The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving has recently established the Greater Together Community Fund designed to benefit 29 Connecticut towns, Suffield among them. An advisory committee has been appointed whose role is to work with the Foundation in making decisions about how the money should be distributed. At this point each town’s fund contains a total of $100,000; half of that amount is intended for an outright grant, and the other half is to be invested, and a percentage reserved for future use.
Proposals for use of the funds are required by the Foundation; information about proposals can be found on its website. A major goal, from the Foundation’s point of view, is to encourage town residents to donate privately to the fund, with gifts to be channeled and distributed along with those funds mentioned above, through the Foundation’s administrative structure. The advantage to individual donors of this method of giving is that the Foundation manages the funds, observes all legal restrictions involving the gifts, and ensures that decisions about the use of the grants are arrived at in a democratic and transparent way.
The advisory committee members from the town of Suffield are Alice Arden, Lauren Carey, Gary Gudinkas, Carol Sue Scott, Pinki Shah, Jack Shanks, Michael Welch, John Woods, and Sasha Zatyrka. Every attempt has been made to represent all constituencies in Suffield so that all segments of the community have access to the process.