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The Fund for Kent County Assists Kent County Nonprofits
Sultana Projects, Inc, has benefited from the Fund for Kent County, one of five new county funds at the Mid-Shore Community Foundation. Pictured left to right are Chris Cerino, Sultana Projects, Inc. and Mickey Elsberg, Mid-Shore Community Foundation.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Easton- September 28, 2010)
For local businessman Mickey Elsberg, serving on the board of directors of the Mid-Shore Community Foundation (MSCF) is one of many ways he supports Kent County nonprofits. Since moving to Chestertown 12 years ago, he has served on the boards of several local nonprofits as well as on Kent County’s Economic Advisory Board and Ethics Commission.
Elsberg has been board chair of For All Seasons and serves on the boards of Sultana Projects, Rebuilding Together Kent County, Chester Valley Ministers’ Association, Horizons at Radcliffe School, and Junior Achievement of Kent County. His commitment to the Mid-Shore Community Foundation over the past five years, however, may be having the greatest impact on the nonprofits of Kent County.
That’s because Elsberg was instrumental in starting the Foundation’s new Fund for Kent County, which allows donors to focus on the Kent County community. Contributions to the new fund will support the needs of the county and its citizens. The Fund for Kent County is one of five new county funds at the Foundation.
“The development of county-specific funds at the Mid-Shore Community Foundation has enabled residents of Kent County to pool their donations for the benefit of the county’s nonprofits,” Elsberg explains. “People have allegiance to their own neighborhoods and want to help the people they see regularly, and the Fund for Kent County makes it easy to do that.”
Elsberg says that there is no minimum or maximum amount of money required to be a donor to the Fund for Kent County.
“People can contribute to the Fund for Kent County at all levels,” Elsberg continues. “Because individual gifts are combined in an endowment fund with gifts from other donors, every gift keeps on giving. In addition, the gift can be as public or private as donors prefer. Anonymous gifts are welcome.”
To date, more than 42 nonprofit organizations in Kent County have received grants from the Mid-Shore Community Foundation. Last year, MSCF gave more than $1 million to meet a variety of community needs in the five-county Mid Shore region.
Elsberg says his parents passed on the philanthropy tradition to him. Before moving to Kent County, Elsberg and his wife, Margie, were involved with a number of community organizations in the Washington, DC, area and were eager to become active in and around Chestertown.
“Kent County residents made us feel at home from the start, so we instantly wanted to do what we could to support the community,” says Elsberg. “I like serving on these boards and working hands-on for the organizations because through them, others may have the some of the security and opportunities I have been able to enjoy in my life—a warm, safe home, access to social services and an appreciation of the Chesapeake Bay and its history.”
Serving on the Grants and Nominating Committees for MSCF, Elsberg says he has realized the importance of the regional approach to fundraising throughout the Mid-Shore. As a board member, he brings the interests and needs of Kent County to MSCF and helps channel support back to his county.
“If you love living in Kent County and it’s been good to you, you should be good to Kent County,” Elsberg adds. “Through this Fund, you can see your charity working to improve the voice and life of the residents who live here.”
For further information about the Fund for Kent County, contact Stuart Bounds at the Mid-Shore Community Foundation at 410-820-8175 or visit www.mscf.org.
