11/12/2019
Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan (CFNEM) and its affiliate foundations, including the Iosco County Community Foundation, will join in a nationwide celebration, November 12-18, 2019, to recognize the increasingly important role these philanthropic organizations play in fostering local collaboration and innovation to address persistent civic and economic challenges.
For more than a century, community foundations have served as a trusted partner and resource whose effect can be seen in the lives of millions and in the vibrant neighborhoods that continue to thrive through their mission-driven work. During this time, community foundations come together to share and reflect on the stories of impact over the past year.
“The work of community foundations’ spans beyond the practice of giving. There is a tangible impact that can be seen in the lives of those these selfless organizations serve,” said Patrick Heraghty, CFNEM 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 and represent one of the fastest-growing forms of philanthropy.
Right here in northeast Michigan, CFNEM is working alongside other community foundations bordering Lake Huron through the Great Lakes One Water Initiative to improve and ensure the health of our lake, which affects so much of our daily lives. We area also serving as a hub for nonprofits for the 2020 U.S. Census to increase our region’s chances of a fair and accurate count. This effort will affect all of northeast Michigan for the next decade and beyond. This is in addition to more than $1.5 million in annual grants and scholarships invested right here in our local nonprofits and with our students.
Community Foundation Week was created in 1989 by former president George H.W. Bush to recognize the work of community foundations throughout America and their collaborative approach to working with the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to address community problems.
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The Community Foundation is a charitable organization committed to providing people who care about the future of our area with unique and effective ways of supporting their community now, and for generations to come. Led by a volunteer board of local citizens, the foundation oversees a group of permanently endowed funds from a wide range of donors. Gifts of all sizes from individuals, families, businesses and agencies are invested in a balanced, well-managed portfolio to build endowments, enabling support for students and local community nonprofits now and forever.
