ANNUAL REPORT TO THE COMMUNITY
Fiscal Year 2020
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Dear Friends,
Every spring for the past five years, Bath Community Fund has hosted an annual meeting. Donors, supporters, grantees, guests and residents of Bath are invited to an informal and informational event that focuses on the community fund. Advisory board officers discuss the fund’s mission, purpose and impact on the Bath community; board members mingle with donors and guests; and grant recipients share how support from the fund has helped their nonprofit make a difference in Bath. It’s a time of coming together as a community to celebrate our community fund.
Never did we envision the need for an online edition of our annual meeting, but the COVID-19 pandemic has turned our world upside down this year – changing the landscape of our community and challenging us, our families, and our organizations in unanticipated ways. While we look forward to when we can host in-person events again, we're pleased to share with you our 2020 Report to the Community with updates on the fund's progress, growth and impact.
Thank you for your partnership in this journey. We couldn’t have done this without each of you, and we look forward to continuing to reach new heights, change more lives, and enrich the Bath community for the better. Please know that even amid these uncertain times, Bath Community Fund is still here, still giving away grant money, still making a difference, and still growing – all because of your support, belief and generosity.
With gratitude,
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Kathy Sidaway
Advisory Board Chair
Bath Community Fund
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In December, Bath Community Fund awarded our fourth round of grants totaling $26,250 to 12 local nonprofits. Several of these grants supported capital improvement projects in the Bath community, including a $4,500 grant to Western Reserve Historical Society to create an orientation space inside the new Gatehouse Welcome Center at Hale Farm & Village.
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In March, Akron Community Foundation established the Community Response Fund for Nonprofits to address emergency needs that arise in Summit and Medina counties related to the COVID-19 outbreak. In partnership with this endeavor, Bath Community Fund’s advisory board committed up to $10,000 to the Community Response Fund as a way to support nonprofits serving the Bath/Revere geographic area during the pandemic.
To date, grants awarded through this partnership have supported:
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A new vegetable garden at Crown Point Ecology Center solely dedicated to providing fresh, organic produce to the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank and other local agencies feeding those in need during the pandemic.
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New online arts education programs at Western Reserve Playhouse that offer a safe alternative to summer camps and workshops.
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Bath Community Fund's next grant cycle opens on Tuesday, Sept. 1, and applications are due by Thursday, Oct. 1. Grant applications will be considered for programs that preserve Bath’s historical and environmental legacy, enhance the local arts and culture landscape, serve youth through education and recreation, and meet residents’ social service needs.
A committee of BCF board members, donors and community leaders will review the requests and make determinations. Grant decisions will be announced in early December.
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Jody Miller Konstand
Development Committee Chair
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In just six years, Bath Community Fund has grown from an initial $10,000 investment in June 2014 to more than $903,000 raised through gifts of all sizes – from $25 to $100,000 – that have created a lasting endowment to support local nonprofit organizations serving Bath Township.
These grants have funded the preservation of Bath’s heritage and enriched our community’s historical assets; nurtured and educated our children and students; supported the needs of the most vulnerable among us; and enhanced our parks and public spaces, which have been so often used as a source of solace and recreation during this pandemic. In four short years, Bath Community Fund has gifted nearly $80,000 in grants back into the community.
Thanks to our generous donors, we are now approaching $1 million in funds raised, a milestone that would enable Bath Community Fund to award at least $50,000 in grants to our local nonprofits every year – in good times and in bad – forever. Growing the fund to $1 million will guarantee that our grants will continue to play a vital role in the Bath community, impacting the lives of so many and enriching our community not only now but for generations to come.
To reach that goal, we have embarked on the “First Million – Last Leg” campaign to raise $100,000 by the end of 2020, bringing our total gifts and pledges to $1 million since the fund was established. While that may seem ambitious, it can be accomplished just one donation at a time, the same way our fund has grown over the last six years. And when you break it down, it’s just 10 donors at $10,000 or 20 donors at $5,000 or 40 donors at $2,500 – with each gift building on the one before to preserve the legacy we are creating for Bath. And isn’t that the essence of how to build something of value?
Difficult times remind us of the vital need for family and community, and they give us the chance to reach beyond ourselves to make a difference. Those are the same sentiments that built Bath Community Fund and that will sustain it long into the future. I invite you to join us by making a gift today. We're truly grateful for your support.
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Welcome to our new board member
We're excited to welcome Jen Hardin to the Bath Community Fund Advisory Board. Jen is an analyst at FirstEnergy and also serves on BCF's Grants Committee. She has been a resident of Bath for 20 years and actively volunteers for several local organizations, including the Bath Park Board and Citizens of Hale Farm & Village.
We also would like to thank Debbie McKinney, who is leaving the advisory board this year. Debbie's support has been invaluable, and she will continue to lend her expertise to our Development Committee.
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Diana McCool
Financial Officer
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As an affiliate fund of Akron Community Foundation, a philanthropic endowment of nearly $222.5 million, Bath Community Fund receives active financial oversight by top-rated managers who monitor the portfolio in light of current market conditions and our long-term investment strategies.
Following a positive end to the 2019 calendar year and a solid start to 2020, we experienced a downturn at the end of March as the market reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the end of the fiscal year on March 31, 2020, Bath Community Fund's assets stood at just under $730,000*, a decrease of approximately $20,000 from the prior fiscal year.
Fortunately, Akron Community Foundation's investment policy was designed to weather market volatility such as this, and we are already seeing positive improvements. By the end of June, Bath Community Fund's assets had increased to $832,225 – a net gain of nearly 15% – making last quarter one of the strongest financial quarters in the past two decades for Akron Community Foundation and Bath Community Fund.
Going forward, we will continue to be trustworthy and careful stewards of your charitable gifts. We're proud that Bath Community Fund has the lowest historical expense ratio of all the major affiliate funds at Akron Community Foundation. In fact, our historical expense-to-contribution ratio, including all administrative fees, is just 7.2%, meaning we have spent only $7.20 for each $100 we have raised since 2014. For comparison, charities are considered to be highly efficient when they spend $25 or less per $100 raised, which places Bath Community Fund far ahead of the industry standard.
In short, Bath Community Fund is built to last. And all gifts are invested and grown over time, so donations made today will continue to multiply for generations to come.
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*The fund's asset total reflects grant disbursements, expenses and market fluctuations. This figure is calculated separately from the total gifts and pledges reported in the Fundraising Update above. Numbers are unaudited.
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We're grateful to the donors whose gifts make Bath Community Fund possible. Your generosity is strengthening our community for current and future generations.
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Have you connected with Bath Community Fund on Facebook? We're building a more robust presence on social media, and we'd love to have you join our conversations.
By following our page, you'll be the first to get exciting information about our grants, events and other community news, including videos featuring our donors and grant recipients.
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