Where a gift gives forever

It was a far-sighted group of organizers that gave The Community Foundation life, but it was one remarkable woman who truly made it come alive.

Rosamond G. Childs joined The Foundation’s board in 1954, becoming one of the first directors not among the original incorporators. In 1956 she became its first major donor, establishing the Rosamond Childs Fund with a gift of $6,000. Important financially and symbolically in the Foundation’s early years, it was only a hint of what was to come.

She remained on the Foundation’s board for 14 years, exercising her passion for philanthropy with further contributions to the fund, by being similarly generous to other charitable causes and even providing direct financial aid to individuals or families she knew to be in need. She also served on other boards, including those of Faxton Hospital, Children’s Hospital and The House of the Good Shepherd.

An acute hearing loss contributed to her retirement from the Foundation’s board in 1968, prompting her to comment that “it would be much better to have a younger woman who is more in touch with civic affairs to replace me.” Childs would live another 19 years, however, before passing away on December 16, 1987 at the age of 100. Shortly thereafter, a bequest in her will established a second fund at the Foundation, the Rosamond G. Childs Fund. Stemming from an early investment her father made in the Benjamin Moore Paint Company, it amounted to approximately $5.6 million.

This fund became and remains The Community Foundation’s largest. Immediately it gave the Foundation formidable grantmaking capability, transforming it from an organization with great promise to one that could deliver on that promise by making a meaningful difference in the community. Along with the first Childs fund, it has generated hundreds of grants totaling millions of dollars that have benefited virtually every type of worthwhile cause. These grants have included many of The Foundation’s largest.

What’s more, the unrestricted nature of both Childs funds allows the income from them to be used for ever-changing and emerging community needs, empowering The Foundation to be precisely the long-term vehicle its founders envisioned.

As great as the financial impact has been, the modesty and spirit with which Rosamond Childs quietly built her legacy make it even more special. She said that society had been good to her and that in repayment, she felt she should do her best to improve the quality of life in the Greater Utica Area.

Her first fund remained anonymous for a decade until she reluctantly agreed to have it carry her name. Her lifestyle belied that of an individual with her means and she was frequently heard admonishing friends to “open up their checkbook and help” when a need arose.

In 2006 The Community Foundation honored her memory with the introduction of The Rosamond Childs Award for Community Philanthropy, now given annually to a recipient who has demonstrated the qualities she exemplified. Very simply, Rosamond Childs always wanted to make a difference. Very powerfully, she always will.