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 Community Building
Listening and Learning Invitation
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On October 27 the Community Foundation, in partnership with Alternatives Federal Credit Union, will convene a Listening Learning session with organizations dedicated to building community and engaging Tompkins County residents in civic action. The Community Foundation is interested in learning how to best continue to support these efforts. The organizations listed below are invited. We hope that if you are a donor, staff member, board member or participant of any of the agencies that you will encourage the participation of your Executive Director and Board Chairperson.
The Advocacy Center of Tompkins County
Alternatives Venture Fund
Amnesty International
BOCES - ESL program, GIAC
Catholic Charities
Center for Environmental Responsibility
Compos Mentis
CRESP Center for Transformative Action
Drop in Children's Center
Family Reading Partnership
Friendship Donations Network
GIAC (Greater Ithaca Activities Center)
Green Star, 501c3
Ithaca Community Recovery -
Ithaca Health Alliance
ILGBT Task Force
League of Women Voters
Loaves and Fishes
Latino Civic Association
Love Knows No Bounds
Multicultural Resource Center
Natural Leaders Initiative.
NYPIRG
OAR
Paul Schreurs Memorial Program
Ithaca Positive News
Robin Lee Whittlesey Social Justice Fund
7th Art Corp (Cinemapolis)
Social Ventures
Southside Community Center
Spencer-Van Etten Community & Fitness Center
STAMP
Stick & Stone Farm Low Income CSA Program
Tompkins County Workers Center
Tompkins Community Action
Tompkins County SPCA
Take Back the Night
United Way
The Village at Ithaca
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Partnering Update
Preserving EvenStart in
Newfield
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Last month we told you about a major grant resulting from a town-gown collaboration between Cornell's Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and the Community Foundation. Kappa Kappa Gamma made a designated gift of $25,000 to the Community Foundation's Children & Youth Fund to be used as a grant to preserve the TST BOCES Even Start program in Newfield and Groton.
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Green Guerillas  |
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The Community Foundation made a recent $7,500 grant from one of our anonymous funds to the Southern Tier Advocacy & Mitigation Project (S.T.A.M.P.)'s Green Guerrillas Youth Media Tech Collective.
"S.T.A.M.P. was established in 2005 in response to the frequency with which young people are referred to juvenile and adult court systems. S.T.A.M.P. challenges pollution, criminalization, exploitation, and incarceration by encouraging self-respect, empowerment, leadership, and self-determination among young people, adults, and families most affected by criminal justice and environmental policies which disregard individual needs, erode community assets, and undermine planet security." Here's a look at their current projects.
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 Community Education Human Services Fair |
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Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Groton High School Cafeteria
Doors open from 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Free parking & Door prize drawings
For more info, contact Rayne Butler, Lead Transition Coordinator, Model Transition Program [email protected] or 607-533-3020 ext. 2207 (Artwork designed by Erin Caruth) |
 Philanthropic
Leadership Moment
Steve Gunderson is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Foundations, a nonprofit membership association of approximately 2,000 grantmaking foundations and corporations. Prior to joining the Council, he served as the Senior Consultant and Managing Director of the Washington, D.C. office of The Greystone Group. He also was a Congressman (R-WI) for 16 years and served three terms in the Wisconsin State Legislature. When the economic crisis hit the nation, one of the first sectors to feel its impact was philanthropy. As markets crashed, the endowment values of most foundations plunged. Losses were 30 percent in 2008 alone. Between October 2007 and March 2009, many foundations witnessed a 40 percent decrease in their resources.
But just as philanthropic resources were being dramatically reduced, our nonprofit partners were facing growing demands for their services. Unlike charity organizations, which often focus on the short-term out of necessity, philanthropic organizations usually make long-term strategic investments to achieve real change, making multi-year grant commitments financed by the projected growth in their endowments. So imagine the new financial challenges when those endowments shrank drastically. It was a time for leadership, and many in our sector answered the call.
In October 2008, when the economy began drastically unraveling, our board chair Ralph Smith and I sent an open letter to the field encouraging our sector to rise and face the new economic realities. In that letter, we asked our foundation members and all philanthropic leaders to do three things:
1. To reach out to their nonprofit partners and find ways to maintain service amidst the economic crisis;
2. To use philanthropy's convening power to help communities and regions develop appropriate strategies to meet their respective needs; and
3. To pay special attention to those circumstances where philanthropic mergers, consolidations, and outright evaporation of resources (such as those caused by the Madoff case) resulted in the immediate loss of support for local nonprofit services.
I was proud to see philanthropists around the country respond with a commitment to serving the common good. Many foundations took internal steps to save costs in ways that could transfer savings into new support for grantees. Some foundations moved away from traditional brick-and-mortar investments, instead directing their funding to address urgent needs. In many cases, they provided grantees with new levels of flexibility for using existing and new grant dollars.
Foundations within the Jewish Funders Network, to give one example, rose to the occasion by replacing charitable dollars lost through the Madoff scandal with new support from their foundations. Community foundations, recognizing the need to provide new levels of leadership, convened nonprofits to identify immediate needs and then convened donors to develop appropriate strategies in response. And almost every foundation sought to maintain their grant commitments despite the loss of their own resources.
All this has required innovation and risk-taking so we can stay focused on our cause: serving the common good. As I see the glimmering signs of economic recovery on the horizon, I take pride in believing our sector will continue to support our nonprofit colleagues and our wider communities as we walk through this storm together.
What I've learned is that you can't schedule leadership moments -- they find you. And how you respond to the challenges of your time define whether you individually, or collectively, have met the true test of leadership. |
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Dear Reader,
We value your input. We hope you have found this newsletter to be informative. We strive to provide continued communications to our donor advisors. Please contact us with comments or if you would like to update your email or home address.
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George Ferrari
Executive Director |
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Your Community Foundation is passionately involved in shaping a better place for all of us to enjoy. One unique role is for us to convene stakeholders for important conversations and to share information to catalyze change. This is more important than ever when we need to face the new challenging economic realities. We embody the recommended practice of the national Council on Foundations by our special Listening and Learning gatherings with nonprofit partners and by maintaining relationships with them to celebrate successes and learn from failures. Enjoy reading more about this work of your community foundation in this edition of Philanthropy Magnified.
GEO |
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A Community Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded and staffed by people who are dedicated to seeking out what is needed in our community and what is valuable about Tompkins County and to helping those valuable assets grow important results. We understand our community's needs and help you to turn your charitable passions into results oriented philanthropy. We show donors how to make your gifts go further and accomplish more. Contact George Ferrari, Community Foundation of Tompkins County, Executive Director or call 607-272-9333 if you would like to explore ways for the Community Foundation to assist you in making your philanthropic dreams a reality for Tompkins County.
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Featured Foundation Board Member of the Month
Diane Shafer is an original member and past chair of the Community Foundation's Women's Fund Advisory Board and a member of the Foundation's Public Affairs Committee. She is active in the Foundation's recent Community Listening and Learning sessions and is a full-time community volunteer. Diane and her family moved back to Ithaca from Connecticut in 1997. Prior to this move, she volunteered extensively with educational associations and other not-for-profit organizations, including service as chair of the New Canaan Community Foundation. Locally, Diane served as the board president of the Family Reading Partnership, and as board chair of the United Way of Tompkins County and was the leader and co-creator of its Youth and Philanthropy Leadership Project. She recently received the Agda Osborn Award for community service and volunteerism presented by Family & Children's Service of Ithaca. Diane believes strongly in the ability of a Community Foundation to strengthen a community's capacity to address all areas of needs and concerns within that community.
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| COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF TOMPKINS COUNTY |
Board Chair
Tommy Bruce
Vice Board Chair
Mariette Geldenhuys
Secretary
Mary Pat Dolan
Treasurer
Joanne James
Immediate Past Chair
Jean Gortzig
Beverly Baker
Fred Ballantyne
Donald Barber
Priscilla Browning
David Call
Caroline Cox
Jean Gortzig
Howard Hartnett
John Moss Hinchcliff
Nina Miller
George Ridenour
John Rogers
Kim Rothman
Mickie Sanders-Jauquet
Diane Shafer
David Squires
Tom Torello
Incorporating Board
Jeff Furman
Howard Hartnett
Bill Myers
John Semmler
Diane Shafer
Robert Swieringa
Executive Director
George Ferrari, Jr.
Program Officer
Janet Cotraccia
Executive Assistant
Rosemary Madigan |
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
of Tompkins County
309 North Aurora Street
Ithaca, New York 14850
Phone Number 607 272 9333
Fax Number 607 272 3030
E-MAIL ADDRESS:
[email protected]
WEBSITE: [email protected]
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