National Community Foundation Week

These are difficult times for many in our community. Unemployment remains high, paychecks don’t go very far, and every day it seems another public service is being curtailed in the interest of budget cuts. That’s why the kinds of innovative investments being made by philanthropy—particularly community foundations—have never been more important on the Lower Shore.

National Community Foundation Week 2011, November 12 thru 18, spotlights the vital role of more than 700 community foundations nationwide in supporting essential services such as health care clinics, food banks, domestic violence shelters, libraries, and volunteer fire departments. In 2010, these foundations granted an estimated $4 billion to a variety of nonprofit activities in the arts, education, health and human services, the environment, and disaster relief. Though they could never replace the role of government-funded services, community foundations can help nonprofit organizations and others by using their private resources for the public good.

Community foundations’ financial independence allows them to take risks, sometimes achieving extraordinary results and affecting change.  As a part of our 2011 Homelessness Community Initiative, the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore made grants to local community outreach groups, food banks and homeless shelters.  Those grants helped to provide utility and prescription assistance to those in need, provide food for thousands of local citizens, provide a day facility for the homeless, reconnect homeless individuals with employment and provide shelter for homeless families. 

Community foundations know that the investments they make today will help people for many years to come. By marshaling the financial resources of individuals, families, and businesses, we can address unemployment, stagnant economic growth, hunger, and poverty issues. By strategically working with others, community foundations equip communities to more effectively deal with such future challenges.

To find out more about how you can become a part of this important philanthropic movement, contact the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore at 410-742-9911 or through our website www.cfes.org. 

Spicer Bell
President
Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore