Where a gift gives forever

The nature of the renamed Foundation was evidenced quickly and clearly in January 1997 with the announcement of a new grants policy.

Planted in a workshop led by William Somerville of the Philanthropic Ventures
Foundation, the policy was based on a strategy of “finding good people who could be trusted, and then trusting them.” It focused on people and ideas: on what mattered most to the community and would make a positive difference in people’s lives, rather than fitting grants into narrowly defined criteria.

At the same time, the grants process was streamlined to facilitate proactive grantmaking and additional attention was paid to monitoring the effectiveness of grants. The new guidelines were explained in special informational sessions for Non-profits held throughout the two counties.

Almost overnight the fresh thinking ushered in a new era in The Foundation’s grantmaking. While conventional needs were still addressed, an increasing number of grants now targeted issues: social, cultural and even economic, including their long term causes and solutions.

In Utica, for example, a fledgling operation that would go on to become one of the community’s most powerful weapons in the fight against inner-city crime and decay, JCTOD Outreach, Inc., received a crucial early boost when The Foundation helped fund its transitional housing program for single mothers recovering from substance abuse.

Across town, The Foundation helped another promising organization get off the ground with support to GroWest Inc., for its start-up and Neighborhood Revitalization Project. The venture not only fostered revitalization of properties on Utica’s west side, it became a program-related investment that continues to generate a return for The Community Foundation.

Another start-up grant helped launch Utica Monday Nite. In Rome, grants symbolic of the period included investments in a life-altering program at Welcome Hall, improvements at the Rome Art & Community Center and Rome Community Theatre, and construction of a new baseball park at the former Griffiss Air Force Base.

With assistance from The Foundation, the Cluster-13 group in Camden was able to acquire a home of its own for basing the vital parenting, youth and housing rehabilitation programs it offered the community.

In Herkimer County, the policy triggered funding that helped bring new teaching technologies to the Town of Webb High School, strengthen the Kinderwood childcare program and establish the broad-based CAP-21 organization.

In the southern part of the county, grants included one that brought single-parent families closer together through a powerful program delivered by Community Maternity Services, and another that promoted senior fitness through the YMCAs in Mohawk and Little Falls.

Students in the Clinton Central School District were the beneficiaries of the
Kirkland Fellowship Program, which enabled teachers to improve their skills through outside experiences. Students in Clinton, Utica and Rome were exposed to hands-on learning in the classical music realm, through the creative “Ladies of the Keyboard” project.

Benchmarks were surpassed not only in the spectrum of grants made, but in the speed with which they were awarded. In February 1998, for instance, a rapid-response grant from The Foundation enabled the Senior Day Center of Utica to keep its doors open without interruption through the emergency replacement of an old boiler.

The tone was set. The possibilities for innovation and impact were unlimited—and so was The Foundation’s eagerness to consider them. Even when grant requests were turned down, an effort was made to direct agencies to other potential funding sources.

In 1997, grants topped the million-dollar mark for the first time, numbering 123, totaling $1,036,081. The following year that threshold was reached after only eight months, with the 1998year-end totals reaching 151 grants, amounting to over $1.8 million.

To mark the rejuvenated grants program and share some of the success stories, in 1997, The Foundation inaugurated what would become a series of three year-end events called “Celebrating Our Community.” Held at the Stanley Theatre, the programs brought Foundation and nonprofit constituencies together to learn more about and recognize grant-supported initiatives that had been particularly effective.

The new grants policy not only served The Foundation and community well in the late ’90s, it became the philosophy upon which the grantmaking continues to be based today.

As dramatically as the grants operation changed and grew in the late ’90s and on into the 21st century, the same was true in the development area. While the endowment was still heavily bequest-based, growing numbers of individuals, families and organizations were attracted to The Foundation’s broader flexibility as a philanthropic vehicle.

They took advantage of the ability to establish funds, the fruits of which they could see during their lifetimes. These funds could honor loved ones and address causes of particular interest to the individual or family, giving the funds added meaning.

The Women’s Fund of Herkimer & Oneida Counties was established in 1997 as a donor-advised fund to support causes that create economic, educational and personal growth opportunities for women and girls. Over the next decade, it would raise more than $300,000 and provide over $65,000 in grants.

In 1999, the theme What’s Your Legacy? was adopted, suggesting the lasting significance of gifts made to The Community Foundation.

Also fueling this growth, not only for The Community Foundation of Herkimer
& Oneida Counties but for its counterparts across the nation, was the unprecedented affluence Americans as a whole were enjoying. Charitable giving had evolved, noted Gordon Hayes in the fall 2000 issue of Foundation Letter. “Family philanthropy was now a powerful way to express values, strengthen relationships and make a difference.”

Although all fund types grew, the popularity of designated funds, donor-advised funds and agency funds did so at a record pace.

At the close of 1996 the number of funds making up The Foundation’s endowment had stood at 79. In just five years that figure climbed to 135. During the same period, assets grew from $33.4 million to over $50 million.

The transition in leadership continued in 1998 when Harold T.(Tom) Clark, Jr. president of MacClark Restaurants, succeeded William Schrauth as Foundation president. The following year the board structure was modified to include four institutions in Herkimer County as appointing authorities, assuring that at least four trustees would be from that county.