SOUTH YARMOUTH—The Cape Cod Foundation was established in 1989 with a single asset, a $10,000 scholarship fund. Now entering its 35th Anniversary Year, the community foundation manages 330 individual funds and reports assets of more than $100 million. It has also reached another major milestone since inception by distributing more than $100 million back into the community through scholarships to local students and grants to nonprofit organizations serving residents across Cape Cod.
“Many factors have contributed to the Foundation’s growth,” said President and CEO Kristin O’Malley, “including strategic planning and fiscal management, long-term gains in the stock market, extensive fundraising efforts, and the ongoing stewardship of partnerships with individual donors who established funds with the Foundation to advance their charitable giving and with those who want to support our civic leadership initiatives through collective giving.”
O’Malley said the Foundation invests its time, energy, and discretionary resources into large-scale community projects, strategic partnerships with broad regional impact, powerful funder collaboratives, shared resources, scholarships for many educational paths, and wraparound support for the nonprofit sector, including programs, capacity-building initiatives, leadership development, workshops, trainings, and technical assistance.
She said recent initiatives include the creation of a Strategic Emergency Response Fund in 2020 to raise more than $5.67 million for immediate pandemic relief and recovery and The Women and Girls Fund in 2022 to build a $1 million endowment by the end of 2027. To date, the Foundation has raised $435,000 and distributed $100,000 in grants to support nine nonprofit organizations providing critical resources and opportunities to the women and girls in the community.
In 2021/2022, the Foundation hosted a series of community forums to share information about the region’s current needs, resources, and opportunities for engagement. Since 2016, the Foundation has also helped to steward a local funders’ collaborative that has collectively contributed over $570,000 to offset tuition costs for more than 150 local nonprofit leaders to participate in the award-winning Core Certificate program through the Institute for Nonprofit Practice.
“Our plans for this milestone year include the launch of a major community challenge to build flexible resources to support all aspects of community life, a fun retrospective of the Foundation’s first 35 years, and several surprises to celebrate the donors, community partners, and nonprofit organizations who have contributed to the Foundation’s and community’s growth and success,” O’Malley added.
For more information about The Cape Cod Foundation, visit www.capecodfoundation.org or call 508.790.3040.
The Cape Cod Foundation is a community foundation whose mission is to build permanent charitable resources for community betterment through informed grantmaking and civic leadership. It was founded in 1989 and is celebrating its 35th Anniversary this year. Since inception, the Foundation has distributed more than $100 million in grants and scholarships. www.capecodfoundation.org
