As a local bank that’s been serving our neighbors for more than a century, our craft is creating time-tested, trusted relationships. It is sharing prosperity in ways that make our community resilient. It is investing the time, experience, and passion to empower lives and build lasting success. And it’s giving back in ways that are much bigger and more impactful than our size would suggest.
Hello Martha’s Vineyard Bank stakeholders, I’m pleased to report 2022 was another successful year for the Bank, our customers, and our community. Our success is a testament to the skill and care of our employees, who never stop working to ease our customers’ financial lives.
Thanks to our strong financial performance in 2022, we were able to invest more than ever back into our communities through giving — $2.2 million in total — while continuing to deliver exceptional quality service to our customers. Martha’s Vineyard Bank was the number one lender in all mortgage and purchase transactions in Dukes County in 2022. Our talented mortgage and loan officers and underwriters completed over $240 million in mortgage loans, earning us Independent Banker magazine’s accolades as the #3 lender in the nation, among banks having more than $1 billion in assets. And just one year after the opening of our Village Green location, we are the second-highest lender in Falmouth.
Despite acute staffing shortages on the Island, all retail offices were fully open during the summer, including our Flying Horses location in Oak Bluffs. In Chilmark, we added an office to offer our customers more privacy during appointments and brought back the highly popular Summer Art Show Series. We also expanded our School Banking program to help kids as young as five years old understand the importance of good financial habits.
Being true to our craft has helped us navigate the last few years while growing and expanding our influence in ways that are having a meaningful impact on the quality of life in our communities.
Martha’s Vineyard Charitable Foundation continues to focus on our most urgent local needs such as financing affordable housing and opening much-needed healthcare facilities, while supporting teachers, students, and the numerous organizations and non-profits who make our communities such unique and colorful places to live.
Like any craft, local banking is rooted in timeless, personal values focused on making life better. My thanks to our customers and employees, who together have helped create our continuing success story here at Martha’s Vineyard Bank.
Sincerely,
James M. Anthony President and CEO
HOW PEOPLE FEEL ABOUT THEIR MONEY IS DEEPLY PERSONAL.
We feel the same way. We work one-on-one with people to create a relationship and establish a comfort level that helps them manage their money with confidence — to buy a home, start a family, build a business, run a non-profit, plan for retirement — to achieve their own unique goals.
With more than a century of experience, our heritage reaches back to the days of the whaling ships that built the region’s first fortunes. Our values are timeless: mutual respect, integrity, teamwork, and giving back to our community.
THE CRAFT OF LOCAL BANKING
SUCCESS LIES IN THE SMALLEST DETAILS.
Craft requires a meticulous attention to the smallest details. It means putting in the hard work and passion to create an experience that resonates for a lifetime, a generation, or even longer.
That’s how we feel about lending.
Our lenders take time to sit down with people and learn their stories, and they take that into consideration when they’re reviewing each loan. It’s why we accept rental income when determining mortgage lending, unlike a lot of national mortgage companies — because we know how important that business is and always has been to our local way of life.
That’s the craft of local decision-making: real people, in the community, making informed decisions based on decades of experience and a desire to make something of lasting value, together.
For Jeanne Ogden, Vice President of Retail Banking and Residential Lending, and Phil Mercier, Vice President of Commercial Lending, helping make life easier for our customers means building relationships built on trust and understanding every person’s unique needs and dreams.
CRAFT IS IN THE CARE
To stay at the Palmer House Inn in Falmouth is to sink back into the romance and elegance of the Victorian age, where even the simplest things are crafted with enduring grace and beauty.
Photo credit: Keith Conforti
Photo courtesy of The Palmer House
Photo credit: Keith Conforti
CRAFT IS THE CONVERSATION
IT ALL BEGINS WITH A FRIENDLY HELLO.
At Martha’s Vineyard Bank, we value the trust our customers place in us. That’s why we make it our number one priority to be there for them when they need help. No automated answering service or endless phone prompts required.
Our customers value long-term stability and the peace of mind that comes with knowing there’s always a real person answering the phone and asking what they can do to make their life easier.
“I like people — I enjoy getting to know them. It’s amazing how much in common you have with someone if you just spend 5 minutes listening and understanding them. What starts off a customer’s initial happiness is me simply answering the phone. It starts the conversation with a level of trust that we’re going to be there when they need us.”
Smart money management is a skill learned over time. That’s why our Teach Children to Save program starts talking to kids as early as Kindergarten.
In addition to online resources that include an essay contest, coloring pages, and educational topics. Bank personnel also go out into the community to talk with students each year during School Banking Days.
Photo credit: Edie Prescott
Photo credit: Edie Prescott
CRAFT IS IN THE EXPERIENCE
OUR CRAFT IS REFLECTED IN THE SUCCESS OF THE PEOPLE WE SERVE.
When we partner with local businesses, we give their banking needs the same close, personal attention they give their customers. We find ways to leverage our strengths to help their businesses thrive — seasonally, year-round, online — whenever and wherever they need us.
In the same way the team at Bad Martha pours their hearts into making something to be savored and cherished, we work tirelessly to create a banking experience that leaves people feeling good.
With our online store, Lift (Lift.mvbank.com), we’re putting our talents to work to provide additional revenue for our business customers while improving the experience of anyone who loves shopping and living locally.
Because inspiring a strong, resilient community is at the heart of the craft of local banking.
“Being able to literally walk into the Bank and be greeted by friendly and helpful staff, knowing people that work there and people I grew up with, it’s definitely a unique experience and something that we value as a company and as part of the community. We’re thankful to have that relationship with Martha’s Vineyard Bank.”
—
Josh Flanders, Bad Martha Farmer’s Brewery
Photo credit (all this spread): Keith Conforti
GROWTH HAPPENS NATURALLY, WHEN WE PRACTICE OUR CRAFT
Growth in knowledge and skills, in confidence and prosperity — by working steadily at our craft, with an eye on longterm goals, we build success in good times and bad. It’s why, in spite of all the challenges in the market last year, Martha’s Vineyard Bank enjoyed another highly successful year.
That’s the true value of staying focused on your craft.
“Martha’s Vineyard Bank was superflexible and helpful and understood that I’m trying to run a business on the Island and there are all these ‘special constraints’. It all worked out, and we were open by May 20. It was a miracle.”
— Stefanie Wolf, Owner Stefanie Wolf Designs, Oak Bluffs
Deposit Growth 2020–2022 (Annual)
Loan Portfolio Mix and Growth 2020–2022 (Annual)
Photo credit: Edie Prescott
Photo credit: Edie Prescott
MARTHA’S VINEYARD BANK CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
Photo credit: Keith Conforti
CRAFT MAKES AN IMPACT
As a Bank built to contribute back to the community, we take to heart the stewardship of history, traditions, and the places we call home. In pursuing our craft, we invest our time, resources, and energies into listening and responding to the needs in our communities, so that we can act as a partner and collaborator and maximize the impact of our giving.
We are active volunteers in our communities, advocates for our customers’ personal causes with our Community Impact Grants, and passionate investors in education through scholarships and annual grants supporting teachers. We sponsor countless local events and, through monthly and quarterly grants, give to dozens of organizations that contribute to the rich fabric of our community life.
Through the Martha’s Vineyard Bank Charitable Foundation, we address real challenges in our communities in ways that make a meaningful impact, focusing on immediate priorities like affordable workforce housing, environmental issues, and quality education. While always ready to respond to local needs with emergency relief, the Foundation’s vision also embraces long-term challenges, like investing in local career pathways for young adults, to ensure we are crafting lasting prosperity for generations to come.
TOTAL GIVING IN 2022
Being a local Bank means supporting the people and causes that matter most to our neighbors. Last year the Bank contributed $2.2 million and the Foundation distributed more than $1.2 million in total grants to the community.
FOUNDATION GRANTS
Monthly and Quarterly Grants.
$1,259,425 awarded to 102 local non-profit organizations serving Martha’s Vineyard and Falmouth.
Community Impact Grants. A total of $20,000 awarded to four local nonprofits: Farming Falmouth, Island Grown Initiative, Camp Jabberwocky, and Woods Hole Child Center.
Art of Teaching Project Grants. Grants ranging from $250 to $1,500 awarded to 27 local public school teachers on Martha’s Vineyard and in Falmouth.
COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS
Community Scholarships. $12,000 scholarships awarded to six local high school seniors:
Ashley Brasefield, Owen DiBiaso, Delilah Hammarlund, and Benjamin Mulvey of Martha’s Vineyard High School.
William Gerlach and Brigid Murphy of Falmouth High School.
$250,000 Philip J. Norton, Jr. Scholarship Fund for Public Service. $12,500 awarded to Alley Estrella, our first post-secondary student planning a career in public service.
EVENT SPONSORSHIPS
$49,000 awarded to 31 local non-profit organizations serving Martha’s Vineyard and Falmouth.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Home Partnership & Primary Home Loan Program. $2,794,500 in total.
Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust. $20,000 donated for the purchase of a flash freezer to address local food insecurity.
BANK EMPLOYEE SUPPORT
Employee and Trustee Directed Donations. $57,750 in total.
Corporate Matching. $4,016 in total.
Photo courtesy Karin Donohoe, Falmouth High School
Photo credit: Edie Prescott
“I’m so thankful that I get to raise my daughter on this beautiful Island — where she was born and where we have friends and community. Bianca gets to grow up here and she doesn’t have to move again next summer. We don’t have to ever move again unless we want to.”
— Katie Stafford and her daughter Bianca in front of their new “forever home,” at Kuehn’s Way in Tisbury.
ISLAND HOUSING TRUST,
KUEHN’S WAY
FUEL Foundation for Underway Experiential Learning
$100,000 GRANT
A beloved Vineyard tradition will get a new lease on life as the Shenandoah, which has been sailing out of Vineyard Haven for 58 summers, is set to be replaced with a new ship, carrying more students than ever, along with a newly expanded vision.
$250,000 GRANT
Kuehn’s Way in Tisbury opened November 4th, 2022, with 20 rental homes. The development was designed to meet the local housing crisis in a way that is technologically advanced, promotes land conservation, and is affordable, energy efficient, and cost effective — not to mention life-changing!
ISLAND HEALTH CARE
$250,000 GRANT
A desperately needed dental facility on Martha’s Vineyard is set to open in the late fall of 2023, serving low- and moderateincome families on the Vineyard who have had no access to dental care for nearly two years.
“ The new ship will be a tall ship, built to honor Shenandoah’s legacy and continue Shenandoah’s mission, do things that the Shenandoah cannot do, and be more accessible to the public. We are grateful to be working with the Martha’s Vineyard Bank Charitable Foundation on this important initiative that will be absolutely life-changing experiences for multitudes of students.”
“There is such a shortage of dental services here … we’re looking at more than 2,500 children under 19 years old who lack any access to dental healthcare. Families are taking kids off the Island for dental services. In terms of adults, the uninsured population on Martha’s Vineyard is roughly 3,000 — and those who have Medicaid — but no dentists on Island currently accept Medicaid.”
—
— Ian Ridgeway, Co-Founder, Executive Director, Captain, FUEL
Cynthia Mitchell, CEO & Executive Director of Island Health Care, Inc.
Photo credit: Edie Prescott
Photo courtesy Ian Ridgeway, FUEL
Photo credit: Edie Prescott
Photo credit: Edie Prescott
Photo credit: Edie Prescott
SHARING OUR CRAFT
Martha’s Vineyard Bank was created to build community and share prosperity. Since its beginnings, the Bank has had a deep-rooted belief that it takes a local commitment to help a community stay strong. Every member of our team, from our customer service specialists to our CEO, knows firsthand how important community banking is to maintaining a sustainable economy.
We are proud to be recognized by our community and our customers as the “Best Bank on the Vineyard” for more than 20 years. We recognize this honor is due to the hard work and dedication of our employees, who are passionate about serving our customers and our community.
TRUSTEES
James M. Anthony
Stever H. Aubrey
Beth S. Colt
Donna L. Cummens, Vice Chairperson
Kenneth C. Galley
Wayne C. Lamson
Ronald H. Rappaport, Chairperson
George A. Santos
Alison Shaw
Reid G. Silva
Jennifer Smith Turner
Ann M. Tyra
OFFICERS
President & CEO: James M. Anthony
CFO & Treasurer: Charles A. Kroll
Vice Presidents: Christine J. Conrad, John W. Coskie, Jr., Susan M. Dostal, Anthony M. Leone, Edward J. Murphy, Philip A. Mercier, Jeanne M. Ogden
Below: Senior Management Team in front of the Falmouth Village Green Bank Office.
