During the week of November 10-16, 2019, Otsego Community Foundation will join more than 795 community foundations across America celebrating Community Foundation Week. For 30 years, the effort has raised awareness about the increasingly important role of these philanthropic organizations in fostering local collaboration and innovation to address persistent civic and economic challenges.
“We have seen the impact that community foundations across the country can have on the lives of those in their regions,” said Dana Bensinger, executive director. “We are more determined than ever to bring our community partners together to find innovative and effective solutions for some of our most challenging social problems and advance the most promising of opportunities to benefit our residents.”
Community foundations are independent, public entities that steward philanthropic resources from institutional and individual donors to local nonprofits. The OCF currently manages 74 unique charitable funds supporting a multitude of initiatives in the areas of health and human service, arts and culture, conservation, education, economic development etc,. Year to date OCF funds have awarded $209,000 to local organizations and another $29,000 in scholarships to students pursuing training beyond high school. In addition, the OCF administers several programs bringing people together to advance the community including the Youth Advisory Committee, Community Grant Program, 100 Women Who Care, and the Nonprofit Exchange.
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—working to advance solutions on a wide range of social issues.
Community Foundation Week, created in 1989 by former president George H.W. Bush, recognizes the work of community foundations throughout America and their collaborative approach to working with the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to address community problems.
###