Fairfield County Community Foundation Director to Step Down

The Fairfield County Community Foundation’s director is stepping down after 15 years as the nonprofit's president and CEO.

On Monday, Susan Ross of Easton announced that she will leave her post, effective Dec. 31.

"Over the last 15 years, while we have created opportunities for individuals and communities to thrive, we have also worked to help create the connective tissue that will enable our region to be healthy and vibrant into the future," Ross said in a news release.

“Tens of thousands of Fairfield County children, adults and families have had opportunities to achieve their potential because FCCF has grown into a strategic and impactful grantmaker, community leader and philanthropic advisor to a growing number of generous donors."

Ross said it's important for Fairfield County residents to understand the fabric that ties them all together.

"The community foundation was formed by visionary leaders who understood that Fairfield County is not a collection of 23 cities and towns, but a socioeconomic region. The greatest challenges in our communities—education, affordable housing, transportation, et cetera—cannot be resolved town by town, but only by the region," she said.

According to the release, the foundation's assets grew from $10 million to $140 million under Ross' leadership. In the same time period, grants grew from $900,000 to more than $11 million per year.

The foundation

Formed in 1992, the Fairfield County Community Foundation is a nonprofit organization that provides personal philanthropic advisory services to those who choose to become donors. Its offices are located at 383 Main Ave.

Jeff Yates, the foundation’s director of communications, said the organization caters to “people who are looking to make strategic charitable giving decisions and not just write a check.”

“They work with us to really identify some of the critical needs in the community,” he said. “We help them make their giving more effective, easier and more meaningful. We also give them considerable feedback on how their giving is making a difference in their own backyard."

“Last year was a record year,” Yates said. “We gave away $11.5 million in grants to nonprofits in Fairfield County and beyond.”

According to figures supplied by Yates, last year the foundation gave away 782 grants in Fairfield County totalling roughly $6.4 million.

What it does

Yates said the foundation provides multiple services to the community. First, those that donate may wish to establish their own charitable fund.

Yates said those that donate “control where the money goes.”

“We help them identify the organizations that are making a difference in the fields of their interest, while providing all the administrative services,” Yates said.

The investment team at the foundation focuses on getting a good return on the money donated.

The foundation also helps lead community initiatives.

“Being a countywide organization, we’re uniquely placed to really take a step back and study what the biggest challenges impacting Fairfield County are—affordable housing, transportation, education, child care, health care,” he said. “We figure out what are the key needs, what are the key challenges, and we create initiatives that address those community needs.”

Yates provided an example. The foundation looked at Danbury, Norwalk, Stamford and Bridgeport schools and figured out that many principals for those schools were eligible for retirement in the next five years.

“There was no program in place to prepare future principals,” he said. “We brought the schools together, developed a program. That program has prepared 67 principals to date.”

Yates said Fairfield County has the “worst achievement gap in the nation between urban and suburban students.”

“We wondered how to close this achievement gap and improve urban schools, and one of the recognitions we made was that we needed to train new leaders and teach them how to transform their schools,” he said.

The foundation also provides support to the 2,400 nonprofit organizations in Fairfield County, not counting private schools, churches and hospitals.

Yates said the foundation gives these nonprofits grants “to improve their financial management, to undergo strategic planning and to really overhaul the way they operate.”

“These organizations are then able to serve more people in need and make better use of charitable dollars they are receiving, which ultimately improves the community as a whole,” he said.

Why it’s important

“The health of the community is really dependent on the strength and health of its nonprofits,” he said. “We’re a safety net that steps in when government can’t. The economic downturn is an incredible example of that."

Yates said the foundation will accept gifts of any size. For example, there’s a fund for the Weston Lacrosse Club, the Paul Scheufele Lacrosse Endowment Fund.

“Every year, we get dozens and dozens of gifts to this fund, ranging from $15 to $500,” he said.

To learn more about the foundation, visit its website.

Editor's note: See also Patch's article