Connecticut Community Foundation Releases 2015 Annual Report
In its newly released 2015 annual report, the Connecticut Community Foundation reported awarding 430 grants totaling $2.3 million to 258 area organizations last year. The Foundation, which serves 21 towns in Greater Waterbury and Litchfield Hills, reported $91 million in net assets— an endowment that has grown steadily over the past nine decades due to sound investment of funds established by residents dedicated to improving the quality of life in the region. The Foundation was founded in 1923.
Highlights of the 2015 report:
• Over 350 scholarships were awarded to college students, totaling nearly $800,000.
• Among the grants awarded to nonprofits, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the Waterbury UConn branch has engaged older adults in farming at Fulton Park in Waterbury. They now produce nearly 10,000 pounds of fresh food annually for area soup kitchens and food pantries. Also with Foundation support, Naugatuck Youth Services surveyed 1,600 local teens to identify their top concerns: safety, self-esteem, and resisting substance use. They have since partnered with Hidden Acres Therapeutic Riding Center in Naugatuck—another Foundation grantee— to teach skills that will help at-risk teens deal with the challenges of adolescence.
• Spearheaded by the Foundation, the third annual “Give Local Greater Waterbury and Litchfield Hills” online giving event raised nearly $820,000 from donors in a 36-hour “give-a-thon” that benefited the vital work of 157 area nonprofits.
• Twenty new charitable funds were established at the Foundation, including the Ingrid J. Martland Fund for Woodbury Public Library, designated for the purchase of books for kindergarteners and support of early literacy programs in Bethlehem and Woodbury.
• The Western Connecticut Leadership program, begun by the Foundation in 2014, graduated its second class. The innovative eight-session intensive program gave local proven leaders and accomplished professionals an in-depth understanding of current challenges facing communities in the region. Sessions included behind-the-scenes site visits and off-the-record conversations with key leaders from Connecticut’s nonprofit and public sectors. By “matching need with know-how,” participants were readied for meaningful volunteerism in local towns.
Said Paula Van Ness, President and CEO of the Connecticut Community Foundation, “One of the greatest rewards donors experience when they give through community foundations is seeing their investments benefit the very places where they live and work in tangible, profound ways. Reflecting back on 2015, the rewards— for donors and residents alike— were significant.”
