Sheffield — Saying “Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation” is quite the mouthful. But that is appropriate for an organization that oversees charitable giving in four counties of three states. Established in 1987, Berkshire Taconic has helped citizens and organizations in 73 communities on a wide range of issues. Think of a situation or problem that needs attention here and chances are that Berkshire Taconic can help.
Jennifer Dowley, president of the Berkshire Taconic, is retiring at the end of the year. She oversees the staff, and the more than 500 volunteers who review grant requests. Prior to her stewardship of Berkshire Taconic, Dowley was the Director of Museums and Visual Arts at the National Endowment for the Arts. An interesting side note– her boss in Washington was the multi-talented Jane Alexander.
Dowley joined Berkshire Taconic in 1999, when it had $9.9 million in assets. Under her leadership, the organization’s assets now total $119 million. In 1999, at the beginning of Dowley’s leadership, Berkshire Taconic oversaw 48 funds. The comparable figure today is 536 funds.. Total grants made in 1999 were $5.6 million. Today it is $9.3 million. And so on and so forth with even more figures demonstrating the tremendous growth of the organization under Dowley’s leadership. And all this growth came from a staff that grew from 6 to 13.
The easiest way to describe Berkshire Taconic’s activities is that they build stronger communities by inspiring charitable giving. But what does that mean? The answer is complicated by the wide scope of the communities they serve and the even wider array of services it can provide.
For starters, consider public education. School districts typically need more money than they get from tax dollars. Over the last 15 years, Berkshire Taconic helped establish permanently endowed educational enrichment funds for every school district in the region.
In some school districts Berkshire Taconic has a donor willing to help fund education. But sometimes they have to pull together leaders of the community — parents, teachers, business leaders — to fulfill their goal of raising money for an educational endowment. Here in Berkshire County, 13 school districts have educational enrichment programs housed at BTCF. Berkshire Taconic works closely with each group to create the strategy to meet its particular financial challenge.
But education is only one component of the services overseen by Berkshire Taconic. Many communities have funds established by residents who wanted to perpetuate an idea they had initiated. For example, dozens of Monterey students have benefitted from a scholarship fund established by the late artist Edith Wilson and her companion Marjorie McLaughlin. Their fund has had a major impact on Monterey by rewarding academic excellence for local students. Many Monterey students have had financial assistance from the Wilson-McLaughlin Fund all the way through graduate school. The fund has been around long enough to help pay for the college tuitions of two generations of the Makuc family, longtime pillars of the community.
Brothers James and Robert Hardman of North Adams established a fund that covers a wide range of projects including the arts, culture, historic preservation, health and human services, and education. And residents of Adams, Cheshire and Savoy benefit from public service awards endowed by Margery and William Barrett.
Some of Berkshire Taconic’s projects are as broad as assisting school districts. Others are far more specific. The Denise Kaley Fund was founded in 2010 by Kaley and her friend Barbara Bonner as Kaley was dying of lung cancer. The Fund was created as a “last stop” that helps patients cover expenses as the patient is suffering from cancer. Given the circumstances, the Fund’s advisory committee reviews the application typically on the day it is received. And then payments are made immediately.
Fifteen years ago Great Barrington realtor Jonathan Hankin wanted to encourage the Berkshires real estate community to buy shares in CSAs (community sponsored agriculture) farms to give to local food pantries. He worked with Dowley to establish a program they called “Share the Bounty,” and today Berkshire Grown, an organization that supports local farmers, raises enough money each year to buy 25 shares in 18 farms throughout the county.
Shepherding new philanthropic projects is only one major activity for Berkshire Taconic. Another is helping to strengthen already existing nonprofits. Dowley says, “We strengthen nonprofit groups by helping the boards, volunteers and staff learn to think strategically, govern effectively, and operate efficiently.” To do so, the organization sponsors workshops on a wide variety of issues, such as board development and fundraising. They can recommend new board members or consultants. They can help ease the transition when there is a change in leadership within an organization. And they can help establish partnerships among nonprofits. And more. Much, much more.
Helping Berkshire Taconic carry out its mission are 525 committee members who volunteer to serve on over 70 committees awarding grants. If 525 volunteers sounds like a lot, consider that in 2013 Berkshire Taconic gave $8 million in grants to over 3,500 individuals and nonprofit organizations. Since Berkshire Taconic was formed in 1987, $124 million has been awarded in grants.
The breadth of help offered through Berkshire Taconic is about as broad as the array of needs in the area. That assistance ranges from executive education to assistance in paying medical bills. For example, the organization offers two programs from the Harvard Business School on an annual basis. They pay the tuition for two CEOs and two board chairs, a service that is having a big impact on local organizations.
They offer seminars for members of boards in the counties they represent. These seminars can be on leadership or fund raising or other issues of significance to nonprofits.
So how does Berkshire Taconic pay for all of the assistance they provide? Last year they had $118 million in total assets. Fifty percent of these assets is endowed, meaning those moneys are dedicated to long-term investment in communities. The Berkshire Taconic board makes annual decisions about what percentage of their funds can be spent based on the economy and their mission. For example, in 2014 the organization allotted $445,000 in scholarships. Since its inception in 1987, Berkshire Taconic has awarded $1.8 million in neighbor-to-neighbor grants.
Berkshire County has more nonprofit organizations than most other areas of its size, partly because there was a larger population here when Berkshire Taconic started. But even today, with a loss of population, the arts and cultural sphere draws significant support partly on the strength of the summer tourist season. But given the population shrinkage of the recent decade, Berkshire Taconic is helping nonprofits with compatible missions to merge.
Organizations interested in financial help from Berkshire Taconic must submit a grant application that addresses the nature of the program, a suitable budget, and an assessment of the impact it will have on the community. Organizations can apply on line, or talk to the staff who can help if the applicant has never done a budget.
Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation is a model of “user-friendly.” The breadth of programs is wide, the staff is engaged, and its effects on community life are long-lasting. It is a community gift that keeps on giving.
