Letter from the President & CEO

Dear Friend of the Foundation,

Five years ago, The Community Foundation started exploring advocacy. Defined as action that recommends, supports or defends, or pleads on behalf of others, the Foundation’s advocacy work focuses on supporting local nonprofit organizations, from building relationships with elected officials, to identifying and securing public funding. Advocacy also includes educating others on the community priorities nonprofits’ work helps to address. We formed a cohort of several organizations and enlisted the services of Williams Nonprofit Consulting to teach the basics and start making connections between these local groups and elected officials.

Then, the pandemic hit, leaving nonprofits in a lurch waiting to see how our community would be affected and what additional burden they might bear. At this point, our staff gathered (virtually) to ramp up our advocacy efforts to support these critical agencies facing the pandemic head-on to do what needed to be done. Many of them took on additional work and more clients to ensure those in need in our community were cared for.

In the early days of the pandemic, we couldn’t have predicted duration or impact of the isolation. What we did know was the need would increase substantially. We surveyed nonprofits and 60% knew they needed help to survive six months. As a result, we convened elected officials to talk about critical community priorities like food security and housing and offered nonprofit organizations regular legislative updates and virtual coaching opportunities. Most importantly, we continued to offer Williams Nonprofit Consulting services to help connect nonprofits to legislators, identify funding and assist in applying for nonprofit relief funding.

Since the start of our advocacy work, we’re proud to have leveraged more than $6.9 million for nonprofits in Hancock County. These are local, state and federal dollars earmarked for local projects that will now be used in our community.

As we ease out of the pandemic, I’m grateful to our donors for supporting all the nonprofits in the community through the Foundation. The Foundation’s investment in advocacy has resulted in 35x the return, and priceless relationships with elected officials that will pay dividends for years to come.

Sincerely,

Brian P. Treece, Ed.D. President & CEO – The Community Foundation