News and Upcoming Events

New Job Opening:

Division Director—Community Philanthropy

We are seeking an experienced, highly-motivated, entrepreneurial, and community-minded development
professional to institute an exciting new model of donor-centric community philanthropy throughout the
greater Norwich and Windham areas.

Key responsibilities:
1. Establish long-term relationships with key community leaders and stakeholders in eastern Connecticut.
2. Educate local residents, families, towns, civic groups, businesses, nonprofits, and other institutions
about the value of community-based philanthropy.
3. Help facilitate endowment-based philanthropy through such vehicles as Donor Advised Funds,
Committee Advised Funds, and Planned Gifts, according to the giver’s interests and wishes.
4. Maintain relationships with and advise existing fundholders: individuals, companies, committees,
scholarship programs, special initiatives, etc.
5. Develop a comprehensive knowledge of the region’s issues and nonprofits that can be shared with
fundholders and other stakeholders.
(Note: In all cases, the staffperson will be supported by experts at the community foundation who have
knowledge of the nonprofit sector, philanthropic services, charitable giving law, fund maintenance, etc.)

Qualifications:
• Proven track record of attracting major gifts from individuals, corporations and
foundations. (Community Foundation experience is advantageous.)
• Excellent public presentation skills.
• High comfort level with high net worth individuals
• Entrepreneurial spirit, accompanied by disciplined self-motivation and minimal need for supervision.
• Well-developed analytical and writing skills.
• Minimum Bachelor’s degree coupled with nonprofit leadership experience. Advanced degree in a
related field a plus.

For consideration, please send us your resume and a letter describing your interest in this
opportunity, how your background meets our requirements and your salary expectation to:

Alice Fitzpatrick, President
Community Foundation of Southeastern Connecticut
147 State St.
New London, CT 06320
rosa@cfsect.org

For professional advisors: Charitable lead trusts may provide benefits for clients Click here for details

 

 

September 10th Film Festival to celebrate 10 years of women's philanthropy and impact

Join us at the Garde Arts Center as we celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Women & Girls Fund with a nonprofit expo and the screening of 7 short films written, produced or directed by local women.

Thursday, September 10, 2009
Click here for all the details

$25 per person
Tickets available online at
www.gardearts.org or
at the Garde box office prior to & on 9/10.

The Community Foundation gratefully acknowledges the generous sponsorhip of this event by Gourmet Galley, Minuteman Press, the New London Film Commission, & HB Group, Inc.

 

 

Improving Nonprofit Performance, September 23rd Workshop

August 11, 2009. The Community Foundation is pleased to bring you another excellent trainer and author. Mark Friedman will present a seminar with step by step methods for agencies to improve services for their customers. Called “simple, common sense and jargon free”, you won’t want to miss this opportunity to take a fresh look at your work. More information.

 

 

Groton animals benefit from generous legacy.

June 10, 2009. Josephine Sacco's bequest to the Community Foundation for the care of Groton animals made it possible for the Foundation to award its second annual round of People for Animals & Wildlife (P.A.W.) grants.

A total of $10,000 from the Josephine and Gabriel Sacco Fund for Animals will help three local nonprofit organizations provide food, shelter and preventative and emergency veterinary care for as many as 130 homeless or abandoned animals on the road to adoption. Some of the funds will be used to assist lower income residents with emergency care for their pets.

Learn more about the P.A.W. Fund

"The economic climate is putting more stress on families. We know that not only is it more humane to prevent animals from being given up or abandoned due to financial pressures but it is also less costly to the municipal budgets, the taxpayers and animal welfare nonprofits to keep pets with their owners."

-Ellen McGuire
Community Foundation Trustee

 

Let's Read Fund Grants Fund Family Literacy Programs as School and Nonprofits' Budgets Shrink

May 27, 2009. Eleven organizations will share $31,000 in grants awarded by the Community Foundation of Southeastern Connecticut's Let's Read Fund to continue its emphasis on helping kids gain better reading and writing skills. Over the last seven years, the Foundation has given out $323,000 for literacy-centric efforts focused on parent education, school readiness, tutoring, professional development for teachers, and book ownership, as well as after-school and summer programs.

Directed to at eight towns within the Foundation's 11-town service area these programs target, or include special outreach to, either underserved or underperforming students.

Click here to learn more

The staff and board members of your non-profit organization are cordially invited to join us for:
What Nonprofits Need to Know About The Federal Recovery Act
Thursday, April 23, 2009
1:00 - 3:15 pm
(registration begins at 1:00 pm; program promptly at 1:30 pm)
Water's Edge Resort & Spa
Grand Ballroom
1525 Boston Post Rd, Westbrook, CT 06498
(Directions: http://www.watersedge-resort.com/directions.html)

April 10, 2009. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will bring close to $3 billion to Connecticut, and additional funds will be available on a competitive basis nationally. There will be opportunities for nonprofit organizations and groups of organizations to compete for this national money as well as money that will flow through the state and municipalities.

At this forum, nonprofit and philanthropic leaders will learn about three key issues:
* How will state and local governments direct the funds from the Recovery Act?
*What opportunities are there for nonprofits to access stimulus funding?
*What are the challenges of the Recovery Act as related to policies, transparency and accountability?

Presenters: Shelley Geballe, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Connecticut Voices for Children
Stewart J. Hudson, President, Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation

Space is limited. Reservations are required for each attendee.
Register for this forum via email to: jennob@cfsect.org

Additional information will be available at www.ctphilanthropy.org or by calling the Council at 860-525-5585.

Sponsored by Liberty Bank Foundation in partnership with the Community Foundation of Southeastern Connecticut, Middlesex County Community Foundation, Middlesex United Way, United Way of Southeastern Connecticut and the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy.

 

2008 was a record-breaking year
for both grants made, gifts received

January 21, 2009. The Community Foundation of Southeastern Connecticut marked its 25th Anniversary with a record-breaking year. We awarded $1.66 million in grants and accepted $7 million in gifts from more than 1,000 generous donors.

Foundation President Alice Fitzpatrick says that many hundreds of people contributed locally, despite global financial fears. "Our prudent investment and spending policies also helped buffer us in this unusually challenging time." A handful of exceptionally large gifts pushed contributions much higher than in any other year. These new gifts will help to keep grants high in most areas, despite the falling stock market.

Foundation grants help many area nonprofits serve children, students, families, and elderly residents through effective and innovative programs. Caring residents created 19 new funds during 2008.

 

Community Foundation launches P.A.W. to help our furry, feathered and finned friends

Josephine Sacco of Groton loved her dog Snooky. Before she passed away in May, 2006, she decided to ensure that other animals in her area would be cared for, too.

So she left a bequest totaling more than $300,000 to the Community Foundation of Southeastern Connecticut that will support organizations that provide care and comfort for animals in the town of Groton forever. The story was featured on page 1 of The Day, October 8th.
Mary Doherty

The widow of the late Gabriel Sacco, Josephine was a long time resident of Groton. With the help of her attorney, Suzanne Kitchings of Kitchings & Potter, LLC, and Thomas Beirne III, CFP®, Vice President, People's United Bank Wealth Management & Trust, she created a trust which, upon her death, established the Josephine and Gabriel Sacco Fund for Animals at the Community Foundation.

The Community Foundation has decided to build on Mrs. Sacco's generosity by launching People for Animals & Wildlife (P.A.W.), and encourages endowments and contributions from other animal lovers in the area.

"P.A.W. will be concerned with the well-being, humane treatment and protection of animals in southeastern Connecticut," points out CFSECT President Alice Fitzpatrick. "It will make grants for animal rescue and sheltering, low cost spaying/neutering and other veterinary care, educational programs and habitat preservation for threatened species, and other areas designated by endowments like Mrs. Sacco's. We have some exciting plans!"

To learn more about contributing to P.A.W., contact Alison Woods at 860.442.3572 or alison@cfsect.org


Governance Seminar offered by Community Foundation and Chamber of Commerce Eastern Connecticut.

Governance expert Chuck Loring will provide a day-long seminar for area nonprofits. Your team of the CEO and at least three board members will have an opportunity to examine board governance in a retreat format.

Click here for more information Dwight Norris

Cannon Estate Planning Teleconference Series offered at Community Foundation
The Community Foundation and the Estate & Tax Planning Council of Eastern Connecticut are hosting a teleconference series on estate planning.

Click here for schedule.

County Historical Society Invests With Community Foundation

By M. Matthew Clark ,
Published on 7/29/2007 in The Day Region News
New London - The New London County Historical Society has transferred nearly half of its endowment to the Community Foundation of Southeastern Connecticut in an effort to increase its financial resources through the foundation's endowment pool. The historical society's total endowment is approximately $500,000, depending on the market. Patricia Schaefer, the historical society's president, said the society's board unanimously approved the decision at a meeting in the spring, and that the move has been in the works for some time.

The community foundation retains a professional financial agent, Russell Investments, based in Tacoma, Wash., to handle asset management. The foundation invests in a well-diversified portfolio that includes small-, mid- and large-cap domestic and international equities, among other funds. The investments are overseen by the foundation's Board of Trustees, an investment committee, and an independent audit committee. Merrill Lynch manages the other half of the historical society's endowment.

It seems a good idea to me, Schaefer said.We certainly like supporting the Community Foundation; the more money they pool there is good for everybody. The foundation, which was formed in 1982, is a nonprofit group that pools investments of other philanthropic organizations with the goal of reaching a higher return for the individual groups through joint investment. Schaefer said the foundation approached the society along with other area nonprofits groups in the fall to form the partnership.

They seem to have a pretty high rate of return, Schaefer said. The benefits of the partnership are twofold, she said. Beyond having the financial might of the foundation's pooled resources, the foundation also offers training and seminars on fund-raising techniques. The two groups will concentrate on bolstering the historical society's permanent endowment through outright gifts, deferred gifts and bequests from donors. For example, if people want to donate to the historical society in their will, the community foundation provides an automatic contribution to the society's endowment as an incentive. The board thought it would be a good way to advance the long-term needs of the society, said Edward Baker, executive director of the historical society. Baker said the goal of joining the community foundation is to maintain and further the past success of the society, which has been preserving historical newspapers, documents, manuscripts, and other artifacts for 135 years.

Waterford