This fall marks the 79th anniversary of the creation of The Ithaca Foundation, which created an enduring fund “designed to encourage and support character, health, building, educational, recreational and welfare activities in the larger Ithaca community.” In 1961 The Ithaca Foundation became The Tompkins County Foundation, recognizing the entire community that benefits from its work, and in 2007 The Tompkins County Foundation became The Legacy Foundation of Tompkins County, in recognition of its long existence and long-term view of its place in the community. Our founders understood how critical support was for our non-profit community and how that support was directly linked to the quality of life in Tompkins County. I am amazed and in awe of their foresight, and I, along with our other Board members are very honored to continue their work on the Legacy Board. What many people may not know is that we are a private foundation, but unusual in that our endowment was not created with one large gift as is the case with most private foundations. Our founders created a fund that was built by the community at large, one generous gift at a time. And through the years, it is this endowment fund that is now able to award critical grants that help our non-profit community make a strong community for us all. It is with that in mind I am happy to announce the board’s decision to embark on an Endowment Campaign in honor of our upcoming 80th anniversary in 2025. Legacy has played a key role as a funder in Tompkins County responding to the needs of our community. Our endowment supports all the giving we do. But the needs in our community have increased over the years and if we want to continue to serve our community now and for future generations, building our endowment must be a top priority. We will be sharing more information about this effort in the coming months. I hope you can take a minute to browse through our Report to the Community. See the good works we are so proud to support. If you have any questions about Legacy, or how you can get involved, please do not hesitate to reach out to our director, Perri LoPinto. We would love to hear from you and answer any questions you might have. Wishing you the best, Peter Grossman |