Celebrating with Our Community: 90 Years Together for Good

Community foundations are, by title and definition, about community. So when the time came for us to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, we agreed: our celebration had to be for, from and about the community.

How would we achieve that goal? As a collaborative institution that partners with a variety of individuals and organizations to improve the quality of life for all who live and work in the Greater Hartford region, we knew for certain that we wanted to:

1. Celebrate and encourage all forms of philanthropy and help folks see it differently.  Philanthropy means “love of humankind,” and for our project, philanthropy, generosity and other acts of kindness joined hands as one.
2. Hear stories of everyday generosity, the kind that can be achieved in an instant, with a smile, a helping hand, a kind word.
3. Amplify the voices in the community as residents tell of how generosity has changed them, in large ways and in small.  

Stories, particularly those about kindness and the gratitude that flows from it, bind people. Even when they have very little in common, individuals are drawn into a collective embrace of goodness. And that, I can tell you from witnessing this wonderful exercise, creates the most common, and powerful of bonds.

And so we launched Words to Give By, in partnership with WNPR, our local National Public Radio affiliate, to create a community storytelling project. Together we collected 177 stories from the public, chose 29 to air on WNPR and 50 to be featured on the newly created Words to Give By website (WordstoGiveBy.org) All will be archived at libraries in each of the 29 towns we serve. 

We talked the project up at gatherings. We publicized the project on WNPR and promoted it online and in the local media. Friends, neighbors, clergy and public officials from across the state stopped by to tell their stories of everyday generosity.

Almost 200 storytellers braved rain, snow, heavy winds and power outages to share their stories at the 15 recording studios set up throughout the Hartford region. Upon departing, one of them wrote in our guest book, “Let the world know that good exists in even the smallest places.”

The stories air on WNPR every Wednesday afternoon, right before a popular local show. A new story airs weekly through November, and many stories are posted online at WordsToGiveBy.org. This is an ongoing process, and we are archiving the stories as we go, but the response has been tremendous. It has been heartening. And it has, indeed, truly spread the core meaning of philanthropy in a unique and compelling way.

All organizations, at some point in their existence, celebrate milestones. As a community foundation, the Hartford Foundation elected to celebrate with community, and what a joyous and thought-provoking celebration it has been. So I ask you: how can you involve your community in expanding the meaning of philanthropy?  What stories of simple, everyday generosity can you share?

Nancy Benben is Vice President for Communications and Marketing, Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.