During the week of November 12-18, 2013, the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore will join more than 700 community foundations across America for the 24th Annual Community Foundation Week to tell the stories of lives changed, jobs created, and communities transformed through philanthropy’s partnership with private and public community leaders and organizations.
Community foundations are independent, public entities that steward philanthropic resources from institutional and individual donors to local nonprofits that are the heart of strong, vibrant communities.
The Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore is also charged with encouraging local philanthropy. We know that charitable giving by individuals, families and businesses are more important than ever.
This year, after decades of committed service, the Pocomoke Ruritan Club established a fund to ensure they can support local causes in perpetuity. A decorated veteran was honored by family and friends with a fund established in his memory. Generous donors established a fund to support Diakonia, an emergency and transitional housing facility, in West Ocean City. Others chose to create donor-advised funds or created scholarships to make their giving easy and flexible. Participants in the Foundation’s Volunteer Leadership Academy hosted projects throughout the region to support recycling, engaging kids in art, providing school supplies to those in need and building ramps for homebound seniors. These are just a few examples of how you have shaped the Community Foundation this year.
Community foundations represent one of the fastest-growing forms of philanthropy. Every state in the United States is home to at least one community foundation—large and small, urban and rural—that is advancing solutions to a wide range of social issues. The 2012 Columbus Survey found that as the nation continues through a difficult economic recovery, grants by community foundations increased by 21% since 2006.
Launched in 1989 through a proclamation by former president George H.W. Bush, the first Community Foundation Week included a congressional briefing about the work of community foundations throughout America and their collaborative approach to working with the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to address community problems.