Why We Give: CW Resources
CW Resources, Inc., is a private, nonprofit vocational rehabilitation agency serving the needs of persons with disabilities
and the socioeconomically challenged. Founded in 1964 in New Britain as the “Constructive Workshop,” the enterprise now has centers throughout Connecticut offering a myriad of employment and training opportunities to individuals in Connecticut and parts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Among the many programs and opportunities CW Resources offers are supported employment and individual job placement; employment evaluation and assessment; school-to-work programs; food service; assembly, packaging and product consolidation; dry food processing and packaging; supported living; commercial janitorial services; residential and commercial landscaping; bottle and can redemption; day service options and individualized extended day services; and fleet management, among others.
CW Resources has been the recipient of numerous national and state awards for providing meaningful vocational services and employment opportunities to persons with disabilities. More than 850 clients are served every year.
In 1998, CW Resources established the CW Resources Fund at the Community Foundation as an investment in its own future. CW Resources is a perfect example of a nonprofit enterprise taking advantage of the resources of the Community Foundation to ensure its long-term stability, viability and growth. Ron Buccilli, Psy.D., president, talks about CW Resources and working with the Community Foundation…..
Q. Talk about CW Resources and the important role it plays in the community.
A. CW Resources was started by a group of concerned citizens who believed that persons with disabilities needed a venue at which they could both learn work skills and actually work. 
At that time it was primarily persons with physical disabilities, but we have grown to serve a much wider population today.
We’ve grown from a small organization serving 30 individuals in a Quonset hut on Slater Road in New Britain to a multi-dimensional, $25 million a year, regional enterprise providing opportunities to more than 800 individuals. Our Meals-on-Wheels program alone feeds 3,000 people a day.
Q. How does CW Resources sustain itself and how has the enterprise evolved over the years?
A. The landscape is very different today than it was back in the ‘60s. In the past, we had large companies like Stanley and Fafnir providing contract work. But of course, times have changed and we have had to change to remain viable. We branched out into the community and found employment contracts with companies large and small. We diversified our contract service offerings to make ourselves more competitive. We started getting state and federal contracts, 
both for on-site work and for in-house work at our work centers. For example, we have a multi-million dollar janitorial program at places like the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, the Groton submarine base and Central Connecticut State University.
Over the years we’ve paid close attention to workplace trends and opportunities. How can we be an asset to small businesses? How can we be an asset to the community and the state? We’ve worked at it and it has been very successful.
Q. How did you come to establish the CW Resources Fund at the Community Foundation and what role does the fund play in your future?
A. I look at it as long-term planning, as a legacy providing a safety net for our future. We don’t really do fundraising, per se, because we operate as a business, so going to the Foundation for this sort of thing was a natural. We had other options, of course, and even though we are now regional, our home and our roots are in New 
Britain. Having the fund with the Foundation really simplifies things for us; people wishing to support us with a gift can go directly to the Foundation, make a donation and feel good knowing that they are helping to provide for us down the road.
This fund is an ideal way to provide for our clients down the road, not to sustain operations, but perhaps for special things we do that may be recreational, for example, or for other client activities. Of course, it will be a safety net, too. Once it grows and begins to earn substantial income, we will have the peace of mind of knowing that if the roof ever blew off, so to speak, we have this endowment income at our disposal.
Q. Why did you go to the Community Foundation and what has that experience been like?
A. We’ve known the Community Foundation, it seems, forever. We wanted to work with someone in the community who understood us; the Foundation is a stabilizing force in our community and a tremendous resource. If we ever have questions we know exactly where to go. The Foundation is a great fit for us and we trust them; there’s a great level of comfort.
Having the 
Foundation manage the fund is prudent and streamlines things for us. And people feel good giving to this kind of fund; it’s different than just writing us a check. The purpose is very specific, they know what our intentions are and they know that a donation to the CW Resources Fund at the Community Foundation is an investment in our future with an established, professional organization.
I believe a great deal in long-term, strategic planning, and this fund at the Foundation fits in perfectly with that philosophy. I would strongly encourage any nonprofit organization looking to secure their future to consider this approach; it just makes sense.
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