In the 2010s, an organization with an outstanding legacy of more than a century of contributions realized it needed to adapt to maintain its impact in a changing environment.
The Field Hall Foundation initially existed to support a non-profit nursing home, Field Home – Holy Comforter, and the Catharine Field Home, a residence for older women. Though formally incorporated in 1986, it was founded in late 1800s by Cortland de Peyster Field in memory of his mother.
Today, the Field Hall Foundation makes grants for programs supporting low-income and vulnerable older adults and those who care for them throughout New York’s Dutchess, Putnam, and Westchester counties.
Challenges:
The Field Hall Foundation board realized that the original 19th century programs had served the community well for many years, but times had changed. It was increasingly financially difficult to operate the non-profit elder care facilities given major changes in healthcare costs and potential revenue sources.
The board analyzed three options:
Continue to operate the Field Hall nursing home in an increasingly competitive environment for grant support
Merge with a compatible nonprofit organization to build capacity and resources
Sell the Field Hall property to a larger eldercare organization and use the proceeds of the sale to establish a grantmaking foundation focused on the founders’ intentions– to serve low-income and vulnerable adults.
The board concluded that the third option would best serve the foundation’s legacy and current community needs. In 2018, they obtained approval from the New York State Charities Bureau to convert their assets and to establish a private grantmaking foundation. Recognizing that the board and staff did not yet have experience as grantmakers and needed guidance to shape the new funding programs, they retained The Kavelman Group in partnership with the late Barb Krasne of Krasne Plows to guide them in their planning process.
Results:
The consultants worked directly with the board to revisit their century-and-a-half long legacy and to develop a vision and goals for the new grantmaking foundation. Based on their mission, vision, and goals, we then helped them to define:
Core values for the grantmaking foundation
Funding areas and priorities
Geographical scope of funding
Type and size of grantees to be supported
Purposes for funding (e.g., operating support, project-based, capital needs, etc.)
Levels of funding
Through a series of workshops custom-tailored to Field Hall Foundation’s unique concerns and the board’s goals, TKG helped them build consensus on what the new grantmaking program would seek to achieve and how it would be structured. This helped lay the groundwork for the foundation to put their goals into action.
The board identified key areas for the new grantmaking program, including:
Food insecurity
Home-based care services
Respite and support services for spouses/relatives caring for older adults at home
Safety, security, and elder abuse protection
Social work/case management
Transportation for older adults, caregivers, or home health aides
Field Hall Foundation opted to create two tiers of grants, one focused on larger programmatic needs at established organizations, and another targeted at smaller projects for organizations of all sizes. In considering their founding mission, they continued to focus on the geographic region where they were already established and understood the community’s needs.
By recognizing and respecting their founding history and decades of impact, the Field Hall Foundation was able to reimagine itself to sustain its mission into the future, representing a full circle of philanthropic legacy.