“There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.” Connecticut Community Foundation’s 2018 annual report, You Cared, opens with those words from Margaret J. Wheatley as a tribute to the Foundation’s donors and community partners who tackled local issues with passion and tenacity—organizing, contributing, and seeking solutions together.
Largely due to this deep well of community caring, the Foundation awarded $4.9 million in grants and college scholarships in 2018 to nonprofit organizations and students in Greater Waterbury and the Litchfield Hills.
Highlights of the report include:
- Donors and nonprofit organizations contributed a total of $7,419,927 to be distributed through grants now and in the future to benefit local communities.
- The life-changing impact of Wellmore Behavioral Health’s new Promoting Integrated Care clinic in Waterbury, an innovative collaboration with StayWell Health Center established to help address the soaring numbers of opioid overdoses.
- John’s Staver’s transformational bequest to benefit the places he loved in Greater Waterbury.
- “Town Conversations on Aging,” funded by the Foundation and led by the Woodbury Senior Center, propelled concerned residents, business owners and leaders in the town of Woodbury to take far-reaching actions to respond to the needs of its aging residents.
- The inspirational story of 86 women who united to form the Women’s Giving Circle at the Foundation, collectively awarding $34,000 in grants to help women and girls in the region get a leg up, move through crises or better their career options.
- Results of the Foundation’s investment in the national online platform, Catchafire, which matched skilled volunteers with nonprofit organizations serving Greater Waterbury and the Litchfield Hills—all towards helping nonprofits deliver on their missions to help the region thrive. Volunteers completed 107 projects ranging from technology plans to new logos, and provided services valued at $350,794.
Connecticut Community Foundation was formed 96 years ago by a small group of local residents who joined their financial resources to create an endowment that would benefit communities in the region forever. Since then, more than 500 individuals, businesses and organizations have created charitable funds at the Foundation. Stewarded thoughtfully over the years, the investment proceeds have been turned into grants to nonprofit organizations serving communities in Greater Waterbury and the Litchfield Hills.
Julie Loughran, president and CEO of Connecticut Community Foundation, said, “Greater Waterbury and the Litchfield Hills has so many assets, and chief among them is its residents. Their tremendous fire and will to create positive changes—through philanthropy, volunteerism and unified efforts—are sources of hope and inspiration and are vital forces in building thriving communities. We could not be more grateful to them.”
View the 2018 annual report. Cover image: Children enjoy Chase Park in Waterbury. Photo by Bill Shettle, Republican-American.
