News
November 7th, 2013
Community Foundation Week, November 12-18, 2013
During the week of November 12-18, 2013, Community Foundation of Tompkins County will join more than 750 community foundations across America for the 14th Annual Community Foundation Week to tell the stories of lives changed, jobs created, and communities transformed through philanthropy’s partnership with private and public community leaders and organizations.
During the week, Community Foundation will announce over $123,000 of grants from its special 2 Year Grants Magnified Results grant cycle for 2013 and 2014. Community Foundation will also co-sponsor the local celebration of National Philanthropy Day offered by the AFP Finger Lakes Chapter on Friday, November 15.
Community Foundation has record assets of more than $11.4 million and will make more than $950,000 of grants in 2013 a more than 125% increase from 2012 grants.
“Your Community Foundation works every day to help address the most pressing needs facing our community, including youth reading programs in Groton and Dryden, rehab of a domestic violence shelter, growth of increasingly in demand food and meal programs and expanded programming of local film, theatre and music offerings. As we all saw with the recent government shutdown, philanthropy provides a critical bulwark against uncertainty,” said George Ferrari, Executive Director “Place-based philanthropy, engages community leaders to improve lives through direct action, and local control of local renewable charitable resources in the form of endowment funds at the Community Foundation.” Community foundations are independent, non-governmental, public entities that steward philanthropic resources from institutional and individual donors to local nonprofits that are the heart of strong, vibrant communities.
Community Foundation’s Women’s Fund and Children & Youth Fund both experienced explosive growth in new endowment gifts. Community Foundation also developed new opportunities for professional advisors and donors to meet and learn from one another to advance strategic philanthropy during Philanthropy Learning Exchanges. Listening Learning sessions continued with four focus groups of grantees to learn about specific types of grant making they would experience as most effective and resulted in the first ever multiyear grants.