6/15/2009 Meredith Jones, President of the Maine Community Foundation

Sergeant at Arms

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Ed Oliver was our Sergeant of Arms today. Thanks, Ed!!!!!

Greeter

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David Geller served as Greeter today. Next week's greeter for the June 22 meeting will be Ann Beverage.

50/50 Tickets

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Harold Buzzell sold $102 worth of 50/50 tickets. John Dalton won $51, and Rotary won 10 free tickets to the next 50/50 drawing since no one claimed the second ticket that was drawn.

Fined for pictures in the Paper

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David Anderman's picture was in the paper last week and was fined accordingly.

Cell Phones

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A $10.00 fee for cell phone ringing continues for the 2008-2009 Club year. No fines assessed today.

On Leave

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Cynthia Corbin.

World Service Cups

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The World Service cups for this month will go to support the Community Gardens planted near the North Street recreational fields.

Visiting Rotarians and Guests

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There were no visiting Rotarians this week.

What can you do?

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* Tell Board Members what you are passionate about for community projects

* Tell the program committee about interesting speakers/topics you would like to listen to

* Be involved, join a committee

* Be active

* Be positive

Happy Dollars

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Barbara Woodlee was happy that Meredith Jones is here to speak today.

Patti Newmen shared that she is in the process of moving and is really happy that her daughter Kari is here to help her.

Marc Pittman shared that he was in Tulsa, OK recently and found it curious that amidst many natural energy generating devices .......wind mills and solar panels ...... he also observed oil well pumps in back yards.

Jerry Tipper just returned from his 50th Class reunion at Williams and just completed his term as Class President. This year, his class raised $10.5 M for their anniversary Class Gift! Congratulations on this achievement, Jerry!!

Karen Heck offered 2 Happy Dollars for Scott Bullock's and Gary Hammond's great presentations recently at a workshop on domestic violence in the work place which was sponsored by the Maine Community Foundation.

Doug Carnrick just returned from his 40th reunion at the Loomis Chaffee School in Connecticut. He shared that at one of the events he began to wonder if what he and his classmates were going to look like when they returned for their 50th. In another note of nostalgia, he shared that the big beautiful trees that line the quad at the school were planted during his senior year.

Ed Riggs had a Happy Dollar from Tim Terry, who was most appreciative of the Paul Harris Fellowship that the Club awarded to him recently.

John Dalton and his wife just got back from Iceland recently and shared ha hair-raising experience that he had on his first snowmobile ride there. He and his wife have never been closer!

Jim Nicholson had 5 Happy Dollars for a bit of irony that occurred recently. It seems that Meghan, his daughter recently took on a position at Ithaca College. When she went into her new boss's office, she noted that there were many Maine memorabilia and learned that she was from Waterville. Upon further inquiry, and after another few minutes and questions, it turned out that Megan's new boss is Bill Arnold's daughter!

Announcements

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Ally announced that next week we will be awarding Paul Harris Fellowships to those members who were unable to be with us on the 18th.

Upcoming speaker schedule:

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June 22, 2009 Educare

June 29, 2009 Club Assembly

July 6, 2009 Sylvia Plourde, Incoming District Governor

08-09 Board of Directors:

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Ally Karter - President

Sarah Sugden - President Elect

Seth Sherwood - Vice President

Cathy Langlais - Secretary

Steve Kelleher - Assistant Secretary

Allan Rancourt - Charitable Treasurer

Don Borman - Operations Treasurer

Marc Pitman - Club Service

Mark Ford - Rotary Foundation

Eric Haley - Past President

Nancy Gallagher - Public Relations

Debbie Knox - Community Service

Ed Riggs - International Service

Reg Perry - Fundraising

Tom Longstaff - Vocational Service

Waterville Rotary Club Web Site

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http://www.clubrunner.ca/waterville

Today's Program: The Maine Community Foundation (Meredith Jones, President)

Meredith Jones has been with Maine Community Foundation (MCF) for 10 years; has been President and CEO for about 6 months.

Leaving gifts to community foundations are ways people respect families and communities. MCF was founded 20 years ago this July by the late Bob Blum, of a NY community trust, saying that Maine needed a community foundation. He handled the incorporation paperwork. The Foundation has grown to $247 million.

A lot of work MCF is doing is not grant making work. This is not new to the Foundation but new to her job. Jones spent most of her years as the Foundation's assets kept growing with market appreciation and new gifts. Foundation receives $23 million in new gifts every year; distributes $14 million in grant making annually.

She had to make very significant expense cuts on my first day as President. Who would want to take over a job in this time? There are times when she asks herself, "Do I have the internal fortitude to do what I am doing?"

Jones grew up outside of Pittsburgh. Her Dad was from Calais as was his father. Her family would travel to Maine, and she grew up hearing that the color of the sky in Maine was different; air is clean and that there is no place on earth like it.

MCF is state-wide; works with Maine Development Foundation. It is much more about philanthropy in .......Ã'¦for donors who want in some meaningful way to give back.

Jones' mother is 94 and was an anonymous donor to MCF. She is not a woman of wealth but had a small inheritance. She wanted Eastport residents to have health care available in the community. She was prompted by a suicide in the community - a person who couldn't afford anti-depressants. She founded the Health Care for Eastporters Fund.

The Legacy of Philanthropy

Many gifts are in honor of someone who has died. Over the 20+-year period MCF has given back in excess of $100 million, including grant awards to Waterville, Winslow, Oakland, and Fairfield; scholarship awards, and others designated to churches etc.

A community of donors

In a year MCF will get contributions from as many as 300 different individuals, some of whom want to establish a donor-advised fund. They get an immediate tax deduction for their gift to a 501(c)(3) charity. The money sits in an account with its donor's name and the donor can say where those dollars are to be directed.

Community Foundation's work:

Grant-making About $14million is given away each year. A community- building grant program is conducted regionally

County funds exist for 13 of the 16 Maine counties; run by volunteers. No funds exist for Kennebec, Sagadahoc, or Lincoln counties only because of limited staff resources. MCF brought on five new county funds in the last 10 years.

Special Projects and Initiatives - higher education, sustainable agriculture. Money given by donors who feel strongly that we need to protect landscapes and that land needs to be farmed for the availability of wholesome foods.

Asset Stewardship program - MCF has a sophisticated asset management program with some very talented volunteers serving as their investment committee.

Six years ago MCF became involved in higher education through Maine Compact for Higher Education. Of the average 100 9th graders in ME:

78 graduate in 4 years

30 enter college in fall

25 graduate with a 2- or 4-year degree within 3 to 6 years.

We need to do better to help Maine kids get to college and graduate successfully. We want to meet the New England average of 56 percent who graduate.

Non-traditional students, many of whom are women, are those going to school part-time. We do provide scholarships to part-time non-traditional students. The Compact works on the Employer Initiative. We are partnering with ME Development Foundation and working directly with employers to do something more to get their employees back to school or at least thinking about college. Barbara Woodlee is co-chair for this work. Took a while for it to get up and running. Pat Hart is now heading this under Barbara's leadership. Organizations that have made a commitment to do something more:

ME Chamber of Commerce

Cianbro - offers classes at KVCC

ME Community Foundation.

This program asks employers to take one more step to encourage employees to return to the classroom. Take this idea back to your HR person or president or manager. What can we do to take one more step to get adults back to school?

Recognize employees in the company newsletter when they complete classes and degrees

Increase tuition reimbursements

Give employees information about resources available to get their degree

Explore the possibility of becoming a satellite campus for a college

Promote benefits of continuing education

Arrange for a college rep to come and talk about continuing education

Reference education benefits when you hire new employees

Host a Lunch-for-Learning seminar

Provide flexible scheduling options for students

Goal:

Secure the commitment of 500 employers in the state of Maine. If they provide whatever will help one person to get a degree, we will have come a long way to help more Mainers get their college degree. Higher education is the most important economic issue of the state. It is a strong predictor of fiscal health, wealth, civic engagement, and civic stability.

At the conclusion of her presentation, Sarah presented Meredith with a Rotary 4-Way Test keychain as a memento of her visit with us today.