Our Mission

Since 1947 the Concord-Carlisle Community Chest has strengthened our community by raising money and giving responsibly to a broad range of human service organizations. This year we allocated more than $500,000 to agencies and programs that provide services for our youngest to oldest citizens of Concord and Carlisle.

Funds are raised through our annual community campaign, special events, and bequests. Money raised is distributed through an allocations process that ensures donations go to those who most need your support. Annually, members of the Board of Directors and community representatives form allocation teams. Each team visits four or five of the agencies we fund as well as those making requests for the first time. This stringent review process ensures that professional and efficient services are provided. Some organizations such as the American Red Cross and the Girls Scouts have been members of the Community Chest for decades. Others, such as the Domestic Violence Victims Assistance Program and Concord Recreation Summer Camp scholarships, are recent grant recipients responding to current community needs.

To see how the Community Chest makes a difference in our towns, take a look at our video, “A Tradition of Giving.” Copies are available at the Concord and Carlisle public libraries or send us an email with your mailing address and we will loan you a copy.

When you give where you live, you can see your donation at work. Your one contribution supports agencies and programs that offer a broad range of community services – family and individual counseling, legal assistance, job retraining, support for domestic violence victims, adult respite care, preschool scholarships, parenting support, adoption services, substance abuse prevention, adolescent program and so much more.

Beginning in January, the Community Chest accepts proposals from member agencies and other organizations committed to meeting human service needs in Concord and Carlisle in the coming year.

In addition to supporting member agencies financially, the Community Chest serves as a catalyst for community collaboration. We provide technical assistance in the areas of fundraising, public relations, and long-range planning. New ideas and initiatives are always welcome. We pride ourselves on both our tradition of caring and our responsiveness to the ever-changing needs of our community.

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Organization

2007-2008 Board of Directors

The Board of Directors sets the priorities and policies for the Community Chest. Members direct the annual community fund raising campaign and approve all appropriations to member agencies.

Executive Committee Amy Jane Newell President Beth Knauss 1st Vice President John R. Hickling 2nd Vice President Linda L. Escobedo Clerk Janet Rhodes Friedman Treasurer

Board Members Robert Asher Penny Austen Mark Bamford Nicole Kelly Valerie Kolligian Thayer Barrett LaMothe Ladd Sarah B. Newton Patty Popov Edward Prewitt Dale Ryder Alys Scott Adam Winstanley James J. Zimmerman

Board of Overseers

Established in 1997, the Board of Overseers approves nominations to the Board of Directors and provides ongoing support and advice.

Barbara Anthony Elizabeth Berk Peter Blum Elaine Bonoma Ellen Campbell Jon Cappetta Dan Cassidy Luanne Cordeau Jane Coutre Laurie Diercks John Ehlers Jean Ford Webb Elizabeth Holmes Barbara Howland Mary Hult Mary Johnson Barrie King

Paul Kugler Carrie Leggett Bert Lesneski Karen Long Fred Lovejoy Andy Mahoney Kate McCandless Tomkinson David Murphree Ned Perry Faith Pulis George Reichenbach Patti Satterthwaite Currier Smith Sharon Spaulding John Spring Lee Storrs Dyan Urban

Staff

A part-time staff with the equivalent of one full-time and one half-time position manages day-to-day operation of the Community Chest. The executive director and associate director share responsibility for coordinating fund raising, public relations and services to member agencies.

Astrid Williams Executive Director Stephanie Parish Associate Director

Debbie Andreson Administrator Cynthia Wood Bookkeeper

Finances

2006 Campaign Summary

Each year from October 1 through December 31 the Community Chest conducts an Annual campaign that is the foundation of the funding we provide member agencies. By far, our most significant source of revenue is direct contributions from residents of Concord and Carlisle. During our most recent Annual Campaign, 23 percent of all households made a contribution.

Many residents contribute via donations at work through a United Way or other workplace-giving program. The Community Chest also receives contributions from members of our Business Alliance. These local businesses participate through direct gifts, special events and in-kind services.

Who Benefits from Your Donation

Funding By Stage of Life	Funding By Primary Need

 

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Campaign Revenue
Household Contributions	$596,977
Business Contributions	$35,936
Workplace Giving (United Way/Combined Federal Appeal)	$25,303
Total Campaign Revenue	$658,216
Special Event Revenue	$20,834
Total Revenue	$679,050
Allocations
Allocations to Agencies	$515,625
Special Cornerstone Allocations	$2,800
Special Allocations	$163
Program Management	$19,700
Total Allocations	$538,288
Community Chest Expenses
Fundraising	$59,360
Administration	$46,294
Total Expenses	$105,654

Note: These figures are unaudited. For a copy of our audited financial statement, please contact the Community Chest office.

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History

Fifty years ago, if you didn't donate to the Community Chest, a neighbor would come knocking at your door. For 10 days during October citizens fanned out across town in search of funds to service those in need. It took such a spirited sense of community to create the Concord Community Chest in 1947.

Winthrop Lee, one of the four founding members, recalls it was Morgan Smith who had the idea to break away from the regional Red Feather Campaign, the predecessor to the United Way. Red Feather balked at Concord's forming its own group, but the local leaders could not be dissuaded. Past Board president Mary Johnson, whose husband was a founder, said accountability was a key reason for the change. 'When you gave locally you knew where your money was going,' she says. In the end, Red Feather became one of the seven agencies funded by the Concord Community Chest that first year. Lee says Emerson Hospital was the primary beneficiary, receiving 88 percent of the funds.

Once Concord was on its own, the fund- raising campaign generated a groundswell of grassroots enthusiasm. With military-like precision canvassers were organized into neighborhood teams. Boy Scouts tacked up posters featuring the now familiar Community Chest Minute Man on utility poles all around town.

The logo, like the organization, has withstood the test of time. It was researched, designed and painted by Mary Ogden Abbott, a Concord artist, who lived in the Daniel Chester French house on Sudbury Road. Originally, founders considered using a photograph of French's Minute Man statue. Abbott's design was intended to be historically accurate with the farmer's gun at the ready and his weight thrown into the plow. His labor for the benefit of the community was meant to typify the spirit of the Community Chest that everyone is working for the benefit of all.

The early campaigns were buoyed by the local newspapers. In 1948 The Concord Journal banner was turned into the group of people pulling the plowing Minute Man toward the fund-raising goal. A column, 'Chest Chatter' announced events and happenings and each agency published its own description of it services in the K.Y.C.C. - Know Your Community Chest.

Over the years needs have changes and agencies have come and gone. Carlisle joined with the Concord Community Chest in 1968, just about the same time that the regional high school was graduating its first class.

The design of the campaign brochures themselves has gone from the sedate 1950s, through the flashy '70s (a bright green flyer with a line drawing doubled as a kitchen wall decoration), to the more graphically sophisticated '90s. Through it all the Community Chest has maintained it s primary mission as neighbors helping neighbors.

In recent years the Chest has become a catalyst for community problem-solving. One example is the promotion of teen activities and parent education following a community-wide assessment that identified unmet needs in these areas.

Mary Johnson, reflecting on five decades of service says, "At the beginning the Chest was real homespun. It's come a long way, but there remains a vital community connection. It's proactive, dynamic, it is right out there all the time."

This history of the Community Chest, written by Richard Fahlander, first appeared in a somewhat different form in The Concord Journal.

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