The Spy continues its series of short profiles of some of the region’s non-profit organizations with a snapshot of the Mid-Shore Community Foundation, which serves the greater Upper and Mid-Shore of Maryland
Connecting private resources with public needs in order to enhance the quality of life for all citizens on the Mid-Shore. Mid-Shore Community Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity that helps individuals, families, businesses, private foundations and others accomplish their charitable giving objectives. It manages donor’s financial gifts according to their wishes and distributes investment proceeds through grants that support the cultural, environmental, educational, civic, public health and human service needs in the community.
The Mid-Shore Community Foundation was established on December 8, 1992 through the far-sighted wisdom of the United Fund of Talbot County. Some $236,000 in assets had been left to the United Fund through the wills of Col. Edgar Linthicum and his wife Catherine.
Traditionally, the local management of charitable endowments is handled by a community foundation. Recognizing the formation of such a foundation would facilitate additional charitable assets for the Mid-Shore Region, the Directors of United Fund of Talbot County voted to use the Linthicum Bequest as the nucleus gift for the Mid-Shore Community Foundation.
The Foundation is located in the historic Bullitt House in Easton, Maryland. This historic residence provides a permanent home for the Foundation and helps insure the growth of philanthropy to support the residents of the region served by the Foundation. The additional floors of the Bullitt House are leased to nonprofit organizations. The Bullitt House was donated to the Mid-Shore Community Foundation in 2002 by Mr. and Mrs. A. James Clark & Mr. and Mrs. William Hunter.
This spring the Foundation announced the appointment of William W. “Buck” Duncan as the 4th President of the Mid-Shore Community Foundation. Buck recently retired as President of Talbot Bank after 40 years in Eastern Shore banking.
He is a native of the Eastern Shore and has devoted his career to economic and business development on the Shore through his work in community banking. Buck’s experience and understanding of the Mid-Shore Area will be invaluable assets to the Foundation. The institution was also grateful to Stuart Bounds for his service as president these past four years. The operations are fiscally and administratively sound and the foundation have seen significant growth in our assets and grant making during his tenure as President.
The Mid-Shore Community Foundation had a record setting year in 2013 with a total of $7,541,008 in donor contributions and investment returns, an increase of 68% over FY 12. This increased overall investments in FY 13 to just under $41 million with total assets at year end at $46,102,582, an annual increase of 12%. The most significant factor in the growth in assets was over $3.8 million in investment returns reflecting a very good year in the equity markets. Donor contributions were also significant at $3.7 million due primarily to estate distributions and the large number of new funds established at the Foundation.
The Foundation also set a new record in grants and charitable expenses in FY 13 – $2,220,825. This reflects a 41% increase over last year, with a significant growth in scholarship awards contributing to that increase. Operating expenses at the Foundation totaled $567,143 which represented a slight increase of 1.5% from FY 12. While there were increases in compensation for the staff in FY 13 of approximately 3%, there were significant expenses for retirement adjustments in FY 12 that were not repeated in FY 13.
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