Historic ‘Community Chest’ Organization
Resumes Local Grantmaking

(June 29, 2009)  The Community Chest of New Britain and Berlin, Inc., which announced its re-formation earlier this year, has officially ‘opened its doors’ to local grantmaking and is accepting applications from qualified local nonprofits through August 1 for the first of two planned rounds of grants this year. The deadline for the second round will be October 1. 

The Community Chest was formed late last year after the organization’s Board of Directors voted to separate from the Harford-based United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut, resume its original name and affiliate with the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain. Under the new grant guidelines adopted by the Chest’s 14-member Board, the Community Chest will make grant awards twice in 2009, in September and December.  Beginning 2010 and thereafter, grants will be awarded in June and December.  Grant awards will typically range from $5,000 to $20,000 depending on the scope and type of project and will total approximately $120,000 annually.

Community Chest Board Chair Lucinda Antonacci said the organization will continue its tradition of supporting programs in the health and human service area and will consider requests for program grants, general operating support and seed grants for new programs.

“The Community Chest Board looks forward to fulfilling the organization’s longstanding history of support to our community’s most vital nonprofit organizations,” said Antonacci, who also serves as vice president of Farmington Savings Bank.

Grant guidelines are available from the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain, which provides administrative assistance and investment management services to the Community Chest. As a ‘supporting organization’ of the Community Foundation, the Chest functions as a separate 501(c) 3 nonprofit corporation and enjoys complete independence in their grant making.

The Community Chest’s roots date back to 1919, when the first-ever annual ‘Community Chest’ drive collected $27,500 in support of local social service programs. Suspended during the Depression years, the Community Chest resumed its so-called ‘Red Feather’ drives in 1939. That campaign raised $120,396 and was recognized as the most successful in the country that year for collecting 20 percent above its goal of $100K.

Since that time, the Community Chest has continued to serve the community under various identities.  In 1981, it merged with the Community Council to form an organization called United Community Services, later renamed the United Way of New Britain and Berlin, Inc. Six years later, it became an affiliate organization of the United Way of the Capital Area. This latest chapter began last year when the United Way of America changed its membership requirements and no longer recognized affiliate relationships between larger and smaller United Ways. Faced with a loss of independence, the Board chose to revert back to its former identity as the Community Chest of New Britain and Berlin, Inc., and became a supporting organization of the Community Foundation.  

In addition to the grants that will be awarded in September, the Community Chest has already committed $20,000 this year to New Britain’s new Osgood Avenue Food and Resource Center.  Grants totaling $38,000 were also made late last year to support the Well-Managed Classroom initiative in three New Britain middle schools, and to help expand HRA’s (Human Resource Agency of New Britain, Inc.) annual Earned Income Tax Credit/Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program for low-income residents. 

The Community Chest has a long-standing relationship with the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain, which was first incorporated in 1941 as the New Britain Foundation for Public Giving. In fact, the New Britain Foundation for Public Giving was organized – in part – to provide a ‘safety net’ for the Annual Community Chest Campaign in hard economic times.  Furthermore, the Community Chest Executive Director also served as the “Secretary” to the New Britain Foundation for Public Giving’s Distribution Committee.  That arrangement lasted until the New Britain Foundation hired its own staff person in the late 1980s. 

The two organizations also shared a building at one time, an aspect of the relationship that is a reality once more. Although the Community Chest has no paid staff of its own, the Board holds its meetings at the Community Foundation offices on Vine Street and sports a brand new sign in front of that building.

“We are so pleased to welcome the Community Chest of New Britain and Berlin into the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain’s family of funds,” said Community Foundation President Jim Williamson. “We are honored to assist the Community Chest so that it may continue to grow and thrive as an important community asset into the future.” 

For more information about the Community Chest of New Britain and Berlin, Inc., contact the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain at 860-229-6018. Click  here for grant guidelines or contact Joeline Wruck, Director of Program, at ext. 307 or via jwruck@cfgnb.org.

About the Community Chest of New Britain and Berlin, Inc.
Known as the ‘Community Chest’ since its founding in 1919, and most recently as the United Way of New Britain and Berlin, the Community Chest of New Britain and Berlin is now a supporting organization of the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain. Under this new legal structure, a local and independent Board of Directors will continue to identify and invest resources in programs and initiatives that benefit the New Britain and Berlin communities.

Pictured above: The Community Chest of New Britain and Berlin, Inc.’s Board of Directors gather around their new sign, evidence that the Chest is ‘open for grantmaking.’  From left are: Vice-Chair Alex Johnson, Treasurer Bill Schuch, Mike Bartley, Bill Carroll, Donna Lasher, Sue Venberg, Carol Zesut, Secretary Enrique Juncadella, Barbara Kirejczyk, David Davison, and Chair Lucinda Antonacci. Not in photo are Board members Paul D’Addabbo, James Jones and Carlos Morales.

About the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain
The Community Foundation of Greater New Britain connects donors who care with causes that matter in Berlin, New Britain, Plainville and Southington. Established in 1941, the Community Foundation raises resources and develops partnerships that make a measurable improvement in the quality of life in each of these communities. For more information, please visit www.cfgnb.org or call 860-229-6018.