When the City of Ithaca opened bids for the Commons redesign project, the phase three construction package was substantially over budget. In response, the City proposed to eliminate several planned elements, including the above items as well as the community playground, interactive touchscreen kiosks, and holiday lighting. The City and the Downtown Ithaca Alliance agreed to work together to seek to restore as many of these deleted items as possible through a private-sector "Enhancing the Commons" donor campaign. The campaign has raised a total of $161,500 and has successfully re-secured these desired public amenities.

Says Gary Ferguson, Executive Director of the Downtown Ithaca Alliance, "The heart and soul of the new Commons will be its package of amenities designed for the hundreds of thousands of people who use it each and every year. The Community Foundation has been instrumental in helping the Downtown Ithaca Alliance and City connect with donors who were interested in contributing to the Commons project and the programs we have designed to support and enhance it. We are most grateful to the donors and to the Foundation for helping to make a new Commons possible and for enlivening it for Ithaca residents and visitors for years to come."

Community Foundation of Tompkins County Participates in National Effort to Highlight Local Impact of Philanthropy

During the week of November 12-18, 2014, Community Foundation of Tompkins County will join more than 700 community foundations across the US celebrating Community Foundation Week. For 25 years, the effort has raised awareness about the increasingly important role of these philanthropic organizations in fostering local collaboration and innovation to address persistent civic and economic challenges.

During the week, Community Foundation will co-sponsor the local celebration of National Philanthropy Day, host Listening & Learning, a special community focus group on collective impact, announce its 2015 grants calendar, and distribute the second round of grants from our 2 Year Grants, Magnified Results, the Fall 2013 & 2014 Grant Cycle.

The Community Foundation also announced its 2015 new board members and 2015 new board officers. New to the board are Fabina Colon, Alice Moore, Susan Murphy, Stephen Pope, Ron Poole, and Kevin Shreve. Officers for 2015 are Alan Mathios, Chairperson, Randy Ehrenberg, Vice-Chairperson, Diane McDonough, Treasurer, and Sandy Dhimitri, Secretary.

"Community foundations impact lives, solve problems, and improve futures," said CEO George Ferrari. "As many residents grapple with limited resources and a growing need for services, we are more determined than ever to bring our community partners together to find innovative and effective solutions for some of our most challenging social problems."

Community foundations are independent, public entities that steward philanthropic resources from institutional and individual donors to local nonprofits that are the heart of strong, vibrant communities. By exploring new ways of solving problems, they seek impact and lasting results. This year, the Community Foundation continues to explore the concept of collective impact as a way of engaging more people and more resources including creating a new Collective Impact field of interest fund.

Community foundations represent one of the fastest-growing forms of philanthropy. Every state in the United States is home to at least one community foundation-large and small, urban and rural-working to advance solutions on a wide range of social issues. A new resource, the Community Foundation Atlas, at http://communityfoundationatlas.org/ provides global data and stories in this centennial year of the movement marked by the start of the first community foundation, the Cleveland Foundation, in 1914. In 2015, the Community Foundation of Tompkins County will celebrate its 15th year of service.

Community Foundation of Tompkins County, created in 2000, has record assets of more than $13 million and will make more than $1.4 million in grants in 2014.