Erie Community foundation.
Erie Playhouse. The Erie Zoo. Mercyhurst College. The Lake Erie Arboretum. Even Edinboro University itself.
Besides being in Erie County, what's something else these cultural institutions have in common?
They've all been enriched beyond measure by the non-profit organization known as the Erie Community Foundation (ECF). You might have never heard of it, but there is no doubt you've experienced something it is responsible for.
If you've ever enjoyed a concert at the Erie Philharmonic or a production at the Erie Playhouse, consider yourself among the many touched by ECF's influence.
The Erie Community Foundation is a charitable endowment fund, a "collection of charitable endowments operating under the administrative umbrella of a single public charity," according to their Web site.
And how did this all get started?
You can thank the co-founder of the Boston Store (which now serves as the home of radio stations, apartments and the Under the Clock restaurant), Elisha H. Mack. His charitable endowment fund helped local philanthropy through 1969, when the tax reform act created further distinctions between private foundations and public charities.
So, to keep the spirit of the efforts up, Mack's fund became a public charity, and the Erie Community Foundation was born in 1971.
It is one of only 700 like it across the country. And of that 700, only 260 have earned the National Standards Seal awarded for having "attained the highest standards in grant making, integrity and accountability."
ECF President Michael Batchelor is aided by a Council of Advisors that reads like a who's-who of Erie citizens. State Senator Jane Earll, Barbara Lechner and John Elliott are among the 26 names on the council.
In 2007 alone, the Erie Community Foundation was able to distribute $500,000 in scholarship grants. This in addition to disbursing 1,321 grants of its own that came to a total of a whopping $7.6 million.
The Erie Community Foundation has been much involved with the debate over whether Erie County would benefit from a community college. In order to best investigate that need, they helped set up the Gaps Analysis Steering Committee, whose mission is to (with the help of a consultant from Workforce Development) "analyze regional occupational demands and workforce supply. Solutions to fill gaps, where discovered, will eventually be proposed." People such as Erie County Executive Mark DiVecchio and Crawford County Commissioner Morris Waid are on this committee.
Then there is Schuster Day, which was started by Bill and Fran Schuster with the estate of William Schuster, the founder of Warren Radio, in 1998. The estate gave a list of Schuster's favorite 14 local charities, all of which he wished to help in some form or another.
And what better way to do that than with the Erie Community Foundation?
To make sure that the money given to these 14 charities (which include the American Red Cross and Humane Society) Schuster also requested that the ECF have them submit proposals each year, outlining what they planned to do with their allotted funds.
Schuster Day, while an event with serious intentions, is always celebrated joyously. At 2009's Schuster Day, young actors from the Erie Playhouse performed songs from the musicals "Willy Wonka" and "Gepetto."
The Erie Community Foundation also has a large number of scholarships it assists. Each year by Feb. 15, the applications are available at high schools and colleges across the county.
While the specifics differ from scholarship to scholarship, each of them ensures that someone deserving is granted the money they need to seek an education, something that is becoming harder and harder to do in this troubled economy.
They run the gamut of the alphabet, from the "Academy High School Class of '61" to the "Yaple-Kerr Scholarship."
There are smaller community foundations that the ECF also brushes upon, including those for nearby Corry and North East, as well as Findley Lake and Union City.
The Erie Playhouse, one of the leading community theaters in the nation, benefits immensely from the ECF. The playhouse provides some of the best acting in the region, time and time again, and is the pride of Erie theater scene.
"Over the past 10 years, we've been the recipient of over $150,000 in grants from the foundation for various improvement projects, sometimes emergency ones and equipment purchases," said Charles Corritone, their business manager, via e-mail.
"We couldn't exist without the aid of the foundation each year," he added.
Similarly, the Erie Philharmonic has illuminated the region with some of the most talented musicians to be found for miles. As Eric Borenstein, the executor director of the philharmonic explained, the ECF "has been a generous funder for much of...its history."
"They have provided $185,000 to implement such projects as technology upgrades, new instruments, marketing campaigns, concerts for families and education programs," said Borenstein. But that's not the end of it.
Each year numerous individuals direct contributions to the Erie Philharmonic through donor-designated funds they established at the Erie Community Foundation," Borenstein also said of the ECF's contributions.
Ever stopped into the Blasco Library on the bayfront to pick up a book? If so, you've been affected by the ECF.
"The Erie Community Foundation has been very supportive of the Erie County Public Library and its foundation by holding and investing money the library received from the estate of Dr. Raymond Blasco,"?said Michelle L. Sanson, development consultant at the Erie County Public Library Foundation. "Dr. Blasco left his estate entrusted to the library foundation, but we lacked the skills to invest and grow it as an endowment, which the Erie Community Foundation was able to do. That money is now helping us build our different branches-the one in Edinboro, our Iroquois branch and the newest, which will be located in Fairview Township. The Erie Community Foundation also holds and invests money for our book and materials endowment."
And anyone that's seen the new libraries in Edinboro or out by the Millcreek Mall will know that's money well spent.
In fact, on May 19, 2008, the Erie Community Foundation gave $1.5 million dollars to the West County Library Branch project. The library is still in the process of being built in Fairview Township, but, when it opens, it should be a state-of-the-art institution.
And a lot of that is thanks to efforts of the ECF.
"We make grants to non-profits all over Erie County," sais Batchelor, the president of ECF when asked about the relationship between the university and the ECF.
He also shared the current intents of the foundation and their proudest accomplishments to date.
"(We're) focusing on poverty and trying to highlight that in the community specifically," he said, making mention of the importance of the roles of "increase access to healthcare, to early childhood education, workforce training" indicating that with these things hiked up, "poverty goes down."
He also spoke of the three year gift made by the "anonymous donor," chronicled by national news outlets when it word of it broke in 2007. A $100 million gift was pledged in October of that year, being designated in $2 million intervals. At the time of its donation, Batchelor expressed the desire for the fund to be used to create endowments.
2009 marks the year distribution was slated to begin. Part of that money the anonymous donor granted was also set aside for Edinboro University, as well as Mercyhurst College. Other groups that received grants from this donor were the St. Paul's Neighborhood Free Clinic and the Mercy Center For Women.
APRIL 24, 2009
Besides being in Erie County, what's something else these cultural institutions have in common?
They've all been enriched beyond measure by the non-profit organization known as the Erie Community Foundation (ECF). You might have never heard of it, but there is no doubt you've experienced something it is responsible for.
If you've ever enjoyed a concert at the Erie Philharmonic or a production at the Erie Playhouse, consider yourself among the many touched by ECF's influence.
The Erie Community Foundation is a charitable endowment fund, a "collection of charitable endowments operating under the administrative umbrella of a single public charity," according to their Web site.
And how did this all get started?
You can thank the co-founder of the Boston Store (which now serves as the home of radio stations, apartments and the Under the Clock restaurant), Elisha H. Mack. His charitable endowment fund helped local philanthropy through 1969, when the tax reform act created further distinctions between private foundations and public charities.
So, to keep the spirit of the efforts up, Mack's fund became a public charity, and the Erie Community Foundation was born in 1971.
It is one of only 700 like it across the country. And of that 700, only 260 have earned the National Standards Seal awarded for having "attained the highest standards in grant making, integrity and accountability."
ECF President Michael Batchelor is aided by a Council of Advisors that reads like a who's-who of Erie citizens. State Senator Jane Earll, Barbara Lechner and John Elliott are among the 26 names on the council.
In 2007 alone, the Erie Community Foundation was able to distribute $500,000 in scholarship grants. This in addition to disbursing 1,321 grants of its own that came to a total of a whopping $7.6 million.
The Erie Community Foundation has been much involved with the debate over whether Erie County would benefit from a community college. In order to best investigate that need, they helped set up the Gaps Analysis Steering Committee, whose mission is to (with the help of a consultant from Workforce Development) "analyze regional occupational demands and workforce supply. Solutions to fill gaps, where discovered, will eventually be proposed." People such as Erie County Executive Mark DiVecchio and Crawford County Commissioner Morris Waid are on this committee.
Then there is Schuster Day, which was started by Bill and Fran Schuster with the estate of William Schuster, the founder of Warren Radio, in 1998. The estate gave a list of Schuster's favorite 14 local charities, all of which he wished to help in some form or another.
And what better way to do that than with the Erie Community Foundation?
To make sure that the money given to these 14 charities (which include the American Red Cross and Humane Society) Schuster also requested that the ECF have them submit proposals each year, outlining what they planned to do with their allotted funds.
Schuster Day, while an event with serious intentions, is always celebrated joyously. At 2009's Schuster Day, young actors from the Erie Playhouse performed songs from the musicals "Willy Wonka" and "Gepetto."
The Erie Community Foundation also has a large number of scholarships it assists. Each year by Feb. 15, the applications are available at high schools and colleges across the county.
While the specifics differ from scholarship to scholarship, each of them ensures that someone deserving is granted the money they need to seek an education, something that is becoming harder and harder to do in this troubled economy.
They run the gamut of the alphabet, from the "Academy High School Class of '61" to the "Yaple-Kerr Scholarship."
There are smaller community foundations that the ECF also brushes upon, including those for nearby Corry and North East, as well as Findley Lake and Union City.
The Erie Playhouse, one of the leading community theaters in the nation, benefits immensely from the ECF. The playhouse provides some of the best acting in the region, time and time again, and is the pride of Erie theater scene.
"Over the past 10 years, we've been the recipient of over $150,000 in grants from the foundation for various improvement projects, sometimes emergency ones and equipment purchases," said Charles Corritone, their business manager, via e-mail.
"We couldn't exist without the aid of the foundation each year," he added.
Similarly, the Erie Philharmonic has illuminated the region with some of the most talented musicians to be found for miles. As Eric Borenstein, the executor director of the philharmonic explained, the ECF "has been a generous funder for much of...its history."
"They have provided $185,000 to implement such projects as technology upgrades, new instruments, marketing campaigns, concerts for families and education programs," said Borenstein. But that's not the end of it.
Each year numerous individuals direct contributions to the Erie Philharmonic through donor-designated funds they established at the Erie Community Foundation," Borenstein also said of the ECF's contributions.
Ever stopped into the Blasco Library on the bayfront to pick up a book? If so, you've been affected by the ECF.
"The Erie Community Foundation has been very supportive of the Erie County Public Library and its foundation by holding and investing money the library received from the estate of Dr. Raymond Blasco,"?said Michelle L. Sanson, development consultant at the Erie County Public Library Foundation. "Dr. Blasco left his estate entrusted to the library foundation, but we lacked the skills to invest and grow it as an endowment, which the Erie Community Foundation was able to do. That money is now helping us build our different branches-the one in Edinboro, our Iroquois branch and the newest, which will be located in Fairview Township. The Erie Community Foundation also holds and invests money for our book and materials endowment."
And anyone that's seen the new libraries in Edinboro or out by the Millcreek Mall will know that's money well spent.
In fact, on May 19, 2008, the Erie Community Foundation gave $1.5 million dollars to the West County Library Branch project. The library is still in the process of being built in Fairview Township, but, when it opens, it should be a state-of-the-art institution.
And a lot of that is thanks to efforts of the ECF.
"We make grants to non-profits all over Erie County," sais Batchelor, the president of ECF when asked about the relationship between the university and the ECF.
He also shared the current intents of the foundation and their proudest accomplishments to date.
"(We're) focusing on poverty and trying to highlight that in the community specifically," he said, making mention of the importance of the roles of "increase access to healthcare, to early childhood education, workforce training" indicating that with these things hiked up, "poverty goes down."
He also spoke of the three year gift made by the "anonymous donor," chronicled by national news outlets when it word of it broke in 2007. A $100 million gift was pledged in October of that year, being designated in $2 million intervals. At the time of its donation, Batchelor expressed the desire for the fund to be used to create endowments.
2009 marks the year distribution was slated to begin. Part of that money the anonymous donor granted was also set aside for Edinboro University, as well as Mercyhurst College. Other groups that received grants from this donor were the St. Paul's Neighborhood Free Clinic and the Mercy Center For Women.
APRIL 24, 2009
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