Community Foundation Week 11/12 - 11/18 - Community Foundation for Nantucket

The community foundation field is one of the fastest growing philanthropic sectors in the United States today. Community foundations build and strengthen communities in a multitude of ways, including providing the means for a wide range of donors to create permanent funds to meet critical needs. Though the first community foundation was launched just over 100 years ago in Cleveland, Ohio, today there are more than 750 community foundations in the United States. This week we celebrate community foundations!

Community foundations range greatly in asset size, but all funds are invested in diverse portfolios and management is a major aspect of community foundations’ work. All share the common goal of serving donors, nonprofit organizations, and the community as a whole. In addition to this, one of a community foundation’s special functions is to provide effective leadership and coordinate the needs and services in its communities, so that charitable gifts are used effectively to fulfill a community’s most critical needs.

Our Community Foundation 30 miles out to sea began its second decade this year and we are proud of all we have accomplished and excited about the support we have for our expanded activities.

We have turned our immediate focus to the expansion of our grant-growing capacity through the Nantucket Fund™, and recently launched a successful outreach to increase our grant making for 2015. Housing, mental health and substance abuse, affordable child care, year-round public transportation and diversity initiatives were the priorities identified by community leadership in 2014, and we were strategic in our awards around these priorities.

Our goal in the next 10 years is to become the community resource we know we can be, and what the Island deserves. Our grant making will increase to levels that will make an even bigger difference in the quality of life here on Nantucket. The charitable funds we administer will continue to support many Island projects and partnerships, today and well into the future.

As we celebrate community foundations this week, we urge you to learn a little more about your Island’s Foundation, get involved, or make a gift to ensure its continued success and growth!

Thank you for all your support.