Yearly Archives: 2018

The Cambridge Community Foundation adds financial experts, philanthropic leaders to Board of Directors September 26, 2018 Cambridge, MA The Cambridge Community Foundation (CCF) has appointed four financial experts and philanthropic leaders to its Board of Directors and announced new co-chairs for its Professional Advisors Council, effective this fall. New Board members include Daniel S. Kern, Chief Investment Officer & shareholder with TFC Financial Management, Inc.; Marla Felcher, Co-Founder of The Philanthropy Connection, marketing professor, and investigative journalist; Winifred Lenihan, Vice President for Development at WGBH; and Katie Walker, Senior Vice President and Sales Executive at U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management, who is an Appointed Trustee with CCF.  New Co-Chairs of the Professional Advisors Council are Judith Cranna, Vice President at Eaton Vance Investment Counsel and Beth Milkovits, Relationship Manager in the Private Banking group at Brown Brothers Harriman in Boston. The CCF Board of Directors oversees community impact for the Foundation, signing off on two rounds of grants to local nonprofit organizations each year from the Community Fund. CCF and its donors awarded $1.43 Million in grants last year. The Board and Professional Advisors Council also help the CCF build the Cambridge Endowment through donor engagement [...]

Marla Felcher joins CCF Board of Directors This summer Marla Felcher joined our Board of Directors, and shortly after she traveled to McAllen, Texas with Grannies Respond/Abuelas Respond to learn first-hand what’s happening at the border with hundreds of detained immigrants, many of whom are asylum-seeking families and children.  That’s just who Marla is. Marla comes to us with an impressive resume.  She co-founded The Philanthropy Connection, a women’s grantmaking organization, and has worked as a marketing professor, investigative journalist, marketing consultant, and consumer advocate. She’s taught at Northwestern University, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and UMass-Boston’s McCormack School of Policy Studies. In November, she’ll be teaching a course at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education on philanthropy. Throughout her busy career, she’s served on boards of organizations working to make a difference in people’s lives.  She recently confessed that she loved teaching, but what she loved even more was working with non-profit leaders. Now, being on our board is part of her new full-time job, and we’re delighted to have her. We wanted to introduce you. Why did you join the Cambridge Community Foundation board? When I stepped down from The Philanthropy Connection, I realized I had spare [...]

New murals will make Central Square an open gallery for everyone By Jeffrey Blackwell Cambridge Community Foundation Correspondent On a blistering-hot afternoon in Central Square an eager group of residents, business owners and curious passersby gathered in Lafayette Square Park for a neighborhood tour of seemingly nothing more than the weathered brick and cement walls of 10 area buildings. But even on this extremely humid August day, the crowd of about 100 people was charged with enthusiasm. What they were anxiously waiting to see was not just walls, but future canvases for the Central Square Mural Project. “Art is an important medium and we live in Boston where we have no shortage of institutions where people can experience fine art,” said Michael Monestime, executive director of the Central Square Business Association (CSBA) and the tour guide. “It’s important that art be accessible, and through this mural project we will be creating an open gallery right here in Central Square.” Michael Monestime leads a tour of 10 mural sights in the neighborhood. This fall, a group of 10 artists from Cambridge and Boston will transform the highly-visible building walls into abstract and interpretative murals in celebration of the [...]

Nonprofit Spotlight Inside CommonWealth Kitchen: Q&A with Executive Director Jen Faigel By Elie Levine Cambridge Community Foundation Intern As home to the most innovative square mile on the planet, we Cantabrigians know all about incubation, but in our city the term isn’t restricted to the tech industry.  Think food. Jen Faigel, co-founder and Executive Director of CommonWealth Kitchen, is making big strides in food-biz innovation through Greater Boston’s first shared kitchen and business incubator space. CommonWealth Kitchen has helped launch more than 200 food companies, the majority of which are owned by women, minorities, low income residents and immigrants.  This year, the Cambridge Community Foundation gave seed money to CommonWealth Kitchen to help create a new lunch-time retail business incubation space in Kendall Square. We caught up with Jen at the opening of The Dining Car on Athenaeum Street to learn more about incubating food startups in Cambridge and the impact on business owners and our community.  Here’s what we learned: What does CommonWealth Kitchen do and what’s the impact locally? We are not only Greater Boston’s food and business incubator and food manufacturing enterprise, we are also an economic development organization focused on asset building and wealth creation [...]