What's Happening?
We're Off to a Great Start!
55 Years and Growing
By Robert Carreau, executive director
I love The Schenectady Foundation. I've been a part of the Foundation for 25 years. When I first became involved we were making about $150,000 each year in grants as a benefactor of charitable works. We did many good things. But now we've come a long way, and today are having a major impact.
Today we are investing $1.3 million annually back into the community. But we do more than grants and scholarships. We're a catalyst for change -- a convenor of collaborations intent on changing intractable issues. Moving under-resourced families to sustainable lives. Turning blight to resurgence. Providing a path to prosperity for disengaged youths.
I am blessed to have known some of the people who formed the Foundation back in 1963 -- people such as Charles Carl and Bill Milton (pictured here) -- and most who have sustained us along the way. Bill Milton, most importantly, brought the impetus for starting the Foundation to community leaders based on his research as a graduate student. Had they not championed creation of the Foundation 55 years ago we would not have such a vibrant and critical resource in our community today. As my long-time colleague, Mike Saccocio, leader of the City Mission, often relates about his outreach to other communities in the region, without a funding catalyst such as The Schenectady Foundation is becomes very difficult for any community to initiate innovative new approaches as we have done in Schenectady.
So, thanks to our founders! To this day we carry their values forward -- to be smart with the gifts entrusted to us -- to make grant decisions with an eye toward impact for Schenectady residents. To be ceaselessly focused on doing the best possible work for the community.
Over our 55 years of service we have distributed about $22 million to the community -- more than half of that in the last ten years. Imagine what we can do in the next ten years as we build a sustainable future together through the time, talents and treasures of people, organizations and businesses. And by working through partnership with our highly collaborative non-profit community.
Your gifts have made -- and will make -- an even stronger Foundation for our community in the future, keeping pace with the demand for philanthropic resources and the changing social landscape. We look forward to that journey together.
This is the first of many blogs that will be posted on our website, including from guest writers from other organizations who can provide a unique perspective for community members who are interested in finding out how we, in fact, can make a difference. Thank you for tuning in!
And, stay tuned for more great things to come.
