Jane's Trust: A Lasting Legacy

Jane’s Trust:

A Lasting Legacy

“To laugh often and to love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of oneself; to leave the world a bit better; whether by a healthy child or a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived – this is to have succeeded.”

–RALPH WALDO EMERSON

FORWARD

In the fall of 2003, a charitable fund was born. It was the culmination of careful planning by a modest and generous woman, Jane B. Cook. Mrs. Cook cared deeply about the environment, arts, human welfare, and education in Massachusetts and Florida, where she had lived during her lifetime, as well as the entire New England region, where her daughters and their families lived and worked. The fund, conceived during Mrs. Cook’s lifetime, was shaped by her three daughters after her death. Eighteen years later, that fund, Jane’s Trust, made its final grants.

This report is a celebration of its work – and more importantly the work of its grantee partners – to support communities in Massachusetts, northern New England, and Florida. In honoring the work of the Trust and the incredible group of nonprofits with which it partnered, we also honor the family values that guided the Trustees and staff in their work over the life of the Trust.

Carrying on their mother’s legacy of humility and generosity, Mrs. Cook’s daughters also seeded the creation of new family philanthropy vehicles to continue the work and to ensure that the next generations of family members are imbued with the same dedication to equity and community. Mrs. Cook had a vision that her resources would be put to good use and we know that she would be gratified to see how every dollar was leveraged for good, both in terms of the community and family values.

The Trust’s work was the result of collaboration among the family, their advisors at Hemenway & Barnes, and the nonprofit community who put the grants to effective use. As this report shows, Jane’s Trust and its grantee partners had a positive impact on many diverse communities over nearly two decades.

JANE B. COOK

Jane B. Cook (1912-2002) was known in the communities where she lived as a down-to-earth woman who was generous to the core. She was actively involved in educational, cultural, health, and animal welfare organizations during her lifetime. In her youth she trained as an actress and performed on the local and regional stage. She was a Director of Dow Jones and Company from 1949 to 1985 and was actively engaged in her role and in supporting issues of journalistic independence. She created Jane’s Trust through her estate, to further her legacy of generosity and humility, to allow her family to engage in joint philanthropy, and to support issues about which she cared most.

Jane’s Trust evolved from that starting point, while always keeping Mrs. Cook’s intentions at the forefront of its grants to respond to ever-changing community needs.

AREAS

OVERVIEW OF JANE’S TRUST

When Jane B. Cook died in 2002, the inaugural group of Trustees set to work on crafting a grantmaking program that would build on the donor’s philanthropic legacy. The Trustees were mindful of her interests during her lifetime and used that as a base from which to build a grantmaking program that was responsive to pressing needs in the region, broadly accessible to the grant seeking public, and humble in its approach to complex challenges.

After a year-long planning process, the first grants were made in the fall of 2003 as unsolicited grants. The Trustees initially supported organizations that had been important to Mrs. Cook during her lifetime, and also developed a list of time-sensitive projects where an immediate investment could make a significant impact on the organization’s or project’s work. Among those grants were capital grants to complete the Boston Schoolyards Initiative and to Boston Medical Center for their Moakley Building, as well as operating support grants to the New England Aquarium, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and many other organizations across the Trust’s chosen geographies of Massachusetts, northern New England, and Florida.

The Trustees then launched a two-stage application process for organizations working in those geographies in the areas of arts and culture, education, the environment, and health and welfare.

At the outset, the Trust accepted multi-year requests for capital, operating, program, and endowment grants, which would narrow in focus over time. The Trustees also narrowed their geography after the first five years to greater Boston, Sarasota, Florida, and statewide in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire, and shifted to single-year grants. The Trustees prioritized their giving in northern New England over the life of the Trust, recognizing that grants of Jane’s Trust’s size could make a significant impact in the region. The Trust also prioritized support for the most vulnerable populations throughout its lifetime, whether it was urban or rural communities, people of color, immigrants, disadvantaged youth, LGBTQ+ populations, or others.

FOCUS:

GRANTEE SPOTLIGHT: ARTISTS FOR HUMANITY

Artists for Humanity (AFH) was founded in 1991 as an entrepreneurial venture that produced and marketed large-scale collaborative paintings reflecting the voice and vision of urban teens to Boston’s business community. Together with six middle school-aged teens, Susan Rodgerson cofounded AFH to amplify the voices of diverse young people throughout the city of Boston. Today, AFH remains a haven for teens from every corner of the city, a place where they can explore and express their creative abilities.

AFH was a five-time grantee of the Trust and was one of its first grantees. AFH Founder Susan Rodgerson recounts a story of having met Jane B. Cook in the early days of AFH, when it operated out of her small loft in the South End. Mrs. Cook arrived to deliver a check to her personally and meet the teen artists in the initial AFH cohort. Over the life of the Trust, AFH sought and secured Jane’s Trust funding for the construction and expansion of its Platinum LEED Certified EpiCenter headquarters, for capacity building as it implemented its strategic plan, and for succession planning support as its founder retired. AFH teens have designed and produced this report, which seems a fitting full circle moment for AFH and Jane’s Trust.

2003

Jane’s Trust made its first grants in December to organizations supported by Mrs. Cook during her lifetime as well as time-sensitive projects.

2005

2002 Jane B. Cook dies

Trustees respond to:

Hurricane Katrina which impacted the Gulf Coast

Needs of immigrants and refugees arriving in northern New England

2004

Early grants included:

Support for organizations statewide in Massachusetts and Florida

Endowment grants

Multi-year grants

Funding for nonprofits in northern New England where there were fewer large philanthropies

2008

The Trust shifted to single-year capacity building grants due to the financial crisis and immediate needs of nonprofits, eliminated endowment grants, and narrowed the geography in Massachusetts and Florida to Boston and Sarasota, respectively.

2017

Trustee respond to Hurricane Irma which impacted Florida

2021

The Trust made unsolicited, wind-down grants at a pivotal time for Covid recovery.

2008

Trustees respond to: Financial crisis

Northern New England ice storms

2011

Trustees respond to Hurricane Irene which impacted Vermont and New Hampshire

2008 2020

Grant themes included support for:

Capacity building

Organizations working across program areas

Program expansion

Operating support

2020

Trustees respond to:

The Covid-19 pandemic

The murder of George Floyd and the most recent national racial reckoning

Strategic plan implementation

Capital support

Current emergency needs/crises

Jane’s Trust had a deliberate focus on northern New England, awarding more than $68 million in

to

delivering programming in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire. The Trust also had roots in Massachusetts and Florida, where Mrs. Cook lived, volunteered, and gave during her lifetime.

that were either based in

OF

GRANTS

Northern New England

Jane’s Trust supported organizations working in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire, and also supported work that spanned the three-state region, which encompassed a geography of more than 54,000 square miles, a population base of more than 3.3 million people, and important rural and urban revitalization efforts.

WISE of the Upper Valley was founded in 1971. It provides crisis advocacy and support for people and communities impacted by domestic violence, sexual violence, and stalking within 23 communities of the Upper Valley of New Hampshire and Vermont. Jane’s Trust’s first grant to WISE in 2010 was for capital funding for a new meeting and training room, to host community prevention programs. WISE returned to Jane’s Trust on several other occasions as transformative funding opportunities arose, including support in 2014 to renovate a newly acquired Safe House, funding for a comprehensive campaign to implement its strategic plan in 2017, and to develop transitional housing in 2020. Because of the strong history of partnership and their extraordinary work on behalf of vulnerable populations in the Upper Valley, WISE was also a recipient of one of the Trust’s wind-down grants in 2021, for general operating support. In total, WISE received five grants totaling $435,000 from the Trust.

Massachusetts

During the first five years of the Trust, grants were awarded to organizations throughout Massachusetts and across all four program areas. Beginning in 2008, and in response to a strategic shift, grants were restricted to supporting organizations in greater Boston focused on health and welfare.

Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) provides free civil legal aid to help vulnerable individuals and families achieve justice and meet their basic needs. GBLS works at the intersection of several of the Trust’s interest areas including health care access, housing, and the rights of low-income communities and communities of color. GBLS was a seven-time grantee of Jane’s Trust and received more than $1.2 million in operating and program grants to support vulnerable populations, including low income families and individuals and people with disabilities.

Florida

Grants in Florida were primarily concentrated in southwest Florida, with a majority supporting the Sarasota area. Before 2008, grants were awarded across all four program areas. After 2008, grants were focused on health and welfare, including food access, homelessness prevention, and workforce development.

Mote Marine Laboratory is an independent marine research institution dedicated to the advancement of marine and environmental sciences through research, education and public outreach and with a focus on the revitalization and sustainability of our marine resources. Jane’s Trust awarded six grants totaling $467,000 to Mote between 2006 and 2021, including for the land-based coral nursery in the Upper Keys, the sturgeon program at the Aquaculture Research Park, and the red tide research program. The Trust also made an emergency grant to Mote in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma in 2017 to help with rebuilding storm-damaged facilities.

ARTS AND CULTURE

Jane’s Trust recognized the importance of the arts for their intrinsic value, as well as for their impact on youth and communities. In its first five years, the Trust supported visual and performing arts organizations across all geographic areas, providing operating, programmatic, capital, and endowment support. From 2008 forward, the Trust narrowed its focus to exclusively focus on operating, program, and capital grants in northern New England, where funding for the arts was even more constrained than in Massachusetts and Florida. Those grants supported historic preservation, revitalization of downtown theatres, arts education, community music schools, expansion of cultural facilities, and more.

ARTS & CULTURE GRANTS BY GEOGRAPHY

Grantee Spotlight: Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

Boothbay Harbor, Maine

The launch of Jane’s Trust coincided with master planning for an expansion of Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens (CMBG). The Trust’s grants subsequent to that first grant supported the capital needs for the Gardens’ expansion, including a visitor center, educational programming, and garden maintenance. CMBG also approached the Trust when they had the opportunity to bring recycled materials artist Thomas Dambo’s giant troll exhibit, the Guardians of the Seeds, to CMBG. After a capital grant in 2020, the Trolls were installed in spring 2021. No one anticipated during the planning for this exhibit that a global pandemic would change our world in so many ways, including the way audiences engaged with and craved outdoor cultural venues. The response to the Trolls has been incredible, with nearly 2.5 times the visitors from pre-pandemic levels. In addition to being visually spectacular, these large sculptures inspire us to leave small footprints, to care for the earth, and to understand the ecosystem around us. These Guardians share a commitment to nature, teaching visitors about the importance of protecting the Maine woods and revealing how interconnected we are to our natural world. They represent the intersection of the Trust’s interests in eduction, the environment, responding to climate change, and arts and culture. Jane’s Trust awarded seven grants totaling $1.1 million to CMBG between 2003 and 2021.

“The support Jane’s Trust provided has made an incalculable impact on the evolution and success of Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. From supporting our first Capital Campaign to the installation of our enormous troll inhabitants, we would not be the garden we are today without their generosity.“

JEN MCKANE, DIRECTOR OF PHILANTHROPY

Jane’s Trust awarded more than $20 million in grants for education. Grantees in this program area were focused on addressing educational disparities and providing educational access for all. Grants included support for environmental education, arts education, early childhood education, college access and success, mentoring, educator professional development, historical societies, and capital support for educational buildings.

GRANTS

GEOGRAPHY

“Jane’s Trust played a critical role in bringing Right Question Institute’s unique educational strategy to northern New England. Jane’s Trust support at key times helped us continue to develop our educational strategy, always informed by the people with whom we were working –adult educators in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire – and by the people they served. Now, our Question Formulation Technique is being used in more than a million classrooms around the world and our work in other fields continues to grow.”

DAN ROTHSTEIN AND LUZ SANTANA, CO-DIRECTORS, DEMOCRACY-BUILDING PROGRAM AT THE RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE

Environmental & Nature-Based Education

Teaching the next generation to be stewards of the earth was incredibly important to the Trustees, and grants they made intersected with their interests in both the environment and education. In particular, they supported collaborative and innovative approaches to nature-based education, both in the classroom and hands-on in the field.

Gulf of Maine Research Institute

Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) offers exceptional hands-on science learning experiences for youth and adults. Over the years, Jane’s Trust supported a number of GMRI’s programs for Maine’s middle school students, including LabVenture, an interactive, authentic investigation of the changing Gulf of Maine ecosystem, and Findings from the Field, a science writing program for middle school students. The Trustees were able to tour GMRI’s headquarters on the Portland Pier in 2008 and worked to solve the Mystery of the X-Fish, which at the time was their immersive LabVenture program. The Trust not only supported the first iteration of that program but also renovations to the Lab after the advent of more sophisticated interactive learning technology necessitated an upgrade. Jane’s Trust awarded seven grants totaling $605,000 to GMRI between 2004 and 2021.

Educator Professional Development

Jane’s Trust understood the importance of educator professional development as a tool to improve educators’ skills, knowledge, and effectiveness in order to ultimately have a positive impact on student learning. This work was particularly important in school districts that did not have sufficient resources to properly equip their educators with the tools to be successful in teaching and learning as well as in social/emotional development, special education, and hands-on learning.

Right Question Institute

The Right Question Institute (RQI) is a nonprofit educational organization offering a simple, powerful strategy that builds people’s skills to ask better questions, participate in decisions that affect them, advocate for themselves, and partner with service-providers. Jane’s Trust awarded four grants totaling $775,000 between 2004 and 2021 to support RQI’s work in northern New England, including a grant to build teachers’ capacity to engage parents in the decisions that affect their children.

The Trust’s commitment to the environment was a significant feature of its giving. The Trustees were interested in a range of environmental protection efforts, including addressing the impacts of climate change, land conservation, ecosystem protection, renewable energy, sustainable jobs, outdoor recreation, environmental education, and environmental justice. In 2008, the Trust narrowed its environmental giving to focus exclusively on northern New England, and was able to support a wide range of community-focused conservation activities, landscape scale conservation, sustainable food systems, climate resiliency, and nature-based education efforts.

ENVIRONMENT GRANTS BY GEOGRAPHY

Community-Based Conservation

Jane’s Trust made grants in support of community-based conservation, which intersected with several of the Trust’s areas of focus: ecosystem protection, community engagement, environmental justice, educating the next generation, and protecting public health.

Midcoast Conservancy

The leadership of what was to become Midcoast Conservancy in Edgecomb, Maine, approached Jane’s Trust in 2015 to discuss their capacity building needs. At the time the organization, the Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association, recognized the need for both strategic and succession planning for the organization. With the assistance of an outside consultant a plan was completed that proposed a merger of two land trusts, two watershed organizations, and Hidden Valley Nature Center in midcoast Maine. On the strength of that plan and the commitment of the organizational partners who recognized that these groups were aligned to effectively reach and engage the broader community, the merger was completed. Jane’s Trust made an operating grant in support of the merger and the first year costs of implementing the strategic plan. The new organization became what is today Midcoast Conservancy with a mission to protect the vital lands and waters of midcoast Maine on a scale that matters. Jane’s Trust made two subsequent capital grants for land acquisition and facilities renovation to expand their outdoor recreation and public access to more communities in midcoast Maine. Midcoast Conservancy received four grants totaling $300,000 from Jane’s Trust between 2015 and 2021.

Sustainable Food Systems

Jane’s Trust focused its funding in both environmental and health and welfare grants on promoting sustainable food systems, with a particular focus in northern New England. These grants included preserving agricultural lands, supporting farmers with in-depth business training, in particular immigrant, refugee, and urban farmers, providing fresh local food in the charitable food system, and ensuring indigenous communities had access to their traditional fisheries.

Intervale Center

Jane’s Trust provided six grants totaling $425,000 to the Intervale Center in Burlington, Vermont, whose mission is to strengthen community food systems through farm viability, the sustainable use and stewardship of agricultural lands, and community engagement. Jane’s Trust’s funding was a mix of programmatic, capital, and operating support. The Trust funded the expansion of the Intervale Food Hub, Conservation Nursery, and Land Access programs and provided capital funding for facility renovation and expansion. The Trust was also able to provide critical operating support for capacity building and strategic plan implementation.

The Intervale Center’s work promoting sustainable food systems, supporting beginning, immigrant, and refugee farmers, and protecting valuable agricultural lands was well aligned with the Trust’s environmental, education, and health and welfare interests in northern New England.

HEALTH AND WELFARE

Health and Welfare was a broad program area that focused on supporting low-income and vulnerable populations, including immigrants and refugees, homeless and housing insecure individuals and families, food insecure households, survivors of domestic violence, elderly, veterans, and people with disabilities, mental illness, and substance use disorders. Forty-one percent of all program funding was awarded in the health and welfare program area.

HEALTH & WELFARE GRANTS BY GEOGRAPHY

GRANTS AWARDED

The Center for Financial Education pr sper ityme

Reproductive Health

Supporting reproductive health care organizations and those working to ensure all people have access to abortion services was critically important to Mrs. Cook during her lifetime, and continues to be an issue of utmost importance to her family and a focus of their charitable giving.

Jane’s Trust awarded significant support to Planned Parenthood organizations in Northern New England, Massachusetts, and Southwest and Central Florida. The Trust also made grants to Abortion Access Project (now known as Provide, Inc) to train physicians in abortion services in Maine and Massachusetts, to Family Planning Association of Maine to provide abortion care in that state, to Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center in Bangor, ME, and to the National Network of Abortion Funds to support funds in Florida. Jane’s Trust awarded 19 grants totaling nearly $1.6 million to these organizations.

Immigrants and Refugees

Jane’s Trust provided support to organizations that are working to make northern New England a more welcome destination for immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. Grants to support immigrants and refugees helped to strengthen their participation in local economies and promote their cultural heritage.

ProsperityME was founded by Claude Rwaganje, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, to meet the urgent need for financial literacy for refugee and immigrant communities in Maine. Jane’s Trust made four operating grants totaling $200,000 to ProsperityME between 2016 and 2021 to help the organization expand beyond financial education to also include career and business development, housing assistance, and college scholarships.

Housing

Housing is a social determinant of health and well-being. Jane’s Trust consistently supported organizations focused on homelessness prevention, rapid rehousing, and creating pathways out of homelessness for families and vulnerable individuals.

Pine Street Inn is the largest homeless services provider in New England. Support from the Trust was crucial to Pine Street Inn’s ability to continue to meet basic human needs in their shelters, preserve existing properties as resources to end homelessness, and substantially expand their housing solutions to homelessness. Jane’s Trust awarded five grants, including capital, program and operating support, totaling $824,218 to Pine Street Inn between 2003 and 2021.

TYPES OF SUPPORT

The Trust provided a variety of types of grants throughout its history. The Trust was able to make endowment grants in its early years, but by 2008 narrowed the focus to operating, program, and capital support. Each of the support types had a specific focus given that they were single-year grants after 2008. They were often referred to as “moment in time” opportunity grants. Single-year operating grants often provided much-needed capacity building funding after an organization had completed a strategic plan or was working to design or implement a specific change to their organizational structure. Program grants were often for planned expansion, new programs or service delivery, or even pilot projects. Capital grants were most frequently awarded at the end of a quiet phase and entering into a public phase of a capital campaign.

Capacity Building

Many of the Trust’s operating grants were focused on organizational capacity at critical junctures in the life of the grantee organization. Often these needs were uncovered during conversations between applicants and the Trust’s staff or Trustees, exploring options for applications and discussing challenges to growth and sustainability.

LUND

Jane’s Trust provided critical growth and stabilization funding to Lund Family Center in Burlington, Vermont during the life of the Trust. Lund’s programs and services in support of vulnerable women, children, and families matched the Trust’s interests in the intersection of health and welfare and education in northern New England. At the time of the Trust’s capacity building grants, Lund had moved into a new facility after a successful capital campaign. During a site visit for the review of expanding the early childhood education and alternative high school programs, Lund’s director at the time answered a critical question of “what capacity are you missing on your board and staff?” by saying that financial expertise was something she felt Lund needed as part of its program and facility expansion. That led to engaging outside consulting support from the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF), funded in part by a grant from Jane’s Trust, to better understand Lund’s financial needs. The roadmap for capacity building that NFF provided helped Lund develop its first ever Finance Director position, and put it on a path to greater sustainability. Subsequent Jane’s Trust grants supported implementation of a new strategic plan and a strategic communications plan to better communicate Lund’s many programs and services. Jane’s Trust made five grants totaling $450,000 to Lund between 2009 and 2021.

Tree Street Youth

Jane’s Trust made four grants to Tree Street Youth during the organization’s first ten years, two for capital projects and two for operating and capacity building. Tree Street Youth was founded in Lewiston, Maine in 2011 by two Bates College alumnae, and grew from a local homework help program into a year-round program serving 500 youth in Pre-K through 12th grade. Tree Street programming includes academics, empowerment, college access, leadership, enrichment, and mentorship. A diverse group of youth and adults work together to co-create youth-centered programs and partnerships that encourage leadership, learning, exploration, and growth. The Trust’s first two grants were for capital support to build out and then expand their headquarters and youth center. The third grant was an operating support grant at a time of growth and inflection. Tree Street needed staff capacity to meet the needs of its youth and families as its expanded facilities allowed for it to serve more youth. Finally, in 2021 the Trust was able to join with other donors to support Tree Street’s “Burn the Mortgage” campaign to coincide with Tree Street’s 10 year anniversary as well as the wind-down of the Trust. Jane’s Trust made four grants totaling $280,000 to Tree Street Youth between 2016 and 2021.

TYPES OF SUPPORT

CAPITAL GRANTS

Jane’s Trust typically awarded capital grants at the end of a quiet phase and entering into a public phase of a capital campaign in order to help organizations’ leverage additional support.

Jane’s Trust awarded more than $29 million in capital grants to support new construction as well as renovation, restoration, and expansion of existing facilities.

Community Servings

Plain, MA

2017

Feeding Chittenden

VT

2014

Children’s Museum & Theatre of

TRUSTEES

For nineteen years, Jane’s Trust Trustees

– including Mrs. Cook’s three daughters as well as outside advisors, including representatives from Hemenway & Barnes, LLP – stewarded the Trust’s resources and awarded significant grants to charitable organizations throughout northern New England, Massachusetts, and Florida.

The staff and Trustees worked closely together to review and evaluate grants, follow emerging needs and trends in the field, and be responsive to community and grantee needs over the life of the Trust.

FAMILY TRUSTEES

MARTHA ROBES

JEAN B. STEVENSON ELIZABETH (LISA) STEELE

OUTSIDE TRUSTEES

HEMENWAY & BARNES, LLP

ROY A. HAMMER*

From left: Family Trustees Martha, Jeanie, and Lisa.

MICHAEL B. ELEFANTE KURT F. SOMERVILLE NANCY B. GARDINER

MACLEOD & MCGINNESS, P.A. RHODERICK B. MACLEOD* *DECEASED

Discretionary Grants

Discretionary grants helped facilitate giving to organizations where the Trustees had specific individual involvement and that were operating inside the Trust’s program areas. Each Family Trustee directed more than $5 million to organizations in which they were personally involved as board members, donors, or advisors in the areas of arts and culture, education, environment, and health and welfare. The following three organizations – New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, Positive Tracks, and Shelburne Farms – were important partners of the Trustees and of Jane’s Trust.

New Hampshire Community Loan Fund

The New Hampshire Community Loan Fund turns investments from individuals and institutions into loans and education that create opportunity and transform the lives of people with low and moderate incomes. Jane’s Trust provided critical operating support for the Community Loan Fund for more than a decade, as well as a capital gift to build its base of permanent capital. Martha Robes was engaged with the Community Loan Fund for many years because of her commitment to supporting affordable housing efforts and the strong leadership of the organization’s long-time President Juliana Eades.

Positive Tracks

Positive Tracks equips young people aged 12-25 with the skills, knowledge, and resources to change the world through the power of physical activity. In its first ten years, Positive Tracks has helped 98,800 young people turn 440,450 miles of physical activity into awareness and funding for organizations and issues about which they care most. Positive Tracks received several discretionary grants from 2011 to 2021. Jeanie Stevenson was a founding board member of the organization.

Shelburne Farms

Shelburne Farms is a 1,400 acre working farm and forest with a mission to inspire and cultivate learning for a sustainable future. Jane’s Trust grants provided important programmatic and capital support for Shelburne Farms’ educational, environmental, and cultural programs. Lisa Steele served on the board of Shelburne Farms from 1989 to 2022.

STAFF

Jane’s Trust had a talented group of program staff and administrators at various times throughout its history. Staff worked closely with the Trustees and as a liaison between the Trust and its applicants and grantees. The Trustees valued that the Trust’s application process was open, accessible, and responsive. Staff met with applicants, conducted site visits, and facilitated the application process to build trust and respect for the important work in the regions the Trust served.

Jane’s Trust Trustees, staff, and family members valued engaging directly with grantees through site visits in order to see the work of the organizations firsthand.

CURRENT STAFF

JESSICA W. COAKLEY

RITA R. GOLDBERG

GIOIA C. PERUGINI

FORMER STAFF

SUSAN M. FISH

KATHERINE S. MCHUGH

KABERI BANTERJEE MURTHY

RACHEL L. POHL MEGAN BRIGGS REILLY

G. SLOCUM

Jane’s Trust was founded with a limited charitable life span. As the end date of Jane’s Trust became known, the Trustees expressed a desire to continue the legacy of the Trust, its engagement of multiple generations in family philanthropy, and its impact on northern New England with a permanent philanthropic vehicle. Jane’s Trust Foundation (“JTF”) was created as a private foundation and received just over $60 million in grants from Jane’s Trust to endow it for future giving.

Jane’s Trust Foundation is a family foundation dedicated to creating a more socially just and environmentally sustainable world in which all people thrive through education and deep connections with family, community, and the natural world. While not intended to be a direct replacement for the Trust, JTF giving over the last ten years has focused in depth on climate change mitigation and adaptation, social justice, and special projects of interest to the Trustees. JTF awarded 214 grants to 60 organizations totaling more than $15 million between 2010 and 2021. More than three-quarters of funding has supported organizations doing work in northern New England, with about 10% of grants supporting organizations in Massachusetts and Florida.

INC.

CHAMPLAIN HOUSING TRUST

INC.

OF

OPPORTUNITY

FOR

COUNTY HABITAT FOR

CHARLOTTE COUNTY HOMELESS COALITION, INC.

CREEK

FOUNDATION,

FUTURE CHEFS

SOCIETY OF THE PALM BEACHES

INC.

PHOTO

JANE B. COOK – PHOTOS PROVIDED BY JANE B. COOK’S FAMILY

COASTAL MAINE BOTANICAL GARDENS –PHOTOS PROVIDED BY THE ORGANIZATION

GULF OF MAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE –PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE ORGANIZATION

MIDCOAST CONSERVANCY – PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE ORGANIZATION

INTERVALE CENTER – PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE ORGANIZATION

LUND – PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE ORGANIZATION

TREE STREET YOUTH – PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE ORGANIZATION

FEEDING CHITTENDEN – PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE ORGANIZATION

SERVINGS

CREDIT: ANTON GRASSL

MUSEUM & THEATRE OF MAINE

PHOTO CREDIT: SEAN ALONZO HARRIS PHOTOGRAPHY

MESSINGER