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David Stradley at a table speaking into a microphone

Building Opportunity through the Arts | David Stradley

Posted by Rebecca Klug

· Friday, January 31st, 2020

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In our third episode, David Stradley, producing artistic director of Delaware Shakespeare, talks about building opportunity and increasing community through the arts.

Our nine-episode Building Opportunity in Delaware podcast series focuses on how can we build opportunity and strengthen community for all. DCF President & CEO Stuart Comstock-Gay talks with Delawareans who are building opportunity through the arts, faith communities, libraries and everything in between.

You can listen and subscribe on Apple, Spotify. and Google Podcasts.

Book Circles! Libraries! Beer!

Posted by Stuart Comstock-Gay

· Wednesday, August 14th, 2019

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It’s time for the DCF’s 2nd annual Building Opportunity Keynote and Book Circles*! This year we’re moving from Our Kids to Our Towns. Here’s the story:

How can we strengthen communities? What have communities across the country done to make themselves stronger, more resilient, more exciting places to be? How do communities address economic dislocation, loss of hope, opioid problems, and other challenges?

Those are the questions at the center of Our Towns, the new book from James and Deborah Fallows. On Nov. 6, the Fallowses will be the speakers at DCF’s 2nd annual Building Opportunity Keynote. The couple traveled over 100,000 miles across America – from Eastport Maine to Duluth, Minnesota; Ajo, Arizona and Demopolis, Alabama. Their answers involve art, libraries, entrepreneurialism, active citizens, beer and more.

(Yes, beer. Breweries turn out to have a big place in this book – the Fallowses are clearly my kind of people. As for libraries, well just read the book and you’ll see more.)

It’s a book about optimism and opportunity and hard work and hope. You’ll be able to buy tickets for the event soon.

But right now, sign up your book group, or form a book group, so you can read it in advance. With help from the Delaware Humanities Council, we have 500 copies of the book we’re giving away, so that the audience for this event will be ready to engage. Last year we gave away over 450 copies of Robert Putnam’s Our Kids. Join the discussion, and help us think about solutions for Our Towns.

(By the way, the event this year will be simulcast in several locations across the state. Watch for more information about that, too.)

*This program is partially funded by a grant from Delaware Humanities, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Field of Interest Funds: Hitting the Target, Now and Forever

Posted by Stuart Comstock-Gay

· Friday, August 10th, 2018

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Here is another post about working with DCF, and why it can be a great way to achieve charitable goals…this one describes the Field of Interest fund.

* * *

We all have passions that drive us, that occupy a space in our heart and motivate us to improve the world. One way to address those passions – and invest in our community’s future – is through the Field of Interest Fund. These funds are designed by the donor to focus gifts in an area that is important to them, such as protecting the environment, supporting educational advances, or expanding access to the arts. And then, instruct the DCF board and staff to make sure good grants are made on that issue now and in the future.

It’s a way to narrow philanthropic giving, but keep your donation flexible enough to meet the changing needs of the community. The fund type allows for long-term community impact on issues that matter, while providing immediate benefit for the donor in the form of a tax deduction at the time the gift is made.

Think of it as hitting the target without having to nail the bullseye.

Here’s how it works:

1. Donors identify an area of personal interest, as broad or narrow as desired. (DCF staff can help narrow the focus if you wish). For example, the Jonathan Moyed CARE Fund, established at the DCF in 2001, is focused on innovative and creative ways to provide/support long term health programs for Delawareans. The DCF researches the organizations doing effective work in this important area and awards grants to make the greatest impact possible. Over the years, Moyed CARE fund has supported the Mary Campbell Center, Ingleside Homes, Nanticoke Health Services and other important organizations.

2. Donors create the endowed fund at DCF with a gift of cash, securities, or other property worth $15,000 or more. That gift becomes a permanent source of community funding, targeting the donor’s area of interest. Donors can add more funds at any time.

3. The DCF board awards grants to community organizations and programs that are making a difference in the selected area of interest. All the while, DCF handles the administrative requirements for the fund, including managing the fund assets and overseeing the fund’s investment.

There’s a lot of great work being done in philanthropy today. A field of interest fund is a great way to not only protect and promote the issues you care about, but also to ensure they get the support they need in the future.

It’s hitting the target — even from far away.

Anthony J. Penna Fund Honors Archmere Student Killed in Car Accident (Press release)

Posted by Allison Levine

· Thursday, December 21st, 2017

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Music shaped Anthony Penna’s life, and now it will shape his legacy, too.

Anthony, who was just 17 when he died in a late September car accident, is being honored by the community and his family through the new Anthony J. Penna Fund at the Delaware Community Foundation.

A junior at Archmere Academy, Anthony was a talented and passionate singer. He sang the national anthem before Phillies and Harlem Globetrotter games, performed at a gala dinner for Catholic Charities, and was a member of the choirs at Archmere, Saint Edmond’s Academy and St. Joseph on the Brandywine Catholic Church.

In the few weeks since the Penna family established the fund, the community has donated more than $75,000, outpacing expectations. The money was initially earmarked for music programs at Saint Edmond’s and Archmere, but the overwhelming response has made it possible for the Pennas to broaden the fund’s purpose to support fine arts programs throughout the Wilmington area.

“With funding for fine arts always in jeopardy, we wanted a way to support the programs that helped shape our son to be the fine young man he was,” said Anthony’s mother, Melanie. “It is important for us to do this, as so many of the surrounding schools reached out to us in support following the accident. This is evidence of the strong, faith-based community in which we live.”

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