facilitated and energized by the Community Foundation philanthropy. We were extremely fortunate this year to receive news of a generous bequest from the estate of Peter Letz to promote animal welfare, wildlife and environmental protection. We have embarked on a strategic process with community members and experts to devise a plan to best integrate initiatives and resources to achieve the greatest positive impact through our work. There are tremendous opportunities ahead as we think about ways that we can converge programs and leverage many partners to greatly improve the quality of life in our communities. Our generous philanthropic donors and thoughtful nonprofit leaders will make this vision a reality. I learned in my years of work as an international human rights lawyer that transformational change takes place only when communities come together and embrace the changes needed to move forward. Our work through the Community Foundation is teaching me that progress will continue because of people like you who are agents of change and committed to creating a better future. Thank you for caring. I know that together we will make our region a more vibrant place. Warm regards, Maryam Elahi 2 Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut • 2013 Annual Report Letter from the Chair Dear friends, This has been a year of great excitement – for the Community Foundation, our generous donors and our partners in the nonprofit community. Simply put, you made this year one of our most successful. We said goodbye to our dear friend and colleague, Alice Fitzpatrick who, during her 18-year tenure, led with wisdom and talent to position the Community Foundation as a strong presence in this region, helping to grow our total assets from $4 million to just over $42 million. Her impact on the community will continue to be widely felt through the Alice Fund, established by 220 friends and colleagues who contributed over $100,000 to this new fund upon her retirement in June 2013. What better way to honor Alice’s many accomplishments! We also had the great fortune of welcoming Maryam Elahi, an international human rights lawyer, as our President and CEO. Since her arrival, Maryam has worked tirelessly to meet with our many donors and benefactors and has seen firsthand, the impact of our grant making by visiting many of our nonprofit partners. The seeds have been planted for even greater giving throughout the region. We trust that the Community Foundation is in good hands under Maryam’s leadership. After 12 years at our location on State Street we finally made the move to a beautiful new home in the historic Acors Barns House on Federal Street in New London. Here’s what else you made possible in 2013: • $4.9 million in gifts • A record number of gifts (2,143) • 21 new funds established • 16.5 percent in investment return on our endowed assets • A record $3.5 million awarded in grants and scholarships • Notification of our largest gift to date – an estimated $8 million to create the Peter Grayson Letz Fund for Animals and the Environment I invite you to take a few moments to read our report; in it you will learn more about the many ways you have helped make eastern Connecticut – from the northeast to the coastline – a wonderful place to call home! Paul D. Nunes Chair, Board of Trustees Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut • 2013 Annual Report 3 begins and ends with the generosity of our friends across the 42 towns we serve in Eastern Connecticut. You are the generous individuals and families, civic organizations, and businesses who love your communities. You are passionate and compassionate about youth and education, animals and the environment, arts and culture, and, above all else, supporting the communities in which you live. You have established funds and scholarships and have made investments that impact the lives of people you may Ournever meet. For more story than 30 years you have entrusted your funds with the Community Foundation, always with the intention of improving the communities in which you live; always with the ideal that communities can only become stronger because of your involvement and generosity. We thank the generous donors and philanthropists featured in this year’s report and to all of you who continue to make a meaningful and lasting difference in our community. 4 Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut • 2013 Annual Report “We chose to give through the Community Foundation during our lifetime so we could take a look at what was happening in our community with the hope that we could make a difference. It’s not Art & Ceil Costa about the amount When Art and Ceil Costa contacted the Community of money, but the Foundation in 2013 to establish a donor-advised fund, they way in which we did so knowing that this investment would have a lasting impact on the issues and organizations about which they can partner with are passionate. They found a vehicle in the Community the Community Foundation to ensure that their commitment to basic Foundation to issues – early childhood and adult learning, economic provide leverage development, and the arts— could be supported. to organizations Art, who had been an IT executive at an insurance we want to see company for 35 years and Ceil, a retired middle school grow. These teacher, share a special fondness for open space, parks, organizations libraries, and education. They are especially inspired by programs that offer adults the chance to complete their appreciate that own education while their children are enrolled in Head we see the value Start or similar programs. The Costas are thrilled to work in their work and with the Community Foundation to support programs the recognition that empower people to move toward better lives. that they are on Baker Costa Mallette Fund the right track goes a long way.” - Art & Ceil Costa Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut • 2013 Annual Report 5 “I work hard every day to strategize against my dyslexia and if I can help just one other student to get beyond the frustration of a reading disability I will feel like I’m helping out.