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Chatham 300 Gift Kick Starts Endowment Initiative

Local fund established to address long term needs of the community

Inspired to do something about the challenges facing their community, a group of Chatham residents created a new community endowment program – The Chatham Fund – in partnership with the Cape Cod Foundation. Established as a permanent endowment, their mission is to raise funds and give grants that will help lessen the burdens impacting the local community.

As its first official order of business, The Chatham Fund will award $3,500 to Monomoy Community Outreach Services, a grant made possible by two generous legacy gifts from the Chatham 300 committee earlier this month. These gifts give The Chatham Fund an opportunity to have an immediate impact as they continue fund raising efforts to create a permanent, sustainable endowment. When that goal is reached, the Fund will be able to award local grants annually, in perpetuity.

“The Chatham Fund award comes at a perfect time,” said Theresa Malone, Executive Director of Monomoy Community Services. “Last year, we lost funding for an early childhood scholarship (The Roger Pollock scholarship), and although we did have some benefactors come forward, it wasn’t enough to create an endowment. Now – along with private contributions – The Chatham Fund award will serve to resurrect this much needed resource.”

To date, The Chatham Fund has received a total of approximately $200,000 in pledges and gifts and continues to seek funds from private Chatham donors. The Chatham Fund also intends to grow through planned gifts and bequests as opposed to the usual annual appeals which serve other organizations.

Simultaneously, the Chatham residents who established the Fund are dedicated to working cooperatively with other local non-profits with similar missions to address community needs.
“It’s important that we aren’t viewed as a competitor to other local non-profits,” said Chris Rhinesmith, Chairman of The Chatham Fund Advisory Committee. “We are here to support, not to compete. We bring another approach to community fund raising that we believe will yield a perpetual pool of assets moving forward, to address the needs of Chatham’s residents from generation to generation.”

Being part of the Cape Cod Foundation brings other advantages to an endowment fund in the local community. By providing professional investment management and administrative services, The Chatham Fund can focus on fundraising and grantmaking. Grants will be reviewed and awarded annually at the end of the calendar year.
Gifts to The Chatham Fund can be designated for either endowment or grantmaking. For more information, contact The Chatham Fund at the Cape Cod Foundation: 508-790-3040 or info@capecodfoundation.org.

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Cape Cod Foundation
508.790.3040
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South Yarmouth, MA 02664
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