What if the NH Charitable Foundation experienced a George Bailey moment? You know, the guy from It's a Wonderful Life who finds out what life would have been like if he hadn't existed. What would NH be like without the Foundation's investments and influence for the past 50 years?
It's not a pretty picture. Leadership NH, The NH Center for Public Policy Studies, the NH Community Loan Fund, the Trust for NH Lands, and New Futures are all organizations and initiatives that may not have existed, or would look very different, if not for the major role the NH Charitable Foundation played in their formation.
And let's not forget the millions in funding for nonprofits that would have gone untapped. The NH Charitable Foundation is the largest funder of nonprofits in Northern New England, making about 4,000 grants annually, says Richard Ober, president and CEO of the Foundation (and only the sixth person to take the helm in its' 50-year history). In 2011, the NH Charitable Foundation awarded more than $32 million in grants and scholarships.
The strength of the Foundation lies in its ability to draw from not only donors across the state, but volunteers dedicated to helping the organization accomplish its mission. We have hundreds of funders who pool their donations and intellectual acumen, Ober says. In fact, the Foundation is home to 1,675 separate funds. We've been pretty good at tapping into the resources and passions of donors and connecting them with organizations in the community, he says. Our fundamental mission is to improve life in New Hampshire. We have a role for being a thought leader in the state.
The NH Charitable Foundation and the Business and Industry Association (BIA) were the chief architects behind Leadership NH, a program designed to introduce emerging new leaders to one another and to engage them in the civic life. The program celebrated its 20th anniversary this year and has more than 600 graduates. The NH Center for Public Policy Studies, a nonpartisan think tank that produces research on policy issues, has become the go-to resource for legislators and the business community. The Center's initial funding came from the NH Charitable Foundation and five other major funders.
When the NH Community Loan Fund was founded in 1983 to make loans targeted at low- to moderate-income residents to help them improve their lives, it was incubated at the Foundation. The Foundation also played an integral role in the Trust for NH Lands, which raised millions to protect thousands of acres of land in NH from development. In 1997, an anonymous gift of $9 million made through the Foundation led to the establishment of New Futures to combat alcohol and drug addiction in the state. (The Foundation's funds to address this issue now top $40 million.)
The Foundation is also the largest provider of publicly available student aid in NH, awarding $5 million in scholarships in 2011. And that is just a fraction of the ways the Foundation invests in and influences NH.
Building A Community Foundation
In order to fully appreciate the NH Charitable Foundation's accomplishments, it needs to be put in context. Community foundations help individuals, families, businesses and nonprofits achieve their charitable and financial goals by offering tools and resources that make giving easy, flexible, and effective, according to CommunityFoundations.net. Donors can set up funds through these foundations to direct their money to causes and receive advice on the most effective way to invest their charitable dollars.
There are 85,000 charitable foundations in America and most of them are private. A small minority-700 of them-are community foundations, Ober says. (The first community foundation was established in Cleveland, Ohio in 1914.) Today, those community foundations collectively hold approximately $31 billion in combined assets and make local grants of approximately $2.6 billion annually, according to CommunityFoundations.net.
The NH Charitable Foundation is among the oldest and largest community foundations in the country, ranking in the Top 30 for size, and is one of the few that is statewide. The NH Charitable Foundation was incorporated in 1962 with funds from the Spaulding-Potter Trusts. Eugene Struckoff, who was an attorney with Orr and Reno in Concord, played a lead role in the formation of the Foundation and went on to create 140 more community foundations, becoming the Johnny Appleseed of community foundations, according to the Foundation's website.
The majority of the Foundation's growth occurred under the guidance of Lew Feldstein, who took the reins in 1986. At that time, the organization had $25 million in investments and 11 staff members. When he retired in 2010, the Foundation's investments had grown to $450 million and a staff of 45.
Before Feldstein came in, the board and executive team were already on a path toward establishing regional advisory boards with business and community leaders on them to guide local donations. Under Feldstein, the number of regional boards grew from two to seven, with the eighth-the Capital Region advisory board-established for the greater Concord area in 2011.
Lew and the board recognized a statewide community foundation needed to be imbedded in the communities in the state, Ober says. With the organization's board of directors, the Foundation has nine boards in total engaged in grant-making decisions, involving more than 100 leaders across the state.
Donors can direct a grant to a specific organization, or nonprofits can submit an application to draw from the funds housed at the Foundation. One of the newer programs that is taking off is the Entrepreneurs Foundation of NH, Ober says. It has 40 members, who tend to be younger, successful business people. They are making a commitment to be philanthropists in the future by pledging a percentage of an IPO, sale of their company (or other major financial event), Ober says. They are committing now to give a piece of their success.
The Foundation also makes sure money is being directed to nonprofits that are well managed-those that undergo regular audits, have a strong board and a strategic plan. It also invests in strengthening the capacity of nonprofits and their management. In 1982, the Foundation established The Corporate Fund to improve management, financial and strategic planning for NH's nonprofits. Since then, The Corporate Fund has provided more than $2 million to nonprofits to invest in their leadership infrastructure.
The NH Charitable Foundation also uses its grant making to drive best practices in the nonprofit community and to encourage efficiencies through partnerships and mergers, Ober says. And if the Foundation receives inquiries about starting a new nonprofit, it will direct them to organizations that are already working on that issue. We can incentivize behavior by the grants we make, Ober says.
The Future
To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the NH Charitable Foundation is holding a gala on June 19 at the Expo Center at the Radisson Hotel
in Manchester. While the Foundation is celebrating its history, the focus of the event, and the organization, is on the future. The theme of the event is Looking Ahead, Giving Back:
50 Years of Building Stronger Communities.
We are at a time when the responsibilities of the public and nonprofit sectors are being realigned, Ober says. The government will be stretched for a long time to meet its responsibilities and nonprofits are being asked to take on more. It's happening so fast, we [society] can't get our minds around it.
Ober is concerned the state not take its high quality of life for granted. We have the third lowest poverty rate in America. But in Manchester, 24 percent of kids live in poverty. It's doubled in 10 years and is well above the national average. What will that look like in 10 years? he says. We have one of the healthiest populations, but we have one of the highest underage drinking rates and one of the lowest rates for funding (prevention). These are among the issues the Foundation is keeping a close eye on. He says the challenge for the state will be maintaining its high quality of life in the long term.
This is a Foundation that has the privilege of looking 20 to 30 years ahead. When someone sets up a charitable fund with us, it's with the expectation it will be perpetual and we manage the money accordingly, Ober says.
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